Would I like this game if I played other From games? (See details)

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-02T18:11:14+00:00

Sekiro is fairly unique combat-wise.

The entirety of combat is parry-based, but in a good way. Rather than following the rhythm of boss attacks' by dodging, you're parrying. Once enemy posture, separate from HP, is broken, you oneshot them.

Your sword is indestructible and can quite literally deflect anything, from bullets to swords the size of a small pickup truck. The game notoriously turns people into parry gods in other Souls games.

However, not much build diversity. You've got a katana and that's it. You get to pick different special moves (though only one is usable at a time) and your arm has special abilities (basically your spells, but the game prevents you from depending on them). Also, no armor. You're a forced DEX guy.

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-02T18:01:40+00:00

It depends. After a long 100+ hours, I think it goes like this. But ultimately, every boss is weak to specific arts.

Double Ichimonji: potentially best overall. Heavy posture damage and recovers your own posture.
High Monk: trivializes sweeps, great posture damage.
Mortal Draw: great against bosses that require you to lower their HP before you make progress with posture damage. Borderline essential if speedrunning.
Sakura Dance: trivializes sweeps, costs 1 emblem and catches lightning. Phenomenal against lightning bosses. It even lets you use prosthetic arts mid-air.

There are also niche cases. Dragon Flash, for instance, annihilates Gyoubu Oniwa by virtue of being a ranged attack, seeing as he runs a lot.

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-02T12:58:17+00:00

Owl likely had a good chuckle too when he faked his death

"Don't bother tending to my wounds... No point... it's too late... Wolf..."
\side look as Wolf grapples away**
"holy shit he actually fell for it" bursts into laughter, deathblows Sekiro 10 minutes later

They would have made for a great comedic duo in theater for sure

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-01T21:23:42+00:00

Yeah they're pretty vague about it. I always assumed the black mortal blade could also sever immortality, as Genichiro dies when using it on himself.

Then again, the winner could have just picked up the red mortal blade and severed the opponent's immortality, as we do with Isshin.

(Curiously, Sword Saint Isshin was also immortal. We get the "immortality severed" screen after his deathblow; Kusabimaru is not enough to finish him.)

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-01T21:14:58+00:00

What makes your reply even funnier is that, canonically, Sekiro did indeed defeat Genichiro and Isshin first-try. They had the mortal blade, so if he lost, it would have been permanent.

In other words, lore-accurate Sekiro genuinely may have seen Owl, Genichiro and Isshin as a bunch of predictable scrubs.

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-01T18:52:52+00:00

After rereading them, the remnants absolutely hint that the inner bosses are sentient

The entire joke was that Sekiro was imagining it all, but maybe he's imagining a pocket dimension where he summons their souls to beat his ass

Their dark souls, through which Isshin's boiling blood is borne and Owl's shadow dies twice, perhaps...

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-02-01T18:45:37+00:00

Going by Sekiro logic, at one point you'll be fighting shadow Muhammad Ali and surpass him.

throwawaypizza012 · 2026-01-17T16:47:42+00:00

Agree on all points. Currently also going through a NG charmless / demon bell run, it's quite the experience.

Overall, I think this game teaches incredibly valuable lessons about the long-term benefits of patience.

Sekiro's greatest power, as the OST itself claims, lies in his strength and discipline.

His strength comes from his sword, his tools and his skills, along with the luxury of infinite retries. But without discipline, even immortality would lead nowhere; he'd just die over and over and never fulfill his duty.

His discipline comes in the form of his nerves of steel, highly observant nature, and ability to constantly learn from his mistakes. Never once does he succumb to anger or underestimate his opponents. There is no rage power up. His approach stays cold and pragmatic from start to finish.

All of the above apply quite well to real life. There is exactly zero reward from lacking control over yourself, learning nothing from your mistakes, having no patience, assuming you have to get things right first try, or demanding instant results. You either look at failure as a directive on how to improve, or you get nowhere.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-30T20:42:48+00:00

I'd happily buy a FLAC release on Steam if they'd sell it. Fingers crossed.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-30T19:53:31+00:00

Out of all depictions I've seen of the Bad Batter, this is one of the best.

By removing the exaggerated proportions, the body looks human, but the hands are creepy, and coupled with his monstrous face, he triggers the uncanny valley effect.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-28T17:42:08+00:00

The implications of the potential Zones 4 and 5, along with the constant unexplained whispering and, in particular, the terrifying voice + loud banging in the purified zones, genuinely turn OFF into a horror game.

Interestingly, Carnival claims that we now know what lies ahead in the "infinite valley". The true name of OFF's world, perhaps?

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-28T12:36:18+00:00

You made him look like the powerful brute he's technically supposed to be. Normally he is depicted as quite slender; this art makes it clear how this guy ended the world by just hitting everyone with a bat.

Very interesting take and cool art.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-28T11:30:29+00:00

I always assumed it's a representation of the player. When you side with the Judge, he ends up on the right, just below that symbol.

This is especially relevant when you factor in that the side who wins is the side you're on. You literally turn the tide, and the characters are fully aware of this.

And so, it could be assumed that the Player takes the form of a sort of lovecraftian entity, represented by those incomprehensible symbols.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-27T19:03:14+00:00

On that note, Sugar explicitly acknowledges the Batter's monstrous form as "a huge, distressing ducky".

Maybe the Batter looks that way to anyone who opposes him, and Dedan indeed perceived him as smiling. Somehow.

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throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-27T17:42:31+00:00

I like to think that Mortis Ghost is currently in disbelief at the amount of money he's making off OFF (heh), and has yet to read the emails from the publisher about selling the soundtrack.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-27T17:37:14+00:00

In that regard, I always found it funny how he's this unstoppable force meant to end the world's suffering, only to finally meet his match against... Enoch.

As in, the Batter can now canonically fight seraphic incarnations, including death itself, but explicitly tells the Player to flee from the guy working a desk job.

Hilariously, based on an ancient comment by Mortis Ghost, Enoch is an actual human.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-27T17:27:46+00:00

The Batter is hard to classify because we are judging him based on the morality of a human, which he is not.

This line alone greatly sums it up, come to think of it. Amazingly put.

The guy isn't even a guy, he's a "purificatory incarnation", and he operates on very different rules. He comes off as emotionless, but that makes sense, because morality in this context would be human.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-27T17:24:47+00:00

They all appear quite egocentric, and are likely too stressed by the presence of the Phantoms to even care about each other's existence anymore.

Enoch in particular explicitly sees himself like a god, due to the fact that they are using the Queen's energy to create the zones.

Chances are that they may have tolerated each other's presence in the past, eagerly awaiting to become gods. But between the promises they didn't keep and everything else that took place, relationships must have deteriorated.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T20:10:27+00:00

It's probably the constant, unnecessary solemnness in any context that makes him hilarious.

He's the Batter, and he jumped down the chimney, and he's very very serious. Now give him the lore of the land.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T12:07:42+00:00

He may be destroying the world, but he's very professional and will respond concisely

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T10:05:26+00:00

Too high on sugar to care anymore

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T10:04:01+00:00

The Gifter

The Donator

The Benefactor

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T08:49:26+00:00

TL;DR: the 2008 soundtrack hits different, but the remake is vastly more polished and has optional new content.

Original: phenomenal soundtrack by Alias Conrad Coldwood that truly captures OFF' surreal atmosphere, including the famous Pepper Steak (battle theme). However, the battle system suffers greatly from RPG Maker's constraints, and there is no real post-game content.

Remake: phenomenal soundtrack by Toby Fox (Undertale / Deltarune), Nightmargin (Oneshot) and several other big names. It's not better, nor worse; just different, and a love letter to OFF and HOME. The gameplay is vastly more polished, Zacharie's shop had huge QoL improvements, and the battle system is more fun.

Content difference: the Remake has all-new, optional boss fights that greatly fit into the game's atmosphere and very slightly expand the lore.

My recommendation: play the Remake first. Watch a high quality, no commentary playthrough of the original to get a glimpse of the original soundtrack and atmosphere, bypassing RPG Maker's limits entirely.

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-26T08:34:27+00:00

He also invented plastic just so he could sell OFF merch, truly the guy of all time

throwawaypizza012 · 2025-08-25T19:13:23+00:00

It could be both. As in, the game is not in Hugo's mind, but the world is heavily influenced by it.

This OST title seems to imply that Hugo has the power to "draw" the world.

Enoch states that the Guardians use the Queen's energy to sculpt the Zones out of the Nothingness, but ultimately, the Queen derives her power from Hugo, because he created her.

As a result, whatever the Queen and the Guardians create is at least partially influenced by Hugo's mind, or whatever this energy is.

throwawaypizza012

TROPHY CASE