From Software Lyric Suite's own Sekiro corner

[Multidirectional]

So, beat him on first try?
To me this version of Owl is the easier one. I don't handle bosses that throw AOE shit well, always get annoyed and start making mistakes. So second phase of first Owl fight pisses me off with that poison spam.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So, beat him on first try?

More like 30, possibly more i wasn't counting. Took me some time to figure out how to counter his magic tricks and i suicided myself every time i failed to do it as i had to make the fight look good lol. Kinda of proud i did it on my own though, no guides. Took me a lot longer to figure out how to counter his disappearing act than the fire owl attack, which by contrast was pretty straightforward (deflecting the owl didn't work so the only other alternative was to jump clear of it).

Keep in mind a lot of his attacks are the same as the other version so it might have taken a lot more tries had i met him for the first time like this.

 

[Multidirectional]

Keep in mind a lot of his attacks are the same as the other version so it might have taken longer had i met him for the first time like this.

I don't think that's possible. He should only be available after first Owl fight.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Keep in mind a lot of his attacks are the same as the other version so it might have taken longer had i met him for the first time like this.

I don't think that's possible. He should only be available after first Owl fight.

Right, i was only pointing out that it's 30 tries + the practice i got on the first fight with him. If this had been the only version in the game i can definitely see myself crossing over the 50 tries threshold or more.

Unlike the first time, i didn't kill him "normally" (as in using healing), so i can't really say if it's easier. It's definitely intended to be harder though.

 

[Multidirectional]

Unlike the first time, i didn't kill him "normally" (as in using healing), so i can't really say if it's easier. It's definitely intended to be harder though.

My opinion is a minority one I'm sure. Most people seem to find him harder and some even think he's harder than the final boss.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Unlike the first time, i didn't kill him "normally" (as in using healing), so i can't really say if it's easier. It's definitely intended to be harder though.

My opinion is a minority one I'm sure. Most people seem to find him harder and some even think he's harder than the final boss.

For me it's difficult to judge because i'm doing all my fights with a "no healing" rule so it's a different beast for me. I can't compare myself to how others experience the game normally. I know from experience though that in Souls there's some fights you can just brute force through healing after every fuck up but are absolutely hell to master if you want to do it by countering everything. Not saying this is what you did but the fact in this version it is easier to heal compared to the other one could be a factor.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Most people seem to find him harder and some even think he's harder than the final boss.

Agreed here, took me the most tries out of all the bosses by a clear margin.

 

[Multidirectional]

Not saying this is what you did but the fact in this version it is easier to heal compared to the other one could be a factor.

Yes I healed, and I always heal if I need to. I don't consider it to be brute forcing either. That would probably be spamming all possible consumables and abusing prosthetics to the max. I'm just happy to do bosses with regular cling-clangs and using flasks if I fuck up. That tryhard special challenge stuff ain't my thing, I never did lv 1 runs in Souls either. Maybe because I do enough tryharding when playing competetive online games. With single players I'd rather not torture myself.

You seem especially gifted at this shit though, if you're doing stuff like this on the very first run. I'm guessing it's No Kuro's Charm + Demon Bell in store on second run for you, because what else is left at that point.

 

[Lyric Suite]

That tryhard special challenge stuff ain't my thing

Right, that's not how normal people would play this game which is why it's difficult for me to really say what's hard and what isn't since i'm doing everything the try hard mode and i'm working under different parameters from most, so my experience isn't really comparable to a normal person which is why it's even pointless to mention the number of tries it took me to beat a boss. I actually came close to beating this last one several times but then just bit the suicide tooth towards the end because the fight was too messy and didn't make for a good video.

As for the healing argument, i think i just made that point too convoluted. All i should have said is that the fact the first version made healing harder didn't apply to me means all i can compare is their respective movesets, and from that perspective this second version felt harder to me. If i was playing like normal people, healing after a mistake and trying to beat a boss normally the fact the first version made it more difficult to heal could have been a problem (of course, it's worth pointing out that the second version seemed to hit harder or so it felt to me so maybe i'm just talking nosense here).

There's also other factors involved as to why the first version was harder for you. Even mood sometimes plays into it. There's times when i start playing badly and i don't know why. I usually have to quit and try later until whatever it is that's messing me up goes away. Other times i play brilliantly right off the bat and even manage to beat bosses after a couple of tries than if i redo them i suck for a dozen tries in a row. Maybe when you beat the second Owl you were under a particularly good spell.

Lastly of course there's also subjective considerations. I think both versions are difficult enough that a little room for subjective proclivities is there. I did say the first version felt a little easy but that's relative to what i expected from a major story boss. Objectively speaking, the two versions aren't THAT far apart difficulty wise. People sometimes exagerate the first version was still plenty difficult for me to master.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You seem especially gifted at this shit though, if you're doing stuff like this on the very first run. I'm guessing it's No Kuro's Charm + Demon Bell in store on second run for you, because what else is left at that point.

I've already been doing Demon Bell right as soon as i got access to the thing so i guess No Kuro's Charm is all i got left.

I liked the suggestion of just erasing this character and start the game from scratch in Charmless mode, but i also wanna get all the achievements so i think that will be for later.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, one question. Do Remnant Memories scale with your level? I noticed they are harder than the regular version i hope they also keep getting harder to keep up with your upgrades.

 

[Andnjord]

If i was playing like normal people, healing after a mistake and trying to beat a boss normally the fact the first version made it more difficult to heal could have been a problem

As a normal person, the healing bomb was one of the big fat opening to get some damage in systematically, so it made the fight easier as they're so easy to avoid and so easy to punish.
In fact the healing bomb was also one of those moment that were safe to heal from previous mistakes since, again, they're so easy to dodge.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I see. Didn't even bother to dodge them since the no healing effect was irrelevant to me.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So according to this guy Memory bosses scale to your attack power + the other difficulty modes:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sekiro/comments/s11hnk/do_bosses_in_the_memory_scale_up_or_are_they/

That's great news as i didn't want to do them in case i end up burning out and never finish the game and i kinda worried the early bosses got more and more trivial as my attack power increased, but apparently they scale with you which is great.

 

[Multidirectional]

There's also other factors involved as to why the first version was harder for you. Even mood sometimes plays into it. There's times when i start playing badly and i don't know why. I usually have to quit and try later until whatever it is that's messing me up goes away. Other times i play brilliantly right off the bat and even manage to beat bosses after a couple of tries than if i redo them i suck for a dozen tries in a row. Maybe when you beat the second Owl you were under a particularly good spell.

Yes of course the mood can be a factor, we aren't always playing at the same level and sometimes brain just goes into fart mode where you start doing stupid random shit even if you already should know better. But I'm not basing it on first playthrough, pretty much all bosses were a nightmare to me during that. It's on repeat runs where found the second Owl to be less annoying than first one. But again, it's my specific weakness. When he starts throwing that poison around I tend to get annoyed. I do not deal with shit like that well. Another example of this could be Khan Maykr fight in Doom Eternal with her burning floor nonsense, I get irritated and start making mistakes.

I liked the suggestion of just erasing this character and start the game from scratch in Charmless mode, but i also wanna get all the achievements so i think that will be for later.

To have charmless mode available on a fresh run you need to have a save file with NG+ unlocked so erasing the character would not be a good idea.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

burning floor nonsense

!DON'T STAND HERE! mechanics are always the worst

 

[Lyric Suite]

To be honest i hate that crap too. Any time i feel i have to wing it or i don't know what i'm doing i tend to fuck up, sometimes just out of anger. The clank clank gives you a dopamine rush when you do it right so there's an incentive to do it well but the "just start jumping randomly" shit doesn't feel rewarding even when you do it perfectly.

The poison attack was in fact kinda of annoying and ended up defaulting to jumping back and deal with his long range attacks instead. You CAN actually rush forward and move clear of it but only if you have the room and he has a tendency to just back himself into a corner so that was a no no.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Solo Monk ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, time to pick this up again. For the musically philistines here, Solo Monk is an album by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. The reference is because the highlight of this short chapter is essentially the Monk boss. Kinda of a stretch? Don't care can't think of anything better and i gotta leave soon lol.

Anyway, taking the hint from the Sculptor, i leave, thinking i may get the chance to talk to him privately when i port back, but apparently Lady Emma is stuck here permanently:



I guess when he said this temple had too many visitors he was talking about me lol. Fine, i'll leave, sheesh.

Before leaving for the Fountainhead Palace, i pick up this thing:



Not sure what it does, i guess i'll try it on the first mook i find in the Palace.

So i make my way to the cave and enter the palanquin. There's an option to "pray" now that wasn't there before. Guess that's what i'm supposed to do:



So i'm waiting for some teleport animation or something and then... wait what?




Erm...





Who? Is this boss?





Ok then, i guess i'm going for a ride on this... thing.




Well, "i just rode on a big ass, animated, humanoid shaped shimenawa rope" is not a series of words i would have expected to ever utter in my life, and yet here we are:





I make my way down and oh, it's boss fight already? I just got here:




I actually recognize this as the Corrupted Monk fighting arena. It was the first ever video of Sekiro i've watched many years ago. It was almost bed time at this point though plus i wanted to goof around with this new skill on some mook, not a boss so i opted to port out first.

I try the skill on some Samurai guards or whatever. It's pretty neat. You can set your weapon on fire and inflict burn status with regular strikes. Kinda of a short duration though.

While i'm out here, i decide to check on Kuro. Might as well get this text out of the way now to lighten the load on the next major story junction. Apparently it was a good choice lol:



I report that i reached the Fountainhead Palace and that i will return with the Dragon Tears, and he says he is pleased. Before leaving though he adds this:




No, really? The way the game REFUSES to aknolwedge dozens of ninjas crawling all over the Ashina Castle is getting kinda of wierd now.





I hope this doesn't mean i have to come back here often to see if i can eavesdrop on some secret conversation. I'm getting a bit fed up with that crap now.

I go check on Isshin and for the first time i notice everything is dark now:



Also, it appears i was in full view of the Fountainhead Palace this whole time:



Anyway, come morning and it's boss time!

This boss was a strange one. The ghost version you fight at the end of the Mibu Village was actually stronger than the first phase here. That one had more posture resistance, more moves (some of which end up in the third phase on the "true" version) and i remember that one was immune to Mikiri.

I'm also not sure what the point of the gimmick puzzle was in the second phase. So you jump on the highest branch then you can drop down for a deathblow, which i didn't do in my video because i wanted to be a try hard. The first couple of times those dark ghost attacks had me worried but once i figured out what i had to do it became a pointless chore. It's basically a two phases boss fight when it comes down to it, with only the last one being a challenge and the first one being weaker than the "preview" version you meet before.

Strange design choices aside, it's a good boss overall. The only annoying thing is that sporadically it gets hyperarmor out of nowhere and moves to the next attack with zero delay between the previous one. This can happen both in the first and last phase. In the video, it happens right at the end, where he starts vomiting worms at me right as i'm landing a stomp riposte. I don't understand if there's even a way you can defend yourself from this, i mean besides just playing defence 100% of the time and never counter any attacks, which i'd rather not do just to avoid some damage.

Spoiler

So killing the thing gets me the usual lore memories:




But also this thing:



After activating the next Idol, i'm now compelled to check this thing out. I take one peek at the palace, which is very pretty:



And i then port around a bit checking on the various merchants, and apparently what this Telly does is allow you to buy infinite numbers of some rare consumables, including Divine Confetti. Very interesting indeed, even though a lot of those weren't really that hard to farm.

While i'm there, i decide to make yet another round. I hate doing this, just go talk to NPCs after every other reload without an ingame justification for doing so but i'm getting near the end of the game and i really don't want to miss on anything that might be crucial. Turns out there is in fact new dialog to discover:











Seems like something i should have caught while i was doing the Hirata Estate memory.

I make yet another round to Kuro, and what would you know, here too i find something new:





After making YET another round, just to make sure all new dialog and stuff is actually out of the way, i'm back to the Fountainhead Palace:



But this will have to wait as now real life is calling me. Shiiiet will i ever do this place?

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Something Fishy Around Here (Part 1) ~​

Spoiler

Alright, time to keep going. Wonder what the hell happened here:



I remember in the area where you fight the big monke, there were similar bloodied wooden beams and planks. Perhaps they washed down from here? Who knows i guess.

I make it down and i see two possible paths to start with, a nearby structure:



And a path on the side:



Perhaps by taking the latter i can flank whatever is inside that building. I make two steps past that breach in the wall though that i get attacked by something i can't even see and i'm instantly turned into an old man lol:




The hell is this Wolf looks so pathetic hahaha. Eventually the effect dissipates and i now come face to face with the likely culprit:



So this is one of the "blessed" immortals.

I decide to stay clear of those guys for the moment and check out the lake instead. Seems peaceful enough:



Oh shit:




Well, that was a great start for my journey through this place.

I try a couple more times, even diving under the water, but that lighting attack can get you anywhere. I try to get a closer look at the guy, but he is still too far away to make out what it is:



There's some goodies in the lake it seems but with that bastard shooting lighting bolts at me there's no point getting them now, maybe after i kill him:



Alright, let's try go through those structures first:



Those guys die super easy but they inflict that status effect very fast so they definitely require care. I wonder why the one in the Ghost Village didn't use it. It would have made perfect sense. He chases you around with his slow attacks while you can only limp around with barely enough health to survive a single hit seems like a missed opportunity. Not that it would have made the fight hard or anything but at least it would have been something. I guess they just wanted to keep this new status effect a surprise for this place.

So it seems i'm supposed to just follow this series of buildings all the way around the lake:



Oh, so this is the one who got me the first time:



Cheeky bastard gets what he deserves:



No immortality for you anymore bitch.

There's also another one hiding behind some folding screens. I don't know why as i can hear him play his music and can see him through the holes:




(the shots i took originally was crappy so i came back to take a couple of better ones)

Silly guy:



I now see that those rooms are not actually connected, so i have to make my way outside after all:



So there's samurai fishes now:



I have no idea what nasty shit they can do so i stay put for a bit, trying to figure out the best way to get them, when i actually see it:



As soon as i jump on the low roof, i spot another samurai fish guy doing a little tai chi dance:



That's cute:





Before taking him out though i need to check the roof here first. Sure enough, there's guards posted on top of it:



When i kill it it makes female gurgling noises. I guess those are related to the Monk bitch i just killed. The hairs are similar.

Is immortality worth becoming some wierd fish monster though?



On the top of the roof, i find three more:



Not sure if i can kill all three without getting spotted though. For now i decide to make it down to kill those two patrols by dropping from the ledge while they have their backs at each other:



Works out fairly well:



I return to the top to try those three. No guts no glory right?



Turns out it was super easy, i just had to backstab each in turn, none of them even moved:



Guess this is my next target:



Before that though i need to clean up what's left. The building i'm standing on appears to have no way in. In the side where i killed the two patrols there was some flute guy hiding behind a corner. Good thing he didn't show up while i was fighting those two:



It's now time to take out that poor dancing samurai fish thing:



After killing it (him? her?) i come face to face with that bastard in the distance:




It seems the thing doesn't care how close you get, it just doesn't want you to touch the water:





Good, would have been super fucking obnoxious if i had to make may through this with this bastard shooting lighting bolts at me the whole time.

Wonder if this thing is connected to the whole process of eating the slugs, and "melting" them with the Fountainhead Waters to prevent it growing into that centipede thing:



This begs the question why the Monk princess was infested but maybe that happened while she was guarding the Wedding Cave and they only let her guard the Fountainhead Palace, never actually allowed her inside. The memory text implied her guarding duty was more or less perpetual.

So, i now make it to the next area:



Are those what i think they are?

I check around the perimeter and find an opening on the left side. Yep, fish dogs thingies:



Well, how hard can they be? At first they seem like regular dogs:



Until they start shooting lighting bolts at me:




It's not hard to dodge but there's more than one dog and eventually one of them manages to zap me, and the attack takes almost my entire health bar. Nasty shit.

Killing them drops this thing:



I keep finding those and yet i still have no idea what their purpose is. I can only assume i'll find out soon though. Next up there's a room full of dogs with a flute guy hiding in a corner. This time i'm taking no chances and whip out my trusty whistle, and then watch the chaos:



Look at them ugly things:



Might as well just whistle my way through the remaining area:



After which i got the run of the place:



Behind me i see i'm right next to a Sculptor's Idol:



Before going that way though i need to see if there's a way to get up on the roof of this place. Turns out there is:




Ok then, time to move to the next area. So far i'm doing great, this place ain't that bad

Mmmmh, pretty:



Ok, so now let's see what the game throws at me. So far this place hasn't been as traumatizing as the Mibu Village:



I go in and i see there's a flute guy making a short patrol, no problem:



In the next room there's some sort of NPC (i hope):



But as i'm about to walk there i almost get spotted by this guy:



Ok, i'm kind of flinching as i'm expecting this bitch to start smacking the shit out of me. It appears she wants to talk, but that's no guarantee she won't turn hostile:



Well, let's see what she has to say:





I see (Wolf actually says this lol).





That's great and everything but i did try to see if there was a way to get past this area by following the outer wall from outside the perimeter and the only way i can make it to the other side is to swim through water, which may not be any easier, not with that bastart trying to zap my ass from across the other side of the known universe.

Also, is there a catch here or this is just free advice?



Well, can't say i didn't see that coming.








Speaking of eternity, why aren't you a fish lady? Are mortals allowed to roam around here? I'm just going to assume all those baits i've been finding were meant to be taken to her father, which i guess i'll meet soon.

Alright, let's see the situation here:



Ok that's definitely some nasty shit lmao.

Maybe i can use this folding screen as cover:



At the end i find one of those Bite Down consumables. Fuck you game, i ain't giving up just yet!

Up ahead on this side i see there's a flute guy with his back towards me:



But he quickly turns around and i almost get spotted, and then very quickly turns his back to me again. I chance popping out of cover to see what's on the left, where i see i'm within striking range of that other noble that almost saw me while i was walking towards the old lady, so i take him out:



And in the blink of an eye i'm back behind cover. It's now time to do the same to the second one as well. I wait for him to turn then make another dash:




I freeze into position for a second, but it seems i'm good:



On my right i see there's a samurai Na'vi sitting down meditating:



I get close when suddenly i see some shit behind that screen posing as a wall:



I'm close enough that i can hear him puff and growl. It's a frikking bull, fuck me. Not entirely sure if that thing is going to just burst into the room if i try to take the samurai out, so i decide to backtrack for the time being.

There's some loot and a Spirit Emblem around and after picking everthing up i try behind me. As i get close, i see there's a spot where i can reach the ceiling:



As i'm looking at it though i see i'm almost about to get spotted by something, possibly something up there. I try scouting on my right first:



Mmmh. I go back to my left to see if i can reach the ceiling where i suddenly bump straight up into a noble with a Na'vi samurai behind him. This turns into a fucking disater as i instantly get enfeebled and i'm now limping away with the samurai doing combos behind my back but for some fucking reason none of them land lmao:



I limp all the way to the Idol and the samurai gives up and starts making his way back. I don't understand how the hell i managed to survive this. I could tell the samurai was trying to smack the shit out of me from behind but i never got hit once, and on my way back i actually get an opportunity to get backstab him (her, whatever. They should be guys really given how big they are):



After killing it i quickly make it up the ceiling, and it appears there's nothing there:



I guess whatever it was i was about to aggro was outside. I check below me and see the patrol consisted of one noble and two samurai, but now there's only one left as i killed the other:



I still don't get how i managed not to get killed, but from here i can easily take out the noble and i'm curious to spar with the samurai to see what the hell it is that they actually do. Turns out it's the usual flurry of combos and they aren't even that hard to kill:



I stand still for a few seconds but it seems i didn't aggro anything while i was fighting with the samurai fish. Up ahead i see there's some loot. Turns out it's a Divine Confetti. I always get queasy when i find one of those things, as it's an indication some spectral shit is afoot.

I make it back up the ceiling and i try to sneak behind the noble i spotted earlier in front of that palanquin, but as i come down i smash a bunch of folding screens and he instantly aggros. No problem though, he dies in two hits and there's nothing else within aggro range here:



Ok, this last part didn't go as smoothly as i had hoped but hey, i'm alive so all is well. Next up, the courtyard from hell:



I see if i can flank that room with the red noble and the samurai, it's actually worse from behind:



Well, ok, let's try the front:



I manage to get close enough to strike at the nearest one:



As soon as i take him out, the whole room inside goes wild and i see there's two samurai next to the red noble, not just the one. One of them uses a spear, so out of curiosity i kite him all the way out in the previous section as i'm curious to see if the spear one is harder than the sword samurai:



Turns out she isn't:



It's good that i fought her out here as she does a low sweep where she spins several times which might have been a problem in close quarters but out in the open it's easy to avoid.

Ok, so i'm back in the room, one less samurai to deal with. Not exactly smooth stealthing but i'm not actually doing that bad considering it's my first try and i'm doing this whole part in one swoop:



I check the back again. I can probably take out the spear guy no problem if i can manage to kill the noble first:



If only i could get over the roof but there's no grappling points anywhere:



Well, let's try this. I use the whistle on the red noble and manage to draw him out:



He doesn't move that far from the door though. I try anyway, worse come to worst i'll kill the samurai in combat. I rush for a quick kill, which does alert the samurai but he doesn't go red, so i rush back to safety:



I then sneak up back to him and take him out no problem:



I think if i had used the Gachiin's Spiritfall i could have done this more cleanly but i made it all the same.

The ones outside are now within my reach, and turns out they are pretty easy, since killing one doesn't alert the other:




I then admire my handiwork:



I even go brag to the old lady how i made it past her "accursed" courtyard, but she doesn't even deign to acknowledge my exploits. Bleh.

Inside the room i find a chest, but it's just some Divine Grass:





FromSoft should really stop with those rare, numbered consumables. Has anybody in the history of their games ever used any? I certainly didn't lol.

I can now see the noble and the spear samurai from the screen wall here. I try to smack the thing to draw their attention. Only the noble gets alerted but it lasts like two seconds before he returns to position:



So even though i can see through the game threats those screens as regular walls. This means i should be able to take out the samurai without alerting the bull back in that room i skipped earlier:



The bull isn't likely going to burst into the room (i hope lol), but that noble will sure get alerted so as a precaution, i pop the Gachiin's Spiritfall:



I take him out, then creep towards the noble:



Behind him there's a corner with some pointless loot at the end of it. Meh.

Look at this ugly thing though:



From the holes i can see it's some kind of zombie bull and the light on it's horns is purple so i assume he is a spectral enemy. Well, i can buy as many Divine Confetti as i want so it's not an issue. For now i need to find a Sculptor's Idol though.

Ok, i think i'll just use the whistle on the noble, then take out the spear samurai in combat:




As soon as he turns around, i leap into the fray, kill the noble and start sparring with the spear samurai. At first it goes well, then she leaps back into that gate and as i go after her i aggro another noble, and now everything goes to shit. I kill the second noble but as soon as i turn around the samurai bitch actually shoots a lighting bolt at me and she almost kills me right there and then. I take her out in a flash and i stand there panting, hoping nothing else is going to show up:



I now cross the open gate here and damn, look at that:



I check on my right, and see around the corner there's a ledge with a noble at the end of it, facing the front of this entire area:



I guess what i should have done here is try to make it to the roof of that sunk house, then dash towards this noble all the while trying to avoid the bitch trowing lighting bolts at me from a distance and i could have done this whole area from behind.

Next to the noble there's a little area but no loot inside, wierd.

I then make it to the left of the Sculptor's Idol and NOW i find a grappling point:



Well, ain't that a bitch.

I check the pagoda next to me, but all the doors are shut. Behind it, i see there's an opening that goes all the way around. I think this is how i'm supposed to get to the bull:



First thing the roof though:



I should be able to easily flank them. But as i try to do so, i instantly hear what sounds like a dozen alert sounds. I freeze into position, but nothing happens. Eventually i figure out it must have been some aggressive fishes in the water. Like, can they fuck off? I'm not even in there.

I finally circle around the samurai and there he is:



Damn, do i have to kill those three every time i make an attempt on the bull?



After killing the last one i spot something below:



It seems somehow i missed some loot. I drop down and start checking out every corner, until i find something:



I dive in and when i emerge i find myself in a room full of goodies, oh my:



All the loot is carp scales and inside the chest i find this:



So this is what the priest in the Mibu Village was talking about. Good thing i'm doing this let's play as the only reason i remember what he said is that the process of posting screens and sometimes relistening to conversations (since i record them all in case i forget who is saying what when posting screens and also to remind myself if the the tone of voice suggests something a screen doesn't convey) means i can memorize more than i would normally, especially since i relistened to his nonsensical rant several times to try to make out any sense of it and i distinctly remember him talking about the water of the palace. Damn this would have been damn cryptic had i been playing this normally. In fact, i think this process of revisting things i just did, looking at screens and relistening to recorded conversations made this playthrough easier than past FromSoft games, at least in terms of figuring out quests and lore.

Anyway, i got around 5000 sens at this point and i think there's only the bull left before the next section so i finally port out to take care of this before fighting him. First, i decide to spend the sens on prosthetic upgrades:





The one where you just throw sens is kinda of funny. I guess the game is anticipating that eventually you'll have nothing to spend sens on as you deplete all the inventories of merchants and stock up on all the consumables you'll ever need. It's kinda neat actually, a way to make use of money once money becomes useless. Clever.

Ok let's go deal with this crazy bastard. I show him the thing, and he acts like a junkie who was just been shown some free heroin which probably ain't that too far off from the reality:





He now gives me his sake and wants the water shit in return:





By all means, have at it. I know FromSoft too well to assume this is just going to end like this. To simulate the passage of time, i go give the sake to Isshin. I think this is the last bit of lore i'm going to get:





Lol, this is definitely one of my favored characters in the game.




Wonder who is he talking about now.



I think he is talking about the monks.




Lady Butterfly or just shinobi in general? And is the last one the Sculptor?




You mean...



I guess the sense here has more to do with them seeking immortality than the mere enjoyment of good sake, but perhaps i'm reaching here.



To the fools then.

And speaking of fools, let's go see how the priest is doing. Well, would you look at this:



I was expecting some crazy shit, something spectral perhaps, but it's just a simple fish noble. Killing him makes him drop a whooping 5 carp scales:



Ok, time to kill the bull then!

I don't want to repeat the fight i had with the Blazing Bull where i just chased the thing around for 30 minutes so i try to deflect his thrusts instead, but apparently i have to use Divine Confetti to avoid taking damage which is kind of annoying. I'm doing fairly ok and even find a way to use the Mortal Blade weapon art which does a ton of posture damage to him, and then suddenly he goes berserk and knocks himself out cold against a wall. I have no idea if this is something that's just supposed to happen or if i accidentally hit on a some secret way to take him out quickly, but it was still funny so i decided to just go along with it, heh.

Spoiler

As i kill him i get this thing:



I guess i can just pick up the rest next up so i can make it an even 20 and call it a day.

I gotta make one final stop before moving to the next part though. He HAS to have something to say, right? I recognized his hand as being similar to that of the Corrupt Monk but that was a given he came from the Fountainhead Palace:









Talking to him again just gives you the usual fluff:





But then he actually adds a bit of extra lore:







Is he done? Nope i guess:




Why do i get the feeling this "truly" special bait is intended to kill the Great Carp so he can take its place.

Alright, since i wasn't working today i took the time to make a big progress update but this seems like a good point to cut it short now. I may have to go out of town for a couple of days, i'm not sure, so don't wonder if i disappear for a while. I'm close to finishing the game so i'm not gonna give up until i get it done!

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Something Fishy Around Here (Part 2): FIFA World Cup ~
​

Spoiler

Alright, time to mov... SHIT WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT:



Come on now, don't tell me i have to fight this frikking thing:



I guess "Great Carp" wasn't an euphemism. I'm gonna need a bigger sword for that.

The damn thing collapsed the bridge too, does it mean i gotta cross while getting sniped at by lighting bombs?



Oh, maybe not:



I guess i gotta be glad for small mercies in a game like this:



Wait a second, is that a samurai Na'vi playing with a ball?







That's kind of adorable. It's actually kinda of sad that i came here to poop on this nice party they have been having since who knows how long and are planning to keep it going for the next eternity but to be honest they seem pretty bored with immortality already perhaps i'm doing them a favor here after all.

Experience with this game has taught me that it is always best to start from the highest point and work your way down, so i look for the nearest rope point:



I leap on top and come face to face with another balloon kicking Na'vi:



Out of curiosity, i decide to actually fight it. Her Diego Armando Maradona routine is kinda of cute:







But just like her sword wielding sisters, they are very easy to stunlock, so i make short order of her:



Can they stop collapsing bridges? Those things aren't exactly easy to build up you know?



Actually before going forward i need an overview of the place:



I turn around when suddenly i notice i was right next to another Na'vi warrior. So, nice view huh?



She doesn't even deign to answer, so i take her out. Apparently mortals aren't good enough for her.

Anyway, so the bridge was collapsed to make this place inaccessible:



Looks like there may be another jar guy there too.

Perhaps i can reach it from there?



Probably not, but i think it's still the best entry point to make my incursion. As luck would have it, there's even a convenient rope point:



As expected, getting up high is best for an orderly, stealthy approach:



Killing the first one was about to alert the second one:



But the alert sign disappeared the second i crouched. This is almost too easy now:



The next two are even easier:







I check down but there appears to be patrols:



So i figure it's best to just keep circumventing them from behind. I make my way down the stream in the back, and i see there's dogs here as well:



I decide to use the whistle but for some reason the charmed one instead of attacking the nearest fish dog comes straight for me so i have to take them out in combat. Luckily, i manage to avoid their lighting attack and only take chip damage. I check what's up ahead this brook:



From the distance i spot two more guards, and as i get close i see they are spear wielding ones:



Out of all the variants of those Na'vi women whatever they are, these are the only ones you can't stunlock so i need to be careful. Perhaps i can make one come down by throwing a cermamic thing at it but first off i better see what's down this stream. As i suspected there's more dogs right around the turn, three from what i can see. I try to use the whistle again, this time with better success:




While i was killing them, i saw an alert sign up above. I make my way up there and there was a single dog just by himself. Those dogs are incredibly easy to sneak up to and don't actually sniff you out or hear you from a mile away, they are kind of pointless. I'm even able to get a deathblow unseen:





I jump up to get a view of what's on this side:



From up here though i start hearing scary monster noises, so it's probably best not continue this way, not until i find a Sculptor's Idol or something.

I turn around where i spot a convenient rope point:



Ok this is great i can get a full view of what's going on:



I figure a bloodsmoke attack ought to do it. I get a little close and whip out the Ceremonial Tanto to get some extra Spirit Emblems but i didn't notice the two patrols on the right coming up the stairs and almost get spotted:



From a distance i also see a third lone patrol:



I take my time to check their patterns and there's a very generous window of opportunity to take the two spear women in front of me but getting there it's a bit tricky as i have to jump behind one and do a deathblow in one single motion.

Ok as soon as that one clears out i'll make my leap:



So i jump, successfully pull a bloodsmoke attack, and i fail to do a deathblow on the second one as i couldn't find the red spot in time. I frikking hate when that shit happens. There's no way i can afford to fight the second spear woman with those patrols coming back so i'm forced to flee. Eventually i manage to give the Na'vi spear woman the slip, and a quick deathblow takes care of the problem:




I make may way back just in time to see the two guards are coming down those stairs with their backs turned, so i rush for another bloodsmoke attack, and this time i succeed in taking both:




Next is the lone patrol up above, but that's gonna be easy:




Now i have to choose. The group in front of me has a spear samurai next to the soccer woman, where as the one below has a sword wielding one, which would be easier to kill if i somehow mess up on my bloodsmoke attack.

I go down and see i even have the convenience to jump from a tree branch:



I make my leap but to my dismay the bloodsmoke attack doesn't fire. I click and click and nothing happens:



Ok, not an issue, i can just spar with the Na'vi samurai, but still, i guess it doesn't work on a deathblow form the air?

No matter, the fight is going well, but as i'm sparring with the Na'vi warrior, i notice the ones above are going red:





I turn around and i now i get into a tennis match with the soccer Na'vi that was up there lol:









This is actually kinda of fun but i have to move on heh.

It's now time to take out the last two:



Even with the Gachiin's Spiritfall i manage to alert the spear one:





I wait for the AI to calm now and now i got the place for myself:





Well, except for this stupid dog down here:



Out of curiosity, i try to see if i can sneak up to the place where i heard those monster noises, turns out it's just this guy again:



Ok this is getting a bit tense now. I got the tool to trivalize him now, namely the Lilac Umbrella, but it's still damn risky. If i die i gotta make my away here again through several Na'vi samurai and those dogs. Every time.

I figure i might as well explore the place first and make sure i either find an Idol or at least get all the loot so if i die i can just skip most of the mobs. I look down on his right but i can't see much:



I check on the other side of this brook but it's a bit too close to that tree with that damn bastard throwing lighting bombs at me whom i assume must be a boss of some kind:



He only attacks if i step in the water but i'm not sure what would happen if i get right under his nose. If i had to fight one i'd rather pick the Shichimen Warrior which is at least a known quantity.

While i'm scouting around, i take a few panoramic shots:






While taking the last shot i see i did manage to miss some loot, but as i trace the path that leads to it it appears i can only get there from reaching the next stage, which i can access by leaping through some rope points:





Not sure i want to get there yet, even though at this point it's clear that's where the next Idol is.

While jumping up there btw i saw that what's on those wooden planks i keep seeing isn't blood, but paint lol:



I make a couple more rounds and i find there was a little goodie way up, where i'm in view of that section i couldn't reach before:



On the roof i see what is likely a grapple point:



But that is one big leap i gotta do:



I try it, but all i end up accomplishing is injure myself on the way down. Bleh, maybe once i find the next Idol i'll come back here and make as many attempts as i want.

I now gotta decide what to do. I choose to be a chad and take on the Shichimen Warrior, who apparently has now spawned balls:



I'm pretty sure i wasn't spotted i think they do that if you quit and reload. Well, here goes nothing!

Well shit, i got so much practice on my last run with this guy when i was trying to get my deflections of his blue beam perfect that i managed to take this one out on the first try. He is actually easier than the others because you can pretty much guess where he is going to appear after his little teleporting trick. Still, there were a few moments where he almost got me. First, after my first leap i saw my terror bar build up with no apparent cause, and as soon as he teleported i had to use a curative. I don't know what was up with that as it doesn't happen again through the rest of the fight i think one of his balls was glitching through the water or something. After that near instant death he seemed easy enough until a couple of fish dogs appeared out of nowhere. By some miracle i manage to dodge his blue beam while the dogs are chasing me around. I was off balance after that and would have never deflected the next blue beam as my rythmn was totally off but the Lilac Umbrella saves the day. The last fuck up is that after the first deathblow i go straight to the other side as they usually teleport after that but this time he didn't and i had to run back lol. I still think this location was the easiest one out of them all, just because you can predict his teleport location with 100% certainly. Take the dogs out first and i think he becomes the most trivial version of this mini-boss.

Spoiler

So, after i kill him he drops something new:



Interesting. I wonder if this is like the Titanite Slabs in Dark Souls where i only get a few and cannot upgrade every prosthetic to the full and need to pick one instead.

Next to him there's also a babby statue. Weee:



Seems ultimately i was just being paranoid approaching the big tree doesn't aggro anything. There's a couple more dogs but other than that the way is now completely clear:



I even get close to the tree but nothing, only way to reach the boss is from above i think:



I now scope up the place from this side:



I assume this guy i see in the distance is that old woman's father:




I make one last sweep of this entire area and i guess all i got left now is the section above. This is turning out to be one big ass stretch sheesh. I leap across those ropes and find myself in front of a barred door, strange squishy noises coming from inside:



I turn around and the way appears to be clear:



But as i make it down some bitches pop out of nowhere:



So i have to make a quick dash to the right to avoid being spotted:



Mmmmh, more guards down there:



I need to be extra careful at this point since it's going to be a bitch having to fight my way back up here from the last Idol. So i use the whistle to pull him down:




And the coast is now clear:



Or so i thought as the second i try to go up another one literally materializes out of thin air:



I try the whistle again but it doesn't do shit. He just stands there and doesn't move or come down. I hate this kind of crap if you gotta have a stealth system you gotta be consistent you can't just have scripts that materialize mobs out of corners or AI that doesn't respond to your tools the way it should. Nothing i can do but take her out in open combat, which is easy as all of those Na'vi bitches fold incredibly easy to R1 spam, all but the spear one:



Man is the atmosphere of this place amazing though:



Anyway, more dancing wombyn warriors:



This one even has a little audience:



I watch her dance a little bit and i guess it is kinda of mesmerizing, but i can't imagine wanting to spend eternity like this.

I drop down and try to take out the two guards on the back. I can't make one step around the corner that i get spotted but it's no big deal, R1 spamming just cuts them down to ribbons:



Definitely can't take this whole group like that though, so it's time for strategy:



Hey, it works:






One down:



And now it's two:



And three lol:



This is like some kind of comedy skit the dancing one doesn't even notice her audience is gone:



Shall we?



Oh come on. This one is like the other one, gets alerted but is immune to the effect:



Nothing to do but face her in battle. She is a little harder than the others, but not by much. Once i kill her, i see there's at least an ingame explanation for why she was immune to the whistle, as apparently she must have been too drunk to even notice:



I don't even know who exactly i'm supposed to take this one to as i thought all the drunken conversations were done.

Either way, there's that damn Sculptor's Idol:



And there's that damn boss:



Let there be sweet, sweet revenge!

So i charge, dodge her lighting soccer kick, and then she dies in two seconds. The one that was dancing actually put more of a fight than this so called "boss". At first i thought this was a repeat of the fake boss in the Ghost Town, which it sort of is i guess the only reason those are "bosses" is so that they won't respawn after killing them. I still couldn't believe how weak she was so i went to check the wiki, where someone in the comments recommended using her to practice Lightning Reversal. I actually had forgotten that thing even existed, so i went to fish out an old save, and rushed to the boss to see if i could actually figure out how this works. It doesn't take me long actually, but i'm not sure i like it. You still take a bit of damage, and the range of the "reversal" is pitiful. In order to actually hit her, i had to get really close but that just triggered her kicks. So i had to basically just keep a certain distance then get close before pulling the Reversal right as she started her animation, which was kinda of annoying. While i was doing that, by chance i got close enough to see the red deathblow dot while she was up in the air.

So basically what i ended up doing is merge all three videos. My original one where i act surprised at how quick she dies (i was actually gonna name this wat... #2 or something, heh), the one where i practiced Lightning Reversal, and the one where i just go straight for the mid air deathblow. So in the end out of a stupid boss i was able to make an half decent video.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Maaan, I always forgot how good looking Sekiro is.

 

[cvv]

Finally got around to catching up on this due to RL.

LS if you didn't like the Shura fight you're probably gonna get emphysema with the proper final boss. Can't wait

(at least I thought the Shura Isshin was a joke, got him on my 3rd or 4th run, and yes, Ichimonji is very good in this fight).

 

[Multidirectional]

Nah, I hate Shura fight as well and I have no problem enjoying normal final boss. The fiery phase of Isshin is annoying garbage.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I didn't hate it because it was hard, i just don't like things where i feel like i'm not in control. The fact i had to dodge his fire attacks and couldn't deflect them, the fact that flurry he does requires a guide to learn how to deflect (i still haven't looked at one as i wanna try to give it a go on my own again). It kinda of bothers me. I prefer the more straightforward clank clank stuff, the kind of challenge that makes you feel bad ass instead of making you feel you are at the mercy of luck.

Like i said, i'm not opposed to those things being in the game, but i'm still not entirely a fan and would prefer if they are kept at a minimum.

I had the same issue with Lady Butterfly in the second phase. The fact the only way to get around her illusions was to just run back and forth across the arena hoping RNG was in your favor bugged me. Luckily with her, you can stunlock her from casting any. Owl (Father) was a little better as at least there were actually counters to his magic attacks.

 

[Lyric Suite]

~ Something Fishy Around Here (Part 3): Ride the Lightning ~
​

Spoiler

Well, the "boss" is now gone, which would allow me to finally swim around this frikking lake unmolested if it wasn't for that giant carp i saw earlier. First off i need to go get that loot from that lower branch but before doing that i need to take a few more beauty shots of this amazing place:





Sorry, i can't help myself. I then drop down and of course i miss the jump and fall into the water, injuring myself. After making my way up again and pretend nothing happened, i see that the old woman has now moved:





The lighting soccer Na'vi is gone but i'm sort of scared of that damn giant fish. When i was a little kid i had this nightmare where i was in a vast swimming pool with a dark, giant whale or something like that right next to me while i was under water it scared me shitless and i get shivers thinking about meeting this damn thing under water. I try to swim to her and hear rumbling all around me and i instantly freak out but i realize whatever it was i missed it. Out of curiosity, i restore my save before the soccer fish woman, kill her again and make an attempt to dive in to see if i can catch a glimpse of it in time to take a few shots:





It definitely looks ancient. I'm guessing this means it's now inside that cave and i don't have to worry about the thing wimming around the lake here. I hope.

I go talk to the old woman and she has more pointless advice:





Yeah, i figured as much. Wolf asks her what's her deal now:





I haven't even found her father yet and she is already giving me new taks. But fine, whatever.

Seems i'm finally free to explore this lake:




I dive in and find lots of goodies everywhere:






Whoa, carp scale galore:



Yeah not going there for the moment:



Hoooo, beautiful:




While taking the last shot, i notice something is getting alerted on my left. Turns out it's a carp, and there's a lot of those down here as you would expect:




I don't know what that jar merchant i coldn't reach before sells but i have a LOT of scales so his inventory must be pretty substantial. Those carps are more skittish than usual btw it's a bit annoying to get them as they appear to see me even when turned around:




This lake is pretty deep btw:



But i ain't going there yet. Gotta clean up everything up here first:




I STILL have no idea what this does lol:



I think this is pretty much everything:




Before diving further down i take the time to kill all the carps, but it proves to be something of an annoyance. First i gotta get rid of a whole group of aggressive carps:



Nothing i can do but just charge in and swing randomly to and fro. I get lucky and manage to catch most of them before they realize i'm there so i came out almost unschathed.

More carps over here:



Under that structure i find more baits:




Eventually i manage to get all the carps except one, which just likes to swim in the open and there appears to be no possible place from which i can sneak up to it:




Only thing i could do is lay in ambush in his exact spawn point. Takes me several tries but eventually i succeed:




Wait, is that a giant dead carp down there at the bottom?



And fuck me is that a double Headless boss fight?



Damn, one of those is already annoying enough as it is, let alone two, and i'm probably gonna have to fight both at once, which is going to be a complete clusterfuck.

While i contemplate some kind of strategy, i take the time to bask in this calm and safe underwater atmosphere:



On my left i spot a nugget in the distance, so i lazily swim towards it while i'm thinking for a way to take out those Headless bastarts. No rush, it's just so cozy down here... annnnnnd i'm enfeebled:



Two seconds later i'm dead. Way to ruin this awesome streak asshole. I don't even understand why i died, i think FromSoft didn't feel like making an enfeebled underwater animation so they just decided to make it an instant death instead. Fucking lame. Luck is on my side though as i get some Unseen Aid which prevents me from losing the large amount of sens i collected so far. So before anything, i decide to go spend them before tackling the Headless boss:





I also got enough skill points to pick up this weapon art:



I figured i might as well continue with the same path i've been following from the beginning: just pick up things to unlock everything, and i remembered the Mushin Arts tree still had a couple of skills that was unreatchable.

While i'm out here i make a round between Emma, the Sculptor and Isshin, but none of them has an option to give them the last sake i found. I guess there was just one extra.

Alright, time to get revenge on that bastard. As soon as i do that some stupid fish wants to bite me even though i'm not in the water:



Just look at Jaws over here lol:





Anyway, after several tries i eventually find a way to deal with the two Headless:

I try to fight them "legit" a couple of times but it's way too annoying and obnoxious and at this point i'm pretty much bored with this guy. Gachiin's Spiritfall allows you to fight one without being seen by the other. This trivalizes the fight but whatever, i'm sick of this guy now and i gotta keep going as i feel i'm very close to finishing up this let's play. So long sucker.

Spoiler

So killing them drops what i assume is the easy mode of this game:



And turn arond and let there be even moar treasure:




Turns out it's a Prayer Bead.

BTW, there's more than one dead Great Carp down here:






Is this the cause of infestation? Rotten Great Carps?

Still haven't found a way to reach this side:



Guess i need to go through the cave first. Damn there's that thing:



I dash forward, when i spot a nugget in the distance:



He is turning back though so i'm forced to hide:



As soon as he turns around i make my desperate dash. Go go go:



But right as i'm about to reach the loot, i get spotted:



Fuuuuuuuuuuck:



He is incredibly fast and gets on top of me in a nanosecond but somehow he misses his target and ends up smashing on the rock above me, which allows me to flee out of the cave undamaged. Sheesh that was close. I turn around and i see he has recovered and is now staring at me:



I try to approach but he is having none of it:



I backtrack a bit and stand around for a minute or so relaxing in the water:



But when i come back he still there, and as i approach him i get the same results:




Well, ok then, i guess all i can do is port out and hope once i'm back he has reset the aggro.

This time i decide to go in better prepared:



As i had hoped, the AI has reset itself and i make it almost to the other side undected when i see some more loot at the bottom:



I wait for him to turn around:



Once he is clear i make my dash:



This time i pick up the thing and i just keep moving in one single motion. Gooooooo:



I thought i was supposed to emerge from that opening up there, but apparently that way is blocked. In a panic, i turn around to try to make it for the nearest cover, but i'm too late:



I reach the structure but he has already seen me, and just bursts through the thing and destroys everything, me included:



I rez and while he is still recovering i manage to see the opening, and i finally emerge onto safety:




Well, i made it i guess, more or less.

Up ahead i see a small waterfall with several grappling points. As i rope my way upwards, the comforting sight of a Sculptor's Idol comes into view:






Ok then, looks like i went around that barred door:



Inside i find a bunch of red nobles just chomping on some dead Na'vi women:



Well, this immortality crap is really going well for them, is it:



Out of disgust, i just decide to murder everything in this room. Fuck it. I wonder why the Okami women allowed themselves to become food for those squids:



I step into that doorway and find a chest with that i assume is the last Gourd Seed:




I get out of this disgusting "palace" which apparently is the size of a small cottage and there's another waterfall i need to climb, with a bunch of white lizards that just appear to spit on me and nothing else. I literally get hit but there's no status build up or anything. Not sure why even have them in the game at all.

I turn around and see there's a grappling point on top of the "palace" in question:



I assume i'm supposed to get on that side from here somehow, but that looks like one scary jump:



I also still need to get that jar guy, which may require more dangerous jumps:



For now i'm curious to see what's on top of the waterfall worse come to worst i'll just backtrack back here if i see i'm getting too far ahead:



I make it on top where i'm faced with a series of Shinto torii:



As soon as i get close though there's a lighting strike but i'm too slow to catch a screenshot of it, so i port out as i want to try to get one. As soon as i walk into the palace/hut though, i meet the old woman again, who appears to be intent in trying to murder the red nobles even though i already killed them all:







After this she dies. I try to port out and back, but there's nothing next to the body or anything like that not sure if i messed up the quest by failing to get to her father before this, or if this is just how it's supposed to end. Nothing i can do but move on. I get back up the waterfall and this time i manage to catch the lighting:



I think i know what this means. I sneak up there to see if i can get a look and perhaps device a strategy, but i get spotted before i can see what's going on. Turns out it's those lighting Tomoe fish women. I rush back and manage to give them the slip, but now they are just standing there and i can't do much:



Once again this feels pretty much scripted. I try again with the Gachiin's Spiritfall but it makes no difference so you know what? Fuck it, let there be open battle!

So turns out you CAN avoid damage while doing the Lighting Reversal, i was just doing it wrong. You can actually hear a clank when you pull it off correctly. I think it's safe to say i finally figured out how this thing works now. Took bad it was only three though i expected more as i kept moving up but there wasn't anything else, meh.

Spoiler

So i defeat the three Okami women but there's no more once i make my way up:



Behind me there's a cave with what i thought was an NPC but turns out she is dead. Look like a "bride" of some kind:



This pretty much looks like the end of the line so i think i'm better off turning back now to finish up this place. I jump on the roof once more and after taking the time to look more closely i finally see it:



Ok then:




Compared to the previous section up to the Tomoe boss fight, this area has scant defences. I take out the archer on the roof and there's nothing much of note, just a couple of dogs underneath and that Tomoe woman chilling on the bridge which i don't even bother fighting, i just take her out in stealth 'cause whatever, i got their number now:







Nothing much but go talk to the dude:






Ok let's try it then:



As soon as i ring the bell, that damn thing just comes in a flash, looking to be fed. It's actually kinda of cute like this lol:




So i throw him some bait, regular one not the "precious" bait, and he chumps it down with gusto:




He wants more but for now i decide to see what the guy has to say first, so he just leaves:



Apparently, i get a crap scale for my troubles:






Nice. I go feed it again and this time i get three carp scales as reward but now the dude tells me i cannot feed him anymore, at least not for a while:





I go check on the Great Carp and apparently he is now all docile and friendly. Awwww:



I seriously need to find a way to the jar dude now. I jump on the roof of the palace again and begin thinking maybe i'm supposed to reach the top side here, possibly by jumping next to the waterfall where those Tomoe warriors were:



While i'm contemlating this, i actually finally see it:



Seems like i was within reach of this damn jar dude for a long while:



Cave is full of white lizards. They barely damage me, don't poison me, i still don't get the point:



BTW don't ask me how many times i tried to make it here from there, it's embarassing:



Ok, let's see what this jar guy has now:



Turns out he only had a few items but they were very expensive. No problem, it seems i got enough carps to clear his entire inventory. After buying everything, he now warns me about the other jar guy:






Since i cleared his entire invetory in one swoop, when i select talk again he goes right into the next step of his quest line:




I wonder if i follow this quest line do i get to keep the Great Carp alive?





Yeah right i know where this is going:





Sure, go ahead.








Figures.






Wonder what the dynamic between those two actually is. The other one is in a "past" memory, so who exactly i'm talking to here? How does this one know about the other one, if Wolf found him only by traveling through time? Probably another one of those FromSoft mysteries that will never be answered but will make people speculate endlessly.

At last, he stops talking and as soon as the dialog screen goes away i see i now have the full mask:



I go to the Idol and pop what i think is the last Prayer Necklace. I don't know why the game is throwing so much lore about this Roger dude like why is he important?



I now check this mask thing and this is pretty interesting:



I don't dare try it as this seems like a way to just make the game easier but it's interesting that they forsaw that eventually people would fill up all the skill trees so they put something there to make skill points still be useful, exactly like that prosthetic that uses sens as ammunition.

So now i have to make a choice it seems. I have no idea if the outcome differs, but i decide to side with the first jar guy. I feel he was more honest about what he wanted to do and i met him first so i have more of a relationship with him. It kinda saddens me i have to do this but hey, loot is loot so screw it. I feed the Great Carp the "truly" precious bait then i go check but i guess to see the effect i have to reload the game:



I port back and sure enough something changed with the old dude:





I now know that when i get those kind of prompts it means i'm supposed to bring an item to an NPC:



I go check in the lake but there's nothing there, not even a dead body. I know for a fact i'm supposed to kill the Great Carp because i was checking my achievements earlier and i noticed i had "missed" some, so when i revealed what they were one of them said "Defeated the Great Colored Carp". I'm going to assume once the old Carp dies, the jar dude turns into another one and i have to do battle with that one. I go check on the nearest one and he appears to be dead:



So i go to the Hirata Estate memory and i see something went wrong as the guy didn't become a Great Carp but turned into one of those fishes where only the "eyes" are immortal, if i remember the description correcty:





In the jar i just find another one of those things:



I port in and out several times across all the same locations and nothing chances. I check every possible nook and cranny in the lake for any clue or where i'm supposed to fight this Great Carp but nothing. I mean it's not like the thing should be hard to miss, huge as it is. I'm now at a complete loss. I think i might have given up but i don't want to miss the achievement so i spend the better part of the night trying to figure this shit out.

Eventually i get bored so i decide to make a few rounds while i keep trying to figure this out in my head. I go to the Sculptor and it seems now all i got left is the Lapis Lazuli upgrades but i gotta think about those so for now i'll just pick the last normal one:



I seriously have no clue what to do next so i go kill some guys to make it to the next skill point as i think as soon as i click on the bride i'm gonna have to fight the Divine Dragon. I now got even more sens left and i'm not sure what to do with them. I vaguely remember there were still a few coin purses i had left on the merchants but i forgot which one it was. I decide to check each one in turn and on the first two i discover their stock of Dragon's Blood Droplets has replenished itself:




So basically all the trouble i went through to avoid the rot was completely pointless as you can just buy those things again as soon as you consume them. And none of you guys could have told me this? Lol. Well, i guess it made for an interesting playthrough at least since i basically played the whole game thinking it was a finite resource.

I continue to check the merchants and i get to the one in the Sunken Valley next to the monkeys. I turn around to gain some distance so i can make it to the tree branch below and motherfucker there it is:



I mean i knew shit from the Fountainhead Palace washed down here, i even commented on those planks of wood more than a few times but this whole fish? How? Between the lake and the waterfall there was only the shallowest of water streams. The water was literally knee high, how the fuck did this entire fish "wash" from there? Unless it crawled down the waterfall while it was still alive but screw that bullshit. I even went to check afterwards if there were some clues, blood maybe, more broken pieces of wood, but there was nothing. I don't mind FromSoft being cryptic but there's no logical explanation of how this thing ended down here at all. Even if one assumes the thing managed to push itself towards the waterfall as it was dying the house where i first got enfeebled was in the way and would have to have been torn apart but when i checked it was still there. I don't think FromSoft actually thought this through.

I get close to the thing and the steam achievement sound rings. So i guess that's it. Next to its body i find this thing:




Ye ye screw this cryptic shit i already know where i'm supposed to take this:









Well that was completely pointless. If it wasn't for the achievement i wouldn't have minded missing this whole thing.

Alright, this has been going for far longer than i anticipated. I think i'm pretty close to the end though so after this there should probably be one or two updates left. Can't believe i managed to keep up my autism for this long lol.

Anyway, time to go kill this Divine Dragon bitch. I go pray by the dead bride:




This time, i'm actually transported into the divine realm, where i see a collapsed tree:





I can make out what appears to be an arm so i guess the Everblossom was the Divine Dragon all along, or there is a connection between the two. While i'm studying the thing, a single sakura leaf drops:



As soon as it touches the ground, i hear some rumbling, and then this goofy looking thing emerges from the same spot lmao:



That AIN'T the Divine Dragon fuck you.

After figuring out how to beat the silly oak guys, i turn around just in time to see the dead sakura tree turn into full blossom again:





Now all the diseased oak guys kneel:



When suddenly lighting strikes, after which the real dragon emerges:






While it was rising i noticed two things btw. First, that it is missing arm, obviously a reference to the fact a "branch" was cut off it. Second, that it has a big gash in his chest, which i guess is why Kuro's wound had to be in his chest: they had to make it obvious that injuring Kuro meant injuring the Dragon and this thing is so thin there was no other place they could have chosen to show the wound:

Great spectacle but the fight was pretty easy. Just a puzzle boss mostly. Only the last flurry had me tripping for a few times but then i figured out the deflection pattern.

Seems lke i'm close to finishing up this let's play. As soon as i port out i see that Isshin is laying on the floor, likely dead, but i can't continue this right now so we'll see if i can go straight to the last boss or if there's still more i have to do. Stay tuned this is nearly the end!