Bonfireside Chat off week episodes
Added 2019-05-01 21:44:40 +0000 UTCHello! A couple of people have expressed some frustration that BSC only comes out every two weeks. In the original run, the main show came out every two weeks as well, with response episodes coming on off weeks. The reason we didn't do that for Sekiro is that we feel like it resists that a bit. There's less to say about the bosses and fewer areas, and less overall stuff to chew on, but that does leave the pace of the show too slow for some, and we think that's a fair criticism.
But response episodes for each episode probably isn't the best idea. So we're going to start doing different sorts of off week episodes, starting after our Hirata Estates episode. The first one will be a response episode, so if you have thoughts on your **initial impressions and early game experiences of Sekiro** hit us up in the replies here.
Future off week episodes might feature a guest talking about the game (or other Fromsoft games), a brief overview of Buddhism/Shinto, talking about movies that share some DNA with Sekiro, and other general soulsborne specials about things like music in the series, or humor. These will probably be looser discussions and overviews (we're not experts on Shinto, for example) but we want to find a way to make some additional content while also keeping to a schedule we're capable of maintaining.
Thanks for your patience while we figure this out!
-Gary-
Comments
I also did the shura ending. Those bosses were just as bad. Entire 8 hour work day just trodding along waiting to get lucky one time and finish the ending. All end bosses of this game are just badly designed and too focused on difficulty in my opinion. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t have that opinion about any other bosses in froms games.
Jessie joy
2019-05-17 00:38:49 +0000 UTCPlaying the early areas again for the show really hit home for me how poor a teacher Sekiro was at times. Knowledge compressing space isn't anything new in souls games but it really stands out how much easier the first leg of this game is once you actually understand how the game works especially in regards to posture.
David
2019-05-06 04:32:35 +0000 UTCWhen I finally managed to overcome that boss, I instinctively yelled, “FUCK YOU!”, put my controller down and had to take a walk. I was SO pissed! I’ve never reacted to a game like that before.
Richard Everett
2019-05-04 23:59:09 +0000 UTCi don't know if theres a good place to put this, but on my NG+ run i learned that you can charge your attacks, which gives you way more range and lets you whittle down posture a bit better. instead of spamming dodge and being too far away to follow up with a quick strike.
Murry Gatchen
2019-05-04 01:48:27 +0000 UTCThat seems to be a big split point, is if people beat him and then sort of stockholm syndrome into loving him, or if they beat him and still hate his guts.
Duckfeed.tv
2019-05-03 18:44:13 +0000 UTCSo you guys finally got me on your side for a boss fight. Just beat the game for the first time. FUCK that final boss. Lol literally no complaints about any of the other bosses in the game....but to hell with the last one and his never ending phases and health bars and healing gourd tax phases.
Jessie joy
2019-05-03 14:05:05 +0000 UTCI'm just grateful for the show... And the other shows. If this frequency allows you to produce the shows at the current level of quality, then that's great. I'd rather have fewer great shows than a ton of half-assed ones. And you don't need to feel insecure about the value you're offering on a paid level. Most podcast patreons are like one extra show per month. You're vastly outdoing the majority. You're good, I trust your judgment on what episode frequency is best.
Brian Perkins
2019-05-02 20:12:17 +0000 UTCLove love love !!! I'll never say no to more Bonfireside Chat. Best news I've gotten all day!!
Jesse Candelori
2019-05-02 19:09:59 +0000 UTCI agree largely about the difficulty. I found Sekiro's difficulty to be annoying but not existentially threatening. Although I tend to skip/cheese bosses that I deem to be not worth bothering with. There's a good YT channel all about cheesing bosses that I might use for my second run. But beyond the difficulty, the most important thing for me is the story and the world. Ironically (or fittingly), I feel this game doesn't have 'soul'. The characters are mostly stoic (see the RLM takedown of the Phantom Menace characters). They speak without emotion. From sacrificed many popular aspects like character customisation in order to have a protagonist who's part of the story, but Sekiro is a boring, stoic avatar. Perhaps even more important than that, is the lack of intrigue in the world. You guys noticed this early on. I've played the game through once and I'm wondering what the heck Vaati is going to have to say. There are secrets but the world is so surface-level. As you said, the supernatural elements are all things that have been done before. I could go on for a long time, so let me simply illustrate like this: compare the descriptions of DS1's estus flask with Sekiro's guord: "The Undead treasure these dull green flasks. Fill with Estus at Bonfire. Fills HP. The Estus Flasks are linked to the Fire Keepers. The Dark Tales also make reference: An emerald flask, from the Keeper's soul. She lives to protect the flame, and dies to protect it further" "A gourd filled with Vitality-restoring medicine. Resting refills the Gourd. Made by an apprentice of the extraordinary doctor, Dogen. Though it is strange that the gourd's medicinal waters refill automatically, the seeds within may hold the secret to how it works." I basically don't need to comment on the difference here. DS1 filled us with questions, many of which had no answer, or an ambigous set of possible answers that we had to piece together as a community. Sekiro leaves us with no questions, or simply answers them within one playthrough. Disappointing. Waiting for Miyazaki's next proper story. Or maybe that was Deracine?
Matthew Turnbull
2019-05-02 17:58:39 +0000 UTCI was greatly relieved that you guys had a similar first impression of the game as I did. I’ve since come around on it quite a bit but the first few sessions of play had me thinking “I’m really glad I didn’t take off a day of work for this.” Your description of it not being a good and consistent teacher is spot on. An example of that for me was that damn Ogre. I banged my head up against it for hours and finally got into a good groove where I though “oh I think I get it now! I can do this.” I had a perfect run/fight of taking no damage the entire time and only having a little bit of health left to kill him. Then he literally one shot me. He did a quick grab, powerbombed me at full health, which depleted me down to below the threshold of being able to survive a fall, and he threw me off of the cliff, killing me instantly despite having a resurrection. I was so furious that the game, which had taken steps to project that it was difficult for you to fall to your death, and to be built around a system of resurrecting yourself, just completely subverted those mechanics in the last few seconds of a frustrating early fight. However I did take a video of the whole thing and post it because I knew it was one of those classic From Software moments, even though it seemed more unfair than anything that ever happened to me in Dark Souls or Bloodborne. It felt more like a first step in Shadow Tower where you instantly walk off the platform and die
Karl Germ
2019-05-02 13:30:14 +0000 UTCEarly on the game was a real learning curve for myself, having ignored the parry system for the most part in the other games. Learning to deflect still felt too risky with the high damage and lead me to beating Gyoubu and Juzou by holding sprint and getting a slash in every now and then. Happy to say it didn’t last long and I’m looking forward to starting NG+3 ! Glad to see the show back and cant wait to here your thoughts on the rest of the game.
Jake Bellwood
2019-05-02 13:06:15 +0000 UTCYojimbo is my all time favorite film. The price tag may make hard for members to watch. A film that came to my mind. One could say it's the Jon Wick of samurai's films Blade of the Immortal. The main character is a undying Cursed Immortal came out 2017. Alot of fighting in this one the enemys with insects inside there body made me this of this movie / manga.
Mcav86
2019-05-02 11:16:01 +0000 UTCHappy to hear this. BSC is the reason I became a patreon and I'm now enjoying a lot of other stuff on the network because of it.
Jonathan Boyce
2019-05-02 08:30:35 +0000 UTCThat sounds really cool! Maybe all my annoying comments at the end of each of your episodes will mean something now:p
Jessie joy
2019-05-02 05:02:26 +0000 UTClove BSC and yall's thoughtful perspective on these game. I think the combat is my favorite not only amongst the Fromsoft games, but any game. Love the "swords clashing" feeling; for the first time I feel like I'm taking part in a well choreographed sword fight pulled from a movie. everything else though is a bit meh....if your going to be a not-souls game, you have to be something else: something equally as distinct as souls. Otherwise, you're just a not-souls game, but sorta kinda a souls game, but just with a lot of subtractions.....ya know?
LucidEclair
2019-05-02 03:40:04 +0000 UTCGreat news.
Michael Whitmore
2019-05-02 03:06:45 +0000 UTCI would also love this. The follow up Sanjuro is also worth talking about, they are both great movies. But either way some Kurosawa talk this season would make my day.
Joelle
2019-05-02 00:51:59 +0000 UTCOne of the best early impressions I had for the game was the discovery that you could perfect deflect/parry the dogs really easily and you could perform a deathblow on them. Then finding that you can do this for nearly every enemy, that was really cool!
Limowreck
2019-05-02 00:39:59 +0000 UTCFor "movies like Sekiro" I'd recommend Yojimbo, which even has a bad guy with a weird six-shooter like the final boss has
Michael McCormick
2019-05-02 00:08:30 +0000 UTCI think this is a great idea. Sadly, I’m not in the “this is a great game” camp, so those off episodes will be good breaks. Something for everyone I guess!
Jack Corrigan
2019-05-01 23:24:02 +0000 UTCThere's a really blurry line. I think it's more similar to Souls than most other things, but less so than anything else in the line since KF4
Duckfeed.tv
2019-05-01 22:31:45 +0000 UTCI’d like to ask if, having played though more of the game if you’re still of the opinion it’s not a souls game. For me it’s 100% a new twist on the souls formula. Bloodborne was like a streamlined DS and Sekiro is even more streamlined.
Kevy Canavan
2019-05-01 22:28:50 +0000 UTCThank you, I was definitely missing the show. For me the Hirada Estate was where my progress ground to a halt. I still don’t think that bosses surrounded by junk enemies are fun to fight. Especially when you have to try again and again. I would have loved to be able to duel any of the 3 bosses without having to clear everyone out with cheesy stealth or run around pillars waiting for the shower of death butterflies to stop. I was definitely happy to leave this place forever once I was done.
Jake Burden
2019-05-01 22:28:39 +0000 UTCGreat to have BFSC back.
Kevy Canavan
2019-05-01 22:27:11 +0000 UTCThis is great news! The fortnightly BSC does feel a little slow, but I would've felt like a massive fucking ingrate bringing it up if you hadn't. Sekiro is a game with lots of THOUGHTS and hot-takes attached though, so some sort of feedback does feel appropriate. But also, if the extra show a week turns out to be a massive ball-ache, fortnightly is absolutely fine.
Lewis Shaw
2019-05-01 21:53:49 +0000 UTCThanks for your efforts, guys!
Bird.wav
2019-05-01 21:51:02 +0000 UTCMORE BSC IS ALL I NEED 😎
Jose Luis Alvarez
2019-05-01 21:47:41 +0000 UTC
