right i remember when yagiu jubei drank magic gatorade, came back from the dead and had a sick ass robo arm, i mean, pft, what do they think shinoi where, peasants who murdered samurai in their sleep, please XD lol EDIT - holy mother of all that is holy and weabish, i can't believe how many likes this comment got, my god what magical leprechauns feet did i step on to aquire this Owo
This is true. I've drowned once for more than 20 minutes was just laying dead in the water. When someone pulled me out and did CPR a big weird Japanese character appeared over my body and I stood up just fine even with my chlorine-water filled lungs.
You would be pleased to learn that they actually had access to blueprints of buildings from the era to work with. The Game Informer interview goes over that where designers discussed how much details they put into the area designs.
Wow, that's awesome! Did they have to borrow them from the Japanese Government? Or are they privately owned? I'm amazed original blueprints still exist.
@@thebarbaryghostsf Not entirely sure, I'd assume they're owned by museums and national institutions that operate sightseeing and tourism for those buildings. They don'f go into detail in the interview. I'd link the video but youtube considers any link to be spam so I suggest just searchjng for "Game Informer Sekiro interviews" and go through their playlist lol. All the interviews were very insightful so I'd recommend checking everything out.
F.50 Japanese traditional architecture builds using wood rather than rock or stone. This is due to the extreme frequency of earthquakes in that area: wooden buildings do less damage when they collapse. Since wood deteriorates relatively quickly compared to other building materials, the Japanese people have the tradition of conserving the original blueprints of important buildings (pagodas, temples, castles), and cyclically rebuild them after some decades.
It looks like castles look much taller then they would have been. Ashina castle walls and buildings look 2 times taller then castle in Tokyo, which is more modern and quite grandiose itself.
Literally my favorite part about this game was the fight with the armored knight. I started hitting him when I first saw him and saw absolutely no damage was being done (Because he has full plate armor), but his posture was going up. So I keep fighting and fill his posture until he was ready to be executed, executed him, but he was only staggered backward (Because HE HAS FULL PLATE ARMOR!!!). I quickly realized I needed to knock him off of the bridge and that was the Only way to kill him because ARMOR! I absolutely loved that! 10 out of 10
There's only one thing that I didn't like in that mini-boss and it's the fact that to my eyes it seems that it enforces the stereotype of the western knight. So basically a slow and clumsy warrior. The way he swings that sword, terrible. Most of his attacks are just plain vertical cuts smashing into the ground, like some kind of crazy animal. Didn't like it. But I liked what you said about him not taking damage from your attacks because of armor.
@@SilentKillerPrince Oh yeah definatly. Though I assume the man behind the armour is a japanese warrior with European armour and Sword. The sword obviously being different from a katana or odachi he could've had no experience with handling one.
@@SilentKillerPrince well we can't assume that the knight in armor knows how to fight either. From lore all i know is they are some merchants going to japan finding immortality. The way is see it, that guy is just some untrained man having a full plate armor and thinks he can bully Japanese samurai because they can't hit him. The way the knight just slam the sword again and again at the ground and scream in anger make it look like he's not trained in combat ever
@@SilentKillerPrince I do totally get what you are saying, but if you look more into the lore of that guy, you will see that he was crazy. At this point the dude was desperate and losing his mind over trying to save his son Robert. We also have no clue on whether this dude is a trained knight or not. Anywho, point is, the dude was supposed to be crazy and it shows during the fight you have with him. However, you could be totally right and the devs were trying to exaggerate the slow lumbering knight feel.
@TheSasGaming It's a reference to one of Sony's embarrassing E3s. Look up "Sony's Embarrassing E3 2006 Press Conference" in TH-cam. Halfway through the video, you'll see the crab reference lmfao
What I like is: *_(spoiler alert)_* Glorious Nippon Steel blade doesn't cleave through european full plate armor and instead you have to wear his posture down until deathblow.
A small detail which I find pretty incredible that maybe not a lot of people have noticed is that the Samurai who are wearing a straw sort of cape around them are actually much more vulnerable to your fire prosthetic weapon.
On the aspect of the Samurai being competent and pragmatic: my favourite line in the entire game comes goes something like "Just win your battles. That alone is the most important rule of the Ashina style."
There's a conversation you can hear later in the game with a spearman asking if his friend would really use such a weapon (firearm) to complete their mission. The reply was something along the lines of 'if it gets the job done, i'll use it for our lord'
A Sekiro mini series? I believe I speak for most people when i say that's a great idea. Ghost of Tsushima will be another one to watch out for, it looks really good so far..
@@viciadusmaximus6782 im not either...but u should read more the post before deciding bcoz its clear as day it was april fools...im shock tbh when i first read it
Obviously it is not accurate. It plays in Japan, but completely omits Japans famous real historical Arch-Enemy: Giant Enemy Crap. (Edit: Obviously I meant crab, but.... who knows)
@@sharilshahed6106 Eh, I've watched some of his stuff, but I honestly prefer channels like Metatron when it comes to historical accuracy. Couldn't tell you why I have this preference though.
Por favor sigue haciendo videos de Sekiro! Hay mucho material en el juego para que hagas reviews y análisis, incluso podrías cubrir la mitología del juego y su relación con mitología japonesa
Well fromsoft is a Japanese developer so I'm not surprised that they got the setting correct. What surprises me is the fact they took the time to know what a shinobi is
To be fair, a lot of western developers don't do medieval western settings justice, so it isn't a very good idea to say that because the developers are Japanese they'll get the Japanese stuff right. Though I do understand what you're saying.
@@guikoi3101 I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you or anyone all I was saying is they have easier access to the architecture then most. But I'm still surprised they didn't make shinobi as these crazy killing machines or ware black ninja uniforms like you see in most subcultures. Once again sorry if I offend
@@killtheking3683 You didn't offend me. But now that looking back at it I can kind of understand why you made that assumption. I apologize if I came off as angry. I wasn't, I was just pointing it out. But yes, you are correct in your assumption. Though, I'm pretty sure the word Shinobi is both singular and plural, like Sheep, so Shinobi can describe one and multiple people.
I would absolutely *love* seeing other videos about Sekiro! About various things to be exact: - Later areas in the game (inside the Ashina castle, the temple etc.) and regarding their architecture and style - Armour and weapons of Sekiro and his enemies (also from bosses) - A detailed analysis of Combat styles of Sekiro and enemies, and also the Combat Arts! - Culture/Society shown in the game, like Sekiro's Iron Code (Obey father and then after that his master? Was that a code of honor where the master was less important than your teacher?). Or the way characters behave in the game. I am really looking forward to this, keep it up and thank you for this video! :D
@@Aurilion44 Ah interesting, thank you! :D That really differs from the western (medieval) standards where your lord or king (or religious leader) has the absolute authority.
Just finished my third play through of the game. Loved the video. I know the game has a lot of real historical references just from my experience in eastern Asian countries, but I don’t have the full learned knowledge to explain it properly. Thanks for doing that.
The moment I tested Sekiro's basic combo, two thoughts came to me: firstly, no sane swordsman would swing their weapon like that and, two, Metatron will definitely mention this in an upcoming video.
I mean, we kinda have to cut that part some slack though, as a game dev you have to make your characters have noticeable attack flow and patterns, and playing with a third person camera means that your attacks have to have some uniqueness to differentiate each stage a bit. Plus, it does still look pretty damn cool.
You suck as the game starts and have trouble with even the most basic enemies. Wolf also starts learning swordsmanship and techniques as the story begins. As you keep fighting and dying, you develop your own unconventional form of swordsmanship and not being as concerned about death or injury as the average Joe would play into developing a more aggressive and reckless style (dare I say "suicidal"?). Also, if someone has a cool technique, you steal it. And lastly, !!!SPOILER: Your teacher is shit. At least in regards to swordsmanship... Plus, animals don't fight like people. It's pretty heavily implied that others like MORE SPOILER: Orangutan have very unconventional stances and fighting styles.
Your primary concern's going to be how to make your player character's state easily readable when making a decision while obstructing the player's vision as little as possible. Having a regular state with both arms raised high above the head is a no-go. The animation style will have to be implemented with those constraints in mind.
Thank you for this great video, Raph! I only ask for a second part, where you can break down on what mythological creatures based monsters in the game.
Of course it is accurate, the giant white snakes and cyborg ninja prosthetics were widespread before the westerners showed up. Pfff people read a book once in a while.
An idea for a video series if you're open to such suggestions: You should do a series on the great sword fencing masters. Assuming there's enough information on them to make individual videos, I think a lot of people we thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you for the great content as always.
I like the game even more now. I really like what you said about realism in media thing, it isn't about whether there is magic or fantasy elements in a game/movie or not, is whether the things feel believable or not. The castle being a believable place adds a lot to the game.
Good ol stealth mechanics where you can brutally murder someone next to someone else but he doesnt notice because he turned his back. Great vid as always!
I just came to your channel because of your PS3 audio issue, thanks for your help man its good to see you're doing well even if I'm not a big history guy.
Don't forget about the "Armored Warrior" mini-boss, you cannot kill him through normal mean. You have to knock him off the bridge you're fighting him on with an execution. Pretty creative fight, also the senpo battle monks with the double-bladed naginata are kind of a pain in the butt. Until you mid-air deathblow them. I hope you can cover that as well :)
I really hope you do a follow up video on this topic because there are amazing things later in this game some of which include fighting styles and demons, I’m hoping you do a cultural look at it aswell.
What a great video, I always thought when playing the game what the triangle cut outs meant and was sure they had historical context and man I had no idea how realistic it was. Thanks for making this, very informative, this game really made me just want to absorb all information on feudal era Japan.
The idea of the "honourable, beautiful" samurai is a pretty funny one and it actually comes from... Well, basically something the Samurai propogated to make themselves less pathetic. At a certain point in history, the Samurai were being faded out. They were no longer effecient and they represented a society Japan mostly wanted to move away from. As a response, Samurai largely started becoming more ceremonial than anything else. The slow, efficient sword style you see in samurai movies is literally designed to look nice and seem Very Impressive because it's legit all for show. It's all the samurai were at a certain point.
I believe you would appreciate mid-game enemies even more - or at least those that aren’t fantastical - given that samurai and the two daimyō use techniques like ichimonji, iai, and other historically based techniques in addition to their super mega powers - and the damage is comparable. I’d recommend you look at the Ashina Cross technique from the game in a future video, and also that you, for the love of god, lock on when fighting small enemy groups. Edit: I am greatly enthused also by the thrust attacks most enemies use in the game as well, with the exception of a few. They tend to be full body lunges with swords, or angled thrusts with spears from a high stance. The Mikiri Counter in game is something you should consequently look at.
Thing with thrusts is that due to the nature of Mikiri Counter as a gameplay mechanic, and the fact that they are considered unblockable attacks, they necessarily have to be slow and very well telegraphed. There are a lot of gameplay concessions that From makes for the convenience of the Player over accuracy.
7:00 one other thing I like which really underscores that the Wolf is a brutal assassin who snuffs out human lives without hesitation and not just a scavenger fighting mindless once-humans like most From Software protagonists is how people react to deathblows. They take a half-step back and look scared, which they don't do on critical hits (the closest analogue to deathblows) in other FS games. 9:00 in defense of the fighting styles, those are much more heavily influenced by concessions to playability. When the red circle shows and you engage the throw system the animators can basically do whatever they want without making the gameplay worse, but for regular combat it's critically important that animations be very readable even for a layperson, even if it means people doing weird things that won't make sense to a sword fighting expert.
Indeed sekiro is a visually stunning game! Myazaki and his team NEVER disappoint. They always do their research and always ship a complete game. Their games challenge the players wits and determination and respect their fanbase. Fromsoft is the only company i preorder from
I really like this video because your way of explaining is very soliad and well understand. I was playing the game and I also noticed issues such as money and how much money the samurais were giving when you defeat them. It's noticeably low, im wondering if that's an accurate amount... its typically 20s or 30s unless you use in-game items to boost the amount, Also, the name of the money being used.
I have also read that pre-Edo eras, before our concept of "Bushido" came around. It was even common for warriors (samurai) to switch sides mid-battle when defeated so they didn't get killed.
SWEET. I have been hopelessly addicted to this game since it was released. I don't know a lot about japanese history though, so I absolutely love this video and am psyched that you'll have more in the series too.
I mean, there are fucking giant zombie apes and a 4 ton bull with the horns on fire... Also there are some samurai you find that have the correct stances. Other just swing around
You didn't mention how the guy in the big ass whole body european armor is completely immune to your katana since you can't cut metal with it, and the only way to kill him is to kick him off the bridge, pretty realistic although i'm not sure if the armor is
Metatron, great video! But I would just like to point out that there's one accurate samurai technique or 'stance' if you will in game. It's called the Ichimonji, I don't know if the name is related or accurate but the stance sure is, it shows the traditional samurai fighting stance :) It's pretty neato
Some of the thoughts here. The Ashina(蘆名氏) clan does exist in history as one of the daimyos based in north-eastern Japan. Isshin is based on Ashina Moriuji(芦名 盛氏), and the samurai slayed by Isshin in the intro is inspired by the Tamura Clan(田村氏), and it could be Tamura Takaaki(田村崇顕,) and the conflict between the Ashina and Tamura do exist in history. As for Genichiro, could be inspired by Ashina Moritaka(蘆名 盛隆), adopted by Ashina Morioki to continue the family line. That's why Genichiro is defending the Ashina clan at all cost. The Hirata clan（平田氏） does exist in history and is one of the four clans(蘆名四天) serves the Ashina Clan. All the elite bosses, especially those samurai generals are inspired by the retainers of the Ashina Clan, and you can easily tell by looking at their family names, like Yamauchi(山内) and Kawarada (河原田). The ashina domain is actually inspired by the Ashina clan(蘆名氏) in history and the Ashihara no Nakatsukuni(葦原中国) which is the word for Japan in Japanese mythology, which explains why there are mythology elements in game. The rebellion of taking back the domain does exist in Ashina clan's history. The invasion in late game could be inspired by the war between Date and Ashina clan, and those red armored samurais could be inspired by the units lead by Ii Naomasa(井伊 直政) from real history.
This is highly interesting and informative, thank you for this! Do you have the link to the source on where you got this information from?--- Cause I'd like to read it myself!
@@heroicdefender9747 mostly from Japanese history books, and I don't know if they have translated to English though. Here's the book talks about the Ashina clan in history: 小林清治編・戦国大名論集2『東北大名の研究』
@@baltanzoo Many thanks for this, friend! this will be most useful I am lucky to have had Google Translate so that it could translate the Japanese texts
in the story wolf isn't actually trained by the same dojo as ashina samurai, he was trained completely by his foster father. You have to do a quest to unlock the combat arts for the ashina style which might explain his differing stance.
"Sengoku samurai need to be present as violent, ruthless, and brutal fighting machines." Yup, exactly. Isshin's quote "Hesitation is defeat" makes a lot of sense now.
The red guard and Interior Ministry are obviously point to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Interiror Ministry(" 內府 ") is usually to called Togugawa himself, and the Red guard(" 赤備 ") is also a special forces that lead by Ii Naomasa, some of them are even the former Takeda's Red guard forces
For the stances and combat style they gave themselves a convenient out: both the player character and the opposing Ashina samurai have their own separate fictional fighting styles known only to them. Useful I guess to allow them to balance it for gameplay over accuracy.
Sugoi! This game reminds me a lot of the Tenchu series for the PS1 and PS2 respectively. This game looks beautiful and from what i've seen so far, the mechanics are solid as well as the AI. Looking forward to your next episode.
Good eye! Sekiro was originally going to be a new game from the Tenchu series during its early development, it's a nice mix of Dark Souls(ish) and Tenchu
One aspect of the combat that is more realistic is the emphasis on parrying and deflection. Many games just do a static block such as Nigh but this game requires proper deflection.
Great video, it really made me curious about the game. As for the samurai with the firearm: of course he will use his weapon while the intruder is busy fighting with the other one. Let's look at it from another perspective: using firearm against a sword-wielding warrior is already "dishonest". And to imagine that he would just wait for you to end your duel is just ridiculous (as you also have pointed out). Because what would he do then? Maybe he could say "OK, I see that you have finished your honourable duel, but wait, I have a firearm, which is unfair. But you know what, I'll use it as a blunt weapon. :D
Here’s another cool thing the battojutsu is near perfect, if an enemy sees you and there’s another one of his friends. He’ll keep looking at you and walk backwards as his friend looks forward. Not the best AI but has nice little details.
Honestly, I thought this game is another Japan-like fantasy game that has nothing to do with real life history. Glad I've been proven wrong. Now I'm actually looking forward to playing this game. Awesome video as always. 👍 BTW, what is your opinion on Jikinshin Kage-Ryu? (Kenjutsu school, not Odachi school like the normal Kage-Ryu.) Have you heard of it, and do you know about Suzuki Kimiyoshi sensei?
On the fighting stance of the wolf, I saw it as a form of psychological warfare. He's either presenting himself as a target who doesn't know how to fight properly, or is presented as someone with such a mastery that he could kill without adhering to form.
I wish you would've commented on masataka oniwa, but I suppose maybe you weren't there yet, or maybe you just didn't want to spoil but his fight is probably one of the most realistic depictions of Japanese warfare I have ever seen in a game.
First time on your channel, loved the vid, can u shed some light on the Headless and Shichimen on your next videos? I don't know if there's actually some sort of curlltural horror related to this and would love to understand it! Thanks!
Shinobi were also siege-breakers. I say that's a part of the job and not a separate but simultaneous job, because contemporary texts describe it as such. Maybe spying, assassination, and siege-breaking were ALL spy jobs, unlike our cold-war idea of a spy as an infiltrator who maybe sometimes kills?
I'd say the striking animations and stances of Sekiro are done that way for gameplay reasons and because the exaggeration makes it look cooler to most people. If the attacks were too swift and left no opening, there would be little risk to striking, thus making the game easier.
You do have to remember that stances and ways of fighting in Japan were completely different in the sengoku jidai. Even the modern kenjutsu school only train you in really only real late sengoku jidai fighting styles and Edo styles. The old styles used during the sengoku jidai were used in accordance to armor and the movement with it. Which meant sword was held farther from body and head. Can't really do a Jodan no kamae with a big ads helmet in the way. At least not how kenjutsu teaches it today. A good example of armor fighting is the Yagyu armor tournaments held in Japan. They're incredible. And scholars agree in Japan about this fact, and it's shown in these Yagyu bouts, the stances were lower, swords were held differently. They teach in kendo the the fingers on the tsuba are spread apart and slanted. While the samurai actually gripped it much differently. Making it much harder to disarm them. The hands were also closer together. If you study the old samurai manuals of the time, you can see this in the illustrations and descriptions. So Sekiro isn't actually too bad with the stances. Tho I do agree that Sekiro's stance himself is a little off to what it should be. Otherwise, I agree with your assessment. Really hard game, but highly rewarding. And I agree with everyone about the knight fighting mission. I was worried they'd screw it up, but then they totally redeemed themselves with the only way to kill him is to lower his posture and knock him off the bridge, but you had to get him to damage the bridge first. My least favorite part was when black badger died saving a kid. Best video game npc of all time. My favorite and most relatable and able to feel true empathy for. Great character design there.
I'm so happy that Miyazaki made this game as realistic as he could I was a little concerned about whether or not this game was realistic, so thanks for making this. I love your videos
Yes. It's a well known fact asian people can ressurrect once, don't ask me why, I don't make the rules.
right i remember when yagiu jubei drank magic gatorade, came back from the dead and had a sick ass robo arm, i mean, pft, what do they think shinoi where, peasants who murdered samurai in their sleep, please XD lol EDIT - holy mother of all that is holy and weabish, i can't believe how many likes this comment got, my god what magical leprechauns feet did i step on to aquire this Owo
This is true. I've drowned once for more than 20 minutes was just laying dead in the water. When someone pulled me out and did CPR a big weird Japanese character appeared over my body and I stood up just fine even with my chlorine-water filled lungs.
3 times if they kill a butterfly.
Paula Assis fair enough.
I'm surprised no one tries to kill you with confetti after a resurrection.
You would be pleased to learn that they actually had access to blueprints of buildings from the era to work with. The Game Informer interview goes over that where designers discussed how much details they put into the area designs.
Wow, that's awesome! Did they have to borrow them from the Japanese Government? Or are they privately owned? I'm amazed original blueprints still exist.
@@thebarbaryghostsf Not entirely sure, I'd assume they're owned by museums and national institutions that operate sightseeing and tourism for those buildings. They don'f go into detail in the interview. I'd link the video but youtube considers any link to be spam so I suggest just searchjng for "Game Informer Sekiro interviews" and go through their playlist lol. All the interviews were very insightful so I'd recommend checking everything out.
I noticed that there is one other thing that is especially true about enemies - they fight dirty, sometimes they even toss sand in your eyes.
F.50 Japanese traditional architecture builds using wood rather than rock or stone. This is due to the extreme frequency of earthquakes in that area: wooden buildings do less damage when they collapse. Since wood deteriorates relatively quickly compared to other building materials, the Japanese people have the tradition of conserving the original blueprints of important buildings (pagodas, temples, castles), and cyclically rebuild them after some decades.
It looks like castles look much taller then they would have been. Ashina castle walls and buildings look 2 times taller then castle in Tokyo, which is more modern and quite grandiose itself.
Totally inaccurate. He doesn't even wear a forehead protector with a logo of his birth village on it.
akba666 cause he’s not a samurai. He a ninja dude
@@huskytzu7709 he should've use it because he *is* a ninja. Samurai does not wear headband
Ye man they don't even run with their hand stretched behind their backs and Sekiros chakra are SO LOW ; _ ;
fuck me how are you all so obvlivious its a naruto joke
@@huskytzu7709 r/whoosh.
Literally my favorite part about this game was the fight with the armored knight. I started hitting him when I first saw him and saw absolutely no damage was being done (Because he has full plate armor), but his posture was going up. So I keep fighting and fill his posture until he was ready to be executed, executed him, but he was only staggered backward (Because HE HAS FULL PLATE ARMOR!!!). I quickly realized I needed to knock him off of the bridge and that was the Only way to kill him because ARMOR! I absolutely loved that!
10 out of 10
There's only one thing that I didn't like in that mini-boss and it's the fact that to my eyes it seems that it enforces the stereotype of the western knight. So basically a slow and clumsy warrior. The way he swings that sword, terrible. Most of his attacks are just plain vertical cuts smashing into the ground, like some kind of crazy animal.
Didn't like it. But I liked what you said about him not taking damage from your attacks because of armor.
@@SilentKillerPrince Oh yeah definatly. Though I assume the man behind the armour is a japanese warrior with European armour and Sword. The sword obviously being different from a katana or odachi he could've had no experience with handling one.
@@SilentKillerPrince well we can't assume that the knight in armor knows how to fight either. From lore all i know is they are some merchants going to japan finding immortality. The way is see it, that guy is just some untrained man having a full plate armor and thinks he can bully Japanese samurai because they can't hit him. The way the knight just slam the sword again and again at the ground and scream in anger make it look like he's not trained in combat ever
@@SilentKillerPrince I do totally get what you are saying, but if you look more into the lore of that guy, you will see that he was crazy. At this point the dude was desperate and losing his mind over trying to save his son Robert. We also have no clue on whether this dude is a trained knight or not. Anywho, point is, the dude was supposed to be crazy and it shows during the fight you have with him. However, you could be totally right and the devs were trying to exaggerate the slow lumbering knight feel.
But obviously sekiro stabs him through the plate.
*"Here we have the giant crab monster"*
*hit its weakpoint for massive damage*
@TheSasGaming It's a reference to one of Sony's embarrassing E3s. Look up "Sony's Embarrassing E3 2006 Press Conference" in TH-cam. Halfway through the video, you'll see the crab reference lmfao
@TheSasGaming e3 guy: we make a game based on Japan's history.
Also the same guy 1 sec later: so here's the giant enemy crab.
What I like is: *_(spoiler alert)_*
Glorious Nippon Steel blade doesn't cleave through european full plate armor and instead you have to wear his posture down until deathblow.
ROBEERRRRTTTTT!!!!!
yeah you have to throw his armoured ass of a cliff took like 4 attempts to get it right
There's actually a European guy in full plate who's fully invinsible, you have to knock him off a ledge
ROBEERRRRTTTTT!!!!!
@@lred1383 thats who theyre talking about...
A small detail which I find pretty incredible that maybe not a lot of people have noticed is that the Samurai who are wearing a straw sort of cape around them are actually much more vulnerable to your fire prosthetic weapon.
Is there a reason why they would have straw capes? I was guessing it's used as a sort of camouflage in certain environments.
@@ChillyReaper It also provides decent weather protection I think.
@@ChillyReaper Ashina is cold as hell. The cape probably keeps some of the snow off and warmth in
@@ChillyReaper they wear it because its drippy as HELLLLL BOIIII
On the aspect of the Samurai being competent and pragmatic: my favourite line in the entire game comes goes something like "Just win your battles. That alone is the most important rule of the Ashina style."
Oh yes, ancient Japan sure had a problem with Giant chickens, cursed bloodlines and albino dragons
And 3 ton bulls with horns on fire or 10ft orges that know WWE moves.
Or guys that get on a kite and they woooooooooo against you
And giant fucking serpents too
I think ancient Japan, people's average height is much shorter too lul
@Selarom Ogeid thanks, now I can't look at the chickens the same way again.
Are you saying that ancient Japan really had big black cocks destroying tiny Japanese men
See’s title
Giant Rope Man: *Nervously sweats*
See’s title??
See's title??
thats just a straw man
There's a conversation you can hear later in the game with a spearman asking if his friend would really use such a weapon (firearm) to complete their mission. The reply was something along the lines of 'if it gets the job done, i'll use it for our lord'
They were talking about the Blazing Bull, actualy. Not the gun.
A Sekiro mini series? I believe I speak for most people when i say that's a great idea. Ghost of Tsushima will be another one to watch out for, it looks really good so far..
I think its actually canceled...so...yeah...sorry
@@viciadusmaximus6782 ....u realize the date when its post on april fool right?....
@@shadowhide317 im not american.so im not on the day with those things
@@viciadusmaximus6782 im not either...but u should read more the post before deciding bcoz its clear as day it was april fools...im shock tbh when i first read it
Shame it won’t be on PC
the "ashina style" skill tree had some pretty realistic looking(to me) moves and stances.
The Ichimonji downwards chop is pretty reasonable. But the sheathed slash seems a bit theatrical imo
@@jooot_6850 I mean, battojutsu doesn't actually look like that, but it seems like the idea is still there.
do a full spectrum on this game pls, even the story :D
Obviously it is not accurate. It plays in Japan, but completely omits Japans famous real historical Arch-Enemy:
Giant Enemy Crap. (Edit: Obviously I meant crab, but.... who knows)
it has giant enemy carp tho. maybe they just misread word when created game?
Hit its weak point for massive damage.
*Crab?
Giant crap is very accurate in a sense. There is one boss... No spoilers though.
MASSIVE DAMAGE
Honestly, you should've talked about Wolf's Shinobi tools as well, like the shuriken and firecrackers.
check out Gaijin Goomba who covers these stuff.
@@sharilshahed6106 Eh, I've watched some of his stuff, but I honestly prefer channels like Metatron when it comes to historical accuracy. Couldn't tell you why I have this preference though.
I've been looking forward to this! Leave it to Hidetaka Miyazaki to pay extra attention to detail.
Por favor sigue haciendo videos de Sekiro! Hay mucho material en el juego para que hagas reviews y análisis, incluso podrías cubrir la mitología del juego y su relación con mitología japonesa
Well fromsoft is a Japanese developer so I'm not surprised that they got the setting correct. What surprises me is the fact they took the time to know what a shinobi is
To be fair, a lot of western developers don't do medieval western settings justice, so it isn't a very good idea to say that because the developers are Japanese they'll get the Japanese stuff right. Though I do understand what you're saying.
@@guikoi3101 I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you or anyone all I was saying is they have easier access to the architecture then most. But I'm still surprised they didn't make shinobi as these crazy killing machines or ware black ninja uniforms like you see in most subcultures. Once again sorry if I offend
@@killtheking3683 You didn't offend me. But now that looking back at it I can kind of understand why you made that assumption. I apologize if I came off as angry. I wasn't, I was just pointing it out. But yes, you are correct in your assumption. Though, I'm pretty sure the word Shinobi is both singular and plural, like Sheep, so Shinobi can describe one and multiple people.
@@guikoi3101 Okay I'm glad and yes you are correct, it's just me typing to fast and messed up
@@zefellowbud5970 Ah, don't flatter me, I'll blush.
Finally! :) The moment I heard about this game having a premiere I thought about you :) This is awesome, thank you for sharing your knowledge Metatron
My pleasure
This is a wonderful, informative video on the background on Sekiro. Glad someone sees other values in the game than just "difficulty".
Realistic? I just jumped from like 200 meters onto the head of a Gigant snake.
The history pal I Just review the historical aspects
He said historically correct, not realistic.
@@metatronyt I know, just trying to lighten up the comment section a bit.
You saying monster and spirit and 2.5 meter lord and stuff are not realistic? Go back to school.
So you're saying..you stepped on snek..?
Loved the video Raf, more stuff on Sengoku era warfare would be awesome!
I would absolutely *love* seeing other videos about Sekiro! About various things to be exact:
- Later areas in the game (inside the Ashina castle, the temple etc.) and regarding their architecture and style
- Armour and weapons of Sekiro and his enemies (also from bosses)
- A detailed analysis of Combat styles of Sekiro and enemies, and also the Combat Arts!
- Culture/Society shown in the game, like Sekiro's Iron Code (Obey father and then after that his master? Was that a code of honor where the master was less important than your teacher?). Or the way characters behave in the game.
I am really looking forward to this, keep it up and thank you for this video! :D
On the topic of Iron Code, if I remember correctly, in Buddhism filial piety is incredibly important and one of the highest virtues you can have :)
@@Aurilion44 Ah interesting, thank you! :D That really differs from the western (medieval) standards where your lord or king (or religious leader) has the absolute authority.
Just finished my third play through of the game. Loved the video. I know the game has a lot of real historical references just from my experience in eastern Asian countries, but I don’t have the full learned knowledge to explain it properly. Thanks for doing that.
The moment I tested Sekiro's basic combo, two thoughts came to me: firstly, no sane swordsman would swing their weapon like that and, two, Metatron will definitely mention this in an upcoming video.
I mean, we kinda have to cut that part some slack though, as a game dev you have to make your characters have noticeable attack flow and patterns, and playing with a third person camera means that your attacks have to have some uniqueness to differentiate each stage a bit. Plus, it does still look pretty damn cool.
You suck as the game starts and have trouble with even the most basic enemies. Wolf also starts learning swordsmanship and techniques as the story begins. As you keep fighting and dying, you develop your own unconventional form of swordsmanship and not being as concerned about death or injury as the average Joe would play into developing a more aggressive and reckless style (dare I say "suicidal"?). Also, if someone has a cool technique, you steal it. And lastly, !!!SPOILER: Your teacher is shit. At least in regards to swordsmanship... Plus, animals don't fight like people. It's pretty heavily implied that others like MORE SPOILER: Orangutan have very unconventional stances and fighting styles.
It’s more of a gameplay thing because the game wouldn’t really work if he was doing actual moves yes it would be nice but I could make the game harder
Your primary concern's going to be how to make your player character's state easily readable when making a decision while obstructing the player's vision as little as possible. Having a regular state with both arms raised high above the head is a no-go. The animation style will have to be implemented with those constraints in mind.
Thank you for this great video, Raph!
I only ask for a second part, where you can break down on what mythological creatures based monsters in the game.
Keep it up. Awesome work mate. Greetings from Greece. I really like your work
Of course it is accurate, the giant white snakes and cyborg ninja prosthetics were widespread before the westerners showed up.
Pfff people read a book once in a while.
Please continue the series. I would very much enjoy a full review about the content within this game. Armours and weapons is a needy idea
A super-fighting shinobi? His name isn't- perchance- "James-aru Bond-oo," is it?
An idea for a video series if you're open to such suggestions: You should do a series on the great sword fencing masters. Assuming there's enough information on them to make individual videos, I think a lot of people we thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you for the great content as always.
I like the game even more now. I really like what you said about realism in media thing, it isn't about whether there is magic or fantasy elements in a game/movie or not, is whether the things feel believable or not. The castle being a believable place adds a lot to the game.
Very nice vid, I thought you were just going to rant about the incredibly obvious fantasy elements like other historical youtubers seem to like doing.
Good ol stealth mechanics where you can brutally murder someone next to someone else but he doesnt notice because he turned his back. Great vid as always!
You should start a review series on samurai movies. Anything by Kurosawa, The Last Samurai, and 13 Assassins are some examples that come to mind
I've been off the Metatron train for a while, but this must be the very best Sekiro review I have seen so far. Great Job!
I just came to your channel because of your PS3 audio issue, thanks for your help man its good to see you're doing well even if I'm not a big history guy.
Love this. Thank you so much. Very informative and your expertise is clear.
I realy enjoy the game and your video made it even better.
I am looking forward for the next parts of your series.
Don't forget about the "Armored Warrior" mini-boss, you cannot kill him through normal mean. You have to knock him off the bridge you're fighting him on with an execution. Pretty creative fight, also the senpo battle monks with the double-bladed naginata are kind of a pain in the butt. Until you mid-air deathblow them. I hope you can cover that as well :)
I really hope you do a follow up video on this topic because there are amazing things later in this game some of which include fighting styles and demons, I’m hoping you do a cultural look at it aswell.
I'd argue that you actually fight mostly ashigaru, not samurai.
You fight both the segment he showed is mostly ashigaru but later in the game you fight proper Samurais and even shinobi
@@yordanazzolin Yes, but the samurai are far from being easy to kill and never high in numbers.
@@piotrpiotrowski4681 the blue robbed samurai can be dealt with by side steping they like really can´t touch ya.
@@andrescastro7628 Or just git gud and parry them.
@@gabzdark07 or you can git gud and learn to dodge.
What a great video, I always thought when playing the game what the triangle cut outs meant and was sure they had historical context and man I had no idea how realistic it was. Thanks for making this, very informative, this game really made me just want to absorb all information on feudal era Japan.
The idea of the "honourable, beautiful" samurai is a pretty funny one and it actually comes from... Well, basically something the Samurai propogated to make themselves less pathetic.
At a certain point in history, the Samurai were being faded out. They were no longer effecient and they represented a society Japan mostly wanted to move away from. As a response, Samurai largely started becoming more ceremonial than anything else. The slow, efficient sword style you see in samurai movies is literally designed to look nice and seem Very Impressive because it's legit all for show. It's all the samurai were at a certain point.
The game have his own kenjutsu, the aishina. In the game you read that Isshin Ashina developed his on sword technique. Loved the video!
Keep it up, Metatron! This would be a fantastic series!
Excellent assessment - especially in dispelling the myth regarding "honor" in the Sengoku era.
I believe you would appreciate mid-game enemies even more - or at least those that aren’t fantastical - given that samurai and the two daimyō use techniques like ichimonji, iai, and other historically based techniques in addition to their super mega powers - and the damage is comparable.
I’d recommend you look at the Ashina Cross technique from the game in a future video, and also that you, for the love of god, lock on when fighting small enemy groups.
Edit: I am greatly enthused also by the thrust attacks most enemies use in the game as well, with the exception of a few. They tend to be full body lunges with swords, or angled thrusts with spears from a high stance. The Mikiri Counter in game is something you should consequently look at.
Thing with thrusts is that due to the nature of Mikiri Counter as a gameplay mechanic, and the fact that they are considered unblockable attacks, they necessarily have to be slow and very well telegraphed.
There are a lot of gameplay concessions that From makes for the convenience of the Player over accuracy.
Seriously, if you did hour long podcasts I would totally listen to them.
I love your videos and one day I hope to travel studying what I love. I lost that sense of wonderment long ago
Amazing video! Can´t wait for all the other episodes in the series.
7:00 one other thing I like which really underscores that the Wolf is a brutal assassin who snuffs out human lives without hesitation and not just a scavenger fighting mindless once-humans like most From Software protagonists is how people react to deathblows. They take a half-step back and look scared, which they don't do on critical hits (the closest analogue to deathblows) in other FS games.
9:00 in defense of the fighting styles, those are much more heavily influenced by concessions to playability. When the red circle shows and you engage the throw system the animators can basically do whatever they want without making the gameplay worse, but for regular combat it's critically important that animations be very readable even for a layperson, even if it means people doing weird things that won't make sense to a sword fighting expert.
Indeed sekiro is a visually stunning game! Myazaki and his team NEVER disappoint. They always do their research and always ship a complete game. Their games challenge the players wits and determination and respect their fanbase.
Fromsoft is the only company i preorder from
FetchQuestAssigner 4432 same! They deserve a lot more support and recognition
I really like this video because your way of explaining is very soliad and well understand. I was playing the game and I also noticed issues such as money and how much money the samurais were giving when you defeat them. It's noticeably low, im wondering if that's an accurate amount... its typically 20s or 30s unless you use in-game items to boost the amount, Also, the name of the money being used.
I have also read that pre-Edo eras, before our concept of "Bushido" came around. It was even common for warriors (samurai) to switch sides mid-battle when defeated so they didn't get killed.
SWEET. I have been hopelessly addicted to this game since it was released. I don't know a lot about japanese history though, so I absolutely love this video and am psyched that you'll have more in the series too.
I'm glad to hear that pal and stay tuned for more!
Thank you for this awesome informative video!!!
The over swinging and the wrong stances are a gameplay balance/ animation limitations so the swords clash more than ignorance of realisim imo
I mean, there are fucking giant zombie apes and a 4 ton bull with the horns on fire... Also there are some samurai you find that have the correct stances. Other just swing around
@@JR-mk6ow exactly. You have to take liberty to make the game fun
It would be good to see your arquebus in action. If not, perhaps more information on your kenjutsu style and specific techniques.
You didn't mention how the guy in the big ass whole body european armor is completely immune to your katana since you can't cut metal with it, and the only way to kill him is to kick him off the bridge, pretty realistic although i'm not sure if the armor is
I always enjoy learning about history from your videos!
Awesome dude, so happy to see that you're making this video
"Woo Guy" is the only historically aspect of the game
Great video! I would definitely like to see more videos along these lines!
That was good...I hope you continue the mini-series.
This was fascinating please do a part 2
Metatron, great video! But I would just like to point out that there's one accurate samurai technique or 'stance' if you will in game. It's called the Ichimonji, I don't know if the name is related or accurate but the stance sure is, it shows the traditional samurai fighting stance :) It's pretty neato
Some of the thoughts here.
The Ashina(蘆名氏) clan does exist in history as one of the daimyos based in north-eastern Japan. Isshin is based on Ashina Moriuji(芦名 盛氏), and the samurai slayed by Isshin in the intro is inspired by the Tamura Clan(田村氏), and it could be Tamura Takaaki(田村崇顕,) and the conflict between the Ashina and Tamura do exist in history.
As for Genichiro, could be inspired by Ashina Moritaka(蘆名 盛隆), adopted by Ashina Morioki to continue the family line. That's why Genichiro is defending the Ashina clan at all cost.
The Hirata clan（平田氏） does exist in history and is one of the four clans(蘆名四天) serves the Ashina Clan.
All the elite bosses, especially those samurai generals are inspired by the retainers of the Ashina Clan, and you can easily tell by looking at their family names, like Yamauchi(山内) and Kawarada (河原田).
The ashina domain is actually inspired by the Ashina clan(蘆名氏) in history and the Ashihara no Nakatsukuni(葦原中国) which is the word for Japan in Japanese mythology, which explains why there are mythology elements in game.
The rebellion of taking back the domain does exist in Ashina clan's history.
The invasion in late game could be inspired by the war between Date and Ashina clan, and those red armored samurais could be inspired by the units lead by Ii Naomasa(井伊 直政) from real history.
The lore in Sekiro compressed the fall of the Ashina clan in just one day.
This is highly interesting and informative, thank you for this!
Do you have the link to the source on where you got this information from?--- Cause I'd like to read it myself!
@@heroicdefender9747 mostly from Japanese history books, and I don't know if they have translated to English though. Here's the book talks about the Ashina clan in history:
小林清治編・戦国大名論集2『東北大名の研究』
@@baltanzoo Many thanks for this, friend! this will be most useful
I am lucky to have had Google Translate so that it could translate the Japanese texts
in the story wolf isn't actually trained by the same dojo as ashina samurai, he was trained completely by his foster father. You have to do a quest to unlock the combat arts for the ashina style which might explain his differing stance.
You're the best teacher I've ever had. It would be quite a thing to know you in life.
"Sengoku samurai need to be present as violent, ruthless, and brutal fighting machines."
Yup, exactly. Isshin's quote "Hesitation is defeat" makes a lot of sense now.
Very well done. Looking forward to pt. 2
The red guard and Interior Ministry are obviously point to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Interiror Ministry(" 內府 ") is usually to called Togugawa himself, and the Red guard(" 赤備 ") is also a special forces that lead by Ii Naomasa, some of them are even the former Takeda's Red guard forces
I knew you would love this game! Me too brother...Great video!
For the stances and combat style they gave themselves a convenient out: both the player character and the opposing Ashina samurai have their own separate fictional fighting styles known only to them.
Useful I guess to allow them to balance it for gameplay over accuracy.
Thank you Metatron, you make all of us, teachers, very proud indeed. Great review btw.
Thank you for watching pal
"SO HERES THIS GIANT ENEMY CRAB"
Sugoi!
This game reminds me a lot of the Tenchu series for the PS1 and PS2 respectively. This game looks beautiful and from what i've seen so far, the mechanics are solid as well as the AI.
Looking forward to your next episode.
Good eye! Sekiro was originally going to be a new game from the Tenchu series during its early development, it's a nice mix of Dark Souls(ish) and Tenchu
Would love a series like you are suggesting!
One aspect of the combat that is more realistic is the emphasis on parrying and deflection. Many games just do a static block such as Nigh but this game requires proper deflection.
I've been waiting for this video, thank you so much for this ^^
Great video!! I would love to hear your opinions on the religious and mythological aspects of the game :) Absolutly love your content!
i hoped u would talk about the folklore inspired enemies
Please cover Nioh And Ghost of Tsushima ! Thanks. I love this channel.
Been playing this a lot! Please continue
Great video, it really made me curious about the game. As for the samurai with the firearm: of course he will use his weapon while the intruder is busy fighting with the other one. Let's look at it from another perspective: using firearm against a sword-wielding warrior is already "dishonest". And to imagine that he would just wait for you to end your duel is just ridiculous (as you also have pointed out). Because what would he do then? Maybe he could say "OK, I see that you have finished your honourable duel, but wait, I have a firearm, which is unfair. But you know what, I'll use it as a blunt weapon. :D
Here’s another cool thing the battojutsu is near perfect, if an enemy sees you and there’s another one of his friends. He’ll keep looking at you and walk backwards as his friend looks forward. Not the best AI but has nice little details.
I quite enjoyed this, looking forward to further analysis.
Honestly, I thought this game is another Japan-like fantasy game that has nothing to do with real life history. Glad I've been proven wrong. Now I'm actually looking forward to playing this game. Awesome video as always. 👍
BTW, what is your opinion on Jikinshin Kage-Ryu? (Kenjutsu school, not Odachi school like the normal Kage-Ryu.) Have you heard of it, and do you know about Suzuki Kimiyoshi sensei?
On the fighting stance of the wolf, I saw it as a form of psychological warfare. He's either presenting himself as a target who doesn't know how to fight properly, or is presented as someone with such a mastery that he could kill without adhering to form.
I wish you would've commented on masataka oniwa, but I suppose maybe you weren't there yet, or maybe you just didn't want to spoil but his fight is probably one of the most realistic depictions of Japanese warfare I have ever seen in a game.
First time on your channel, loved the vid, can u shed some light on the Headless and Shichimen on your next videos? I don't know if there's actually some sort of curlltural horror related to this and would love to understand it! Thanks!
Continue the series!
Shinobi were also siege-breakers. I say that's a part of the job and not a separate but simultaneous job, because contemporary texts describe it as such. Maybe spying, assassination, and siege-breaking were ALL spy jobs, unlike our cold-war idea of a spy as an infiltrator who maybe sometimes kills?
awesome videos!! Do you have a condensed video, or know of a decent condensed video about the history of Japan?
I'd say the striking animations and stances of Sekiro are done that way for gameplay reasons and because the exaggeration makes it look cooler to most people. If the attacks were too swift and left no opening, there would be little risk to striking, thus making the game easier.
very informative video thank u!
You do have to remember that stances and ways of fighting in Japan were completely different in the sengoku jidai. Even the modern kenjutsu school only train you in really only real late sengoku jidai fighting styles and Edo styles. The old styles used during the sengoku jidai were used in accordance to armor and the movement with it. Which meant sword was held farther from body and head. Can't really do a Jodan no kamae with a big ads helmet in the way. At least not how kenjutsu teaches it today. A good example of armor fighting is the Yagyu armor tournaments held in Japan. They're incredible. And scholars agree in Japan about this fact, and it's shown in these Yagyu bouts, the stances were lower, swords were held differently. They teach in kendo the the fingers on the tsuba are spread apart and slanted. While the samurai actually gripped it much differently. Making it much harder to disarm them. The hands were also closer together. If you study the old samurai manuals of the time, you can see this in the illustrations and descriptions. So Sekiro isn't actually too bad with the stances. Tho I do agree that Sekiro's stance himself is a little off to what it should be. Otherwise, I agree with your assessment. Really hard game, but highly rewarding. And I agree with everyone about the knight fighting mission. I was worried they'd screw it up, but then they totally redeemed themselves with the only way to kill him is to lower his posture and knock him off the bridge, but you had to get him to damage the bridge first. My least favorite part was when black badger died saving a kid. Best video game npc of all time. My favorite and most relatable and able to feel true empathy for. Great character design there.
I'm so happy that Miyazaki made this game as realistic as he could
I was a little concerned about whether or not this game was realistic, so thanks for making this. I love your videos