Crosspost from: https://lemmy.world/post/1977669
Wow. What an experience.
It wasn't all smooth sailing. I even took a month break thinking I might not come back to it, but boy I'm glad I did.
I'm new to souls like, only having played Elden Ring before this (which was amazing). Sekiro was a game that I picked up afterwards, and struggled with early on. It felt like a departure to everything I'd learned in gaming to this point. You don't want to dodge, you want to deflect. Holding block helps you recover. Parrying will beat a boss quicker than trying to drive down their health. Once these things start to click, defeating bosses feels like a true accomplishment.
Fighting the end game bosses had my heart rate going like no other boss battles I can remember. Elden Ring had some memorable and awe inspiring bosses, but the feeling in Sekiro when you're about to break the posture of a boss for a final deathblow was indescribable.
If there's anyone left who hasn't given Sekiro a go, do yourself a favour. It takes some time for it to click, but when it does, it's something special.
Oh wow, a DoH enjoyer. A rare sight to behold. :D
There is actually a cheese method if you're ever fed up with the fight. It's a little tricky but ultimately not super difficult to pull off: link
It is a difficult question, indeed. In terms of gameplay, I'd probably go with Sword Saint Isshin (a little different from regular Isshin) because of the shear absurdity and over-the-topness of the fight. He really tests every single mechanic you learn in the game in a brilliant way.
A close second would probably be regular Genichiro or his Inner variant. It's just a super good fight and good early representation of what the game has in store for players. It's super challenging at first but is quite simple once you get the hang of it.
Regular Owl and Owl Father are amazing fights too. I've heard people calling the Owl Father fight in particular the best one in FromSoft's entire history. I feel that for sure. Probably the 3rd spot for me.
Maybe enjoy isn't the right word come to think of it. But I guess DoH was rewarding and memorable haha.
Sword Saint was great too. It really felt like it escalated with each phase to a crescendo.
Owl father was a real challenge for me, so maybe I didn't get to enjoy it. But come to think of it, without that fight and the plenty of practice it gave me, I would've struggled a lot longer on some of the following bosses. I think it was Isshin Ashina and Owl where I had to learn move sets and think about my approach.
What do I play next though is the real question. What did you follow it up with?
I feel you.
I think the next one I played was Demon's Souls. I played Bloodborne first, played Sekiro second, moved on to Demon's Souls, then tried my hand at Dark Souls but lost interest in Blight Town, and then ended up with Elden Ring last, which I'm currently still playing with my SO.
Demon's Souls was quite a crass departure from Sekiro's fast-paced combat and QOL changes, but I enjoyed the game a lot still. The level design is amazing, the bosses were, albeit very easy, very memorable. Plus, the visuals are just amazing.
To add: Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 have similarly paced combat. They wouldn't be as much of a slog to go through as a game like Dark Souls 1 or Demon's Souls for that matter would be.