Top 10 Hardest Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Bosses Part 2: No's 5-1

Right, so its time for Part 2 of my look at the hardest bosses from the action game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which has its fair share of tough opponents and here I will look at who made it into the top 5.

So, with that said let's dive back in and take a gander at these fiendishly difficult bosses...

5. Isshin Ashina 

So, at No.5 is the final boss of the game if you pick what is known as the "Shura" ending of the game that translates into the "bad" ending of the four possible endings you can get. This is actually a three phase fight where you fight Emma, the gentle blade in phase 1 and Isshin Ashina in phase 2 and 3 and this fight is no joke whatsoever!


WARNING: SPOILERS COMING UP! 

As for the actual fight as I mentioned it begins with Emma in phase 1 who will fight you after Sekiro has chosen to forsake his Lord (Kuro) and Emma herself isn't too bad an opponent to face here but she can still deal out some hefty damage. And Emma's moves include an abbreviated version of the combat art, Ashina cross that deals brutal damage and is almost one-shot material. Emma also has a perilous attack where she can grab you and throw you to the ground that also deals out hefty damage aswell as a thrust attack. And lastly Emma has a sword and hilt flurry attack that must be blocked or else its curtains basically!

Moving onto the 2nd phase, after you have defated Emma, Isshin steps in to fight you and this is where the fight really begins. Isshin has a number of dangerous attacks at his disposal starting with Ashina cross, which is essentially a focused two hit slash that can whop away alot of your health. Isshin can also perform a Ichimonji double attack, where he performs an overhead sword strike twice that is also pretty devastating to your health bar. Isshin also uses a 3 hit combo attack with his katana and this can also hurt quite a bit if it full connects.

In the 3rd phase things get a bit crazier where Isshin gains a pyro ability of sorts that can set the room on fire and he can cause a trail of fire through an overhead sword slash that will cause hefty burn damage to Sekiro if he doesn't avoid it. Isshin also can perform a flurry attack consisting of a series of sword slashes that deal out alot of pain and certain death if not deflected or avoided.

Strategy wise...well I have to say this fight can be very challenging but phase 1 is easiest out of the thee for sure as Emma while she can definitely hurt you, she doesn't pose a huge threat. So to deal with Emma you can either use Ako or Ungo's sugar to reduce physical damage or increase your attack damage when taking hits or dishing them out (in that order I have written for Ako and Ungo!). Primarily though this is a fight where you want to deflect Emma's attacks, perform a Mikiri counter whenever she performs a thrust attack, step back when she does her Ashina cross attack and basically keep building up the posture damage from successive hits and eventually she will fall and by doing this, you character has hit the point of no return.

In the 2nd phase again Isshin's attacks should be deflected to build posture damage where possible especially when he uses his 3 hit combo. I would also use Ichimonji double after he has performed his Ashina cross which you should run round the back of so you don't get hit by it and then bonk him on the head with the double attack. If you can avoid his perilous attacks then step dodge away from them but if you can manage it try and mikiri counter the thrust and jump on his for the sweep attack but I must admit I'm not so great at pulling off either of these!

As for the 3rd phase, I would use the loaded umbrella to block his flurry attack and ensure that you have plenty of dousing powder to hand to nullify the burn damage from Isshin's fire attacks. If you have the upgrade you could also use the Sakuza's loaded umbrella, which does a great job at mitigating fire attacks and could make this phase alot easier but unfortunately I wasn't able to get the upgrade myself at the time. That aside you can also use the firecrackers to stun Isshin temporarily and use that to get a few hits in but he will block quickly after the second hit usually. Again though build posture damage through deflects, shinobi firecracker him to get extra hits, use Ako sure for extra damage and make sure to either dodge away from his fire attacks or get the umbrella upgrade to negate this and hopefully that should do it.

So, I would definitely say this is a pretty hard fight, especially Isshin's phases as his high damage potential and fire attacks can be pretty devastating if you are caught in them and even for an old guy he still makes a pretty formidable foe and on that deserves to be in the top 5.

4. Genichiro Ashina

So, at No.4 is this fella Genichiro Ashina, who Sekiro can face more often than any other opponent in the game depending on which end you choose to go for but this of course relates to his main fight when you battle him atop Ashina castle and it is hands down one of the hardest fights in the entire game.

Now depending on how you look at it, this is either two or three phase fight because Genichiro starts with two healthbars but when you have depleted both of them he goes into his final phase where he strips off his armour and gains lightning attacks. However for the sake of argument we wil call it a 2 phase fight.

So, in phase 1, Genichiro can deploy a number of different attacks such as his floating passage (sounds a bit dodgy actually lol!) where he performs a number of successive slashes. He will also use his bow frequently in the fight, especially if you keep your distance from him he will fire off a pretty hefty arrow, which will deal alot of damage but he can also perform a multiple bow attack as he fires off several arrows. Genichiro also has a grab attack that can be deal out alot of damage if it connects as well as sword attack and kick. On his second healthbar the main difference is that Genichiro alternates to a perilous sweep rather than a thrust attack.

As for his 2nd phase, Genichiro as mentioned, strips off his armour and gains lightning attack abilitiesand here he has three new attacks consisting of a leaping thrust, lightning smash and slam. The leaping thrust is easily the most dangerous of these attacks from the point of view of healing as it is very hard to do so when Genichiro uses this attack and the lightning attacks require careful timing to avoid aswell but I will mention more about them in a tic.

Strategy wise...well this really is a very tough fight and it took me 35 goes to get past Genichiro on my latest playthrough where I played the game un-modded on the PS4 as I played him in an easier PC mod on my first two playthroughs and he was much easier then but here he's a different kettle of fish!

Basically with Genichiro you are best to stay close to him and be aggressive and try to attack him as much as you can and deflect his attacks whenever you can. The perilous thrust attack in his first phase can be mikiri countered and you can bounce off his head like you would with other bosses when he does his sweep attack. As for his bow attack if you are at a distance he will for sure fire off his bow and you are going to heal at that point make sure to dodge just as you hear him pull back on his bow and readies to fire then you will not get hit. Regarding his multiple bow attacks you have to watch out for him jumping into the air and when he does instantly deflect his arrows as best you can. Lastly for phase 1 you can deflect his floating passage attack, which is very effective for building up posture damage on him.

Phase 2 is where things get a bit more annoying as it is almost impossible to find a good window to heal as Genichiro will leap at you right away with his new thrust attack, so you are best tyring to use the Mikiri counter on it if you can but I always found it tricky to time as I always sucked at this attack lol! Failing that just try and jump back to avoid his perilous thrust attack and then heal as he has landed. As for his lightning attacks...well this is where I did struggle quite badly because you are supposed to do the lightning reversal trick and leap into the air and throw the lightning back at him but I always found it VERY tricky to time correctly and died more times than not from shock! If you get a chance you could pop and eel liver which will help reduce shock damage from lightning attacks but again you might find it difficult to get a window.

To sum up, the main thing here is to stay aggressive and block his attacks whenever you can, if you can mikiri, great, if not try and jump back to avoid his attacks and also try your best to do the lightning reversal tricky but if not try again to jump back to avoid being caught in it. In between this just keep wading into Genichiro whenever possible and use firecrackers also to distract him and he should eventually fall.

So, Genichiro without a doubt deserves to be this high on the list as his fight is the first real test you will encounter in the game and its a real stern one to deal with and if you do its a great hurdle to overcome and one that is worthy of its place here at No.4.

3. Demon of Hatred 

So, at No.3 is the Demon of Hatred, a big firey beast, who actually resembles a certain other Bloodborne boss by the name of Laurence, the First Vicar, who was also a beat and on fire just like this guy is! The only thing is that the Demon of Hatred may be even tougher as a boss than Laurence was which is saying something!

The Demon of Hatred himself primarily uses a series of fire attacks in the fight and they consist of an explosive body slam, a hand drag charge that is particularly nasty and can virutally one-shot a player and a fireball summon which the demon will throw at you when you are at a distance. His other attacks also include foot slams, fire melee combo, a head slam which he can do right infront of you if you are too close and a fire whip slam that has a pretty big range and again does heavy damage and he does a variation of this also in the 2nd phase. The 3rd and final phase will see the demon do a fire whip swing combo and a double hand drag charge similar to the first phase.

As for how to deal with this big beasty...well cheat basically lol! Well I must admit to my shame I did try the cheese tactic against this boss which did work that involves Sekiro climbing up a tower and jumping over to a wall and climbing up onto one of the buildings and going to edge of it, with the demon trapped in the corner, he will eventually fall to his death below! Its a big cheat for sure but it does work and I know that because obviously you will have a really hard time with him if you didn't.,

However I must admit I did fight this big guy proper solo too and by heck he is pretty brutal and his attacks are quite devastating and I found it hard to get past one health bar before running out of healing items! What I would say is to ensure that you have the Suzaku's umbrella upgrade before you take this big beat on because it does a great job at coping with his firey attacks, especially the body slam one.

That aside I would suggest using Ako's sugar and whacking away at what I can only describe as the demon's nutsack area to damage him! You can also use the Malcontent Shinobi prosphetic tool if you have it on you as it can disorientate him long enough for you wade in and get more damage done but it can only be used three times max before it wears off on the demon. Lastly make sure you use dousing powder or Ministry dousing powder which is a bit more effective or even the withered red gourd that also helps with fire/burn damage. Also be sure to run away and doge his fireball attack and watch out for when he is about to perform a hand drag charge and jump out the way and keep to his side to whack away at him whenever you can and eventually he will go down after many attempts!

So, for me I have to say that I did beat this boss twice on a PC mod, which was tricky but a fair bit easier than the standard difficulty mode of the game but I could see just how brutal he is un-modded so for that reason I have decided to put the Demon of Hatred here at No.3 where I think he certainly belongs.

2. Owl (Father)

So in the runner-up spot is Owl Father, who is basically a souped up version of the Great Shinobi Owl and by God this guy is tough! You actually meet the Owl Father in an alternate version of an area called Hirata Estates where you visited earlier to fight Lady Butterfly and in the same arena where you fought her and it is for sure one of the most demanding fights in the entire game. 

As for Owl Father's moves he does a mix of combos and firecracker attacks in the first phase and all of these attacks are utterly devastating to your health bar and literally one-shot material in some cases especially the firecracker slash combo. Owl also does a leaping attack too which is easily avoided for the most part. What also makes the Owl difficult is his speed as he can zig zag very quickly throughout the area you fight him in. As for his 2nd phase, Owl then literally produces a phantom Owl that flies around and it can do a perilous fire attack, which cannot be blocked by the loaded umbrella. So all this adds up to a very very difficult battle.

Strategy wise...now your asking! Well for me the best and most efficient way to deal with the Owl was to use the Mortal Blade Draw attack, which is reliable for chipping away at the boss's health and posture but you need to carefully time your attacks or else you will be punished by the Owl with a one or two shot death! To avoid his other attacks you can try and deflect them however he can deal out huge posture damage so at best you can only manage to tank 3 hits before your posture is broken. As for his firecracker slash attack, simply back off and jump away as you will have enough time to do so if you keep an eye out for it. I would also recommend doing the same for his owl fire blaze attack as you cannot block with even the fire resistant umbrella.

But overall I would say the mortal draw attack is the best way to hurt the Owl and the best time to use is just after his leap attack, which you can back off from easily. So if you rinse and repeat with the mortal draw then the Owl will eventually fall and end a very tough fight indeed.

So, for me Owl Father without a doubt deserves the runner-up spot as he is a punishingly difficult boss with very fast attacks that deal ridiculous amounts of damage in fact I would even go as far as to say they even do unfair amounts of damage! Its just FromSoft again trying to top ways they can pulverise the play in one or two hits and succeeding! So, the Owl Father definitely earns his spot here at No.2.

So the hardest boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is....

1. Mist Noble

Yep at No.1 is the Mist Noble, yeah he is just absolutely brutal. I mean one hit and you are dead! Nah just kidding, this guy is easily the EASIEST boss in the game!

No, the real hardest boss in the game is....

1. Isshin, the Sword Saint

Yep, this one comes as little surprise but for me and many other players the hardest boss in the game is the final boss also and that is Isshin, the Sword Saint. In the Soulsborne games the final bosses tended to be a mixed bag difficulty wise but most of them proved pretty easy but here I think FromSoftware wanted to make up for their previous end game boss with something utterly unforgivingly brutal and they sure did it here with this guy!

WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Now, this fight actually begins with Isshin's grandson, Genichiro who Sekiro must ALWAYS fight every time you take on this boss battle as it leads into the main encounter with Isshin as basically Geni sacrifices himself to bring his grandad back from the dead by literally climbing out of his body! And this must rank as one of the most bizarre cutscenes that have featured in any game that FromSoftware have ever done!

As for the fight itself in the 1st phase, Genichiro will always begin with an attack from his black Mortal Blade that can deal out major damage if it connects. Genichiro's remaining moveset is very similar to the one in his previous fight with Sekiro that consists of his floating passage flurry attack, bow attacks but another new addition is a grab attack where he throws you down and stabs you to take away half your health bar!

After you manage to whip away Genichiro's health bar, he sacrifices himself with the mortal blade and his grandad, Isshin emerges from him and its a younger but still middle-aged Isshin but he is unfortunately for you now in his prime. So, with three daunting health bars to battle against with Isshin, his 1st phase begins with Isshy (for short!) doing similar attacks to his older version in the alternate ending of the game, which comprises of Ashina cross, three hit combo aswell as a perilous thrust and sweep attack. Isshin will also use the Ichimonji double too like he did in the other fight in the "Shura" ending of the game. And of course all these attacks can be pretty devastating to Sekiro's health bar!

However in the 2nd phase this is where the fight REALLY gets hard as Isshin whips out a big spear from God knows where but certain Youtubers suggested he pulled it from his ass, which suggests Isshin has a body like a TARDIS, i.e. bigger on the inside! Anyway...Isshin also takes out a repeating pistol that seems a bit ahead of its time period of the 16th century as repeating firearms weren't realistically developed until the 17th century but I digress!

Anyway so in the 2nd phase, Isshin does a series of brutal spear attacks and this is also not helped by the fact the spear is MASSIVE and it dishes out MAJOR damage. In fact I'm sure that the 2nd phase is where most people will struggle with this fight as Isshin's speed and his attacks are pretty overwhelming until you get the hang of his attack patterns. His repeating pistol attack is performed at random and overall doesn't do too much damage but Isshin still also uses his katana to perform combos as well as if all that other stuff isn't enough!

In his final phase, Isshin does more of the same spear attacks along with his pistol but this time he adds in some lightning attacks aswell just for good measure. The lightning attacks are also pretty nasty and will cause shock damage to Sekiro if he doesn't avoid them in time that will also destroy his health bar. Isshin also does some ranged whirlwind attacks. And guess what? Yep they also dish out large amounts of damage! So yep this is a whole lot BS to deal with from the game's final boss!

As for how to cope with this hellishly difficult fight...just give up! Nah kidding.

Well to break it down phase by phase as usual, for Genichiro's phase, its a simply case of staying very aggressive and for the most part you can even cancel alot of his attacks by spamming R1 and hitting him over and over but this isn't always 100% effective as he will block you after a short while. As for dealing with his attacks, run behind him when he does his mortal draw and you wont get by it and just follow it up with some hits of your own and Ichimonji double is pretty to use here to build posture damage. As for his perilous attacks, his jumping thrust can be deal with by a mikiri counter but only trouble is I suck at this move BIG TIME! So, I would also suggest jumping back if you aren't confident with the mikiri counter. Also I would suggest backing off when he does his sweep attack and run back in to get a few hits and you can even use the divine confetti and firecrackers to stun Genichiro to get more posture damage on him and he will eventually drop.

In the 2nd phase of the battle and Isshin's 1st phase try and deflect his three hit combo and when he performs his Ashina cross attack, get behind him and perform an Ichimonji double to get some posture damage and you can also do this when he performs his double projected force attack. For Isshin's perilous thrust and sweep attacks either back off or mikiri the thrust or jump off his head to get posture damage for his sweep. You can also use Ako's sugar to build on your damage to Isshin and again use the old faithful firecrackers to stun him.

In the 3rd overall phase and Isshin's 2nd phase, this is where things get way more difficult to deal with as he whips out his spear and pistol and for this phase I would suggest using Gokan's sugar to boost your posture because you will want to deflect a lot of Isshin's spear attacks. I would also suggest doing a mikiri counter for Isshin's perilous thrust spear attack and I found for the most part it was one of the easier attacks to counter this way and it does good posture damage. For Isshin's repeating pistol attack just simply block it with your katana and it should negate any damage it might do to Sekiro. Isshin also does a leaping attack with his spear and I would suggest either jumping out the way or even better block it with the loaded umbrella and if you can time well enough you can follow it up with a projected force attack that does decent posture damage and the same applies to Isshin's own projected force attacks.

As for the final phase of the fight, its simply a case of repeating the same steps as you would in Isshin's 2nd phase but this time you will need to learn how to time your lightning reversal attack to throw back Isshin's lightning at him. Now for me this was perhaps the single hardest part of the fight to time right as I always sucked at timing it! But what I've seen you need to jump in the air just as Isshin comes down from his own leap and performs the lightning attack and you then spam R1 or RB to throw it back at him and it does a fair bit of posture damage. You can though also jump back from this lightning attack too if you are able to then this would be a better solution than struggle with the lightning reversal trick. So, if you put all this together then hopefully it will lead to you being victorious over Isshin, the Sword Saint.

So for me Isshin, the Sword Saint is hands down the hardest boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and it is especially so given it is such a long fight at four phases and it more than deserves the top spot.

Right that's it for now and I will see you soon for another.

Till then its bye for now!

Top 10 Hardest Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Bosses Part 1: No's 10-6

Right, so just for a change (or a slight change!) I've decided to do yet another top 10 list (yes another one!) but this one will take a look at my pick of the hardest bosses in FromSoftware's latest video game, Sekiro, which has been well renowned for its brutal difficulty.

Now Sekiro has its share of mini bosses aswell in the game (in fact there are 30 of them!) but for the purpose of this post I thought I would just limit it to the main bosses of the game and having played them all I will base them on ny difficulty but also working in their reputation for ordering the list. I will also make suggestions on how to defeat the bosses or how I personally dealt with the fights.  

So with that said let's take a look at these bosses from hell....

10. Gyoubu Oniwa 

So, at No.10 on the list is the first main boss you encounter in the game, Gyoubu Oniwa, who makes quite an impressive entrance as he rides in on horseback and yells his name at the top of his lungs (especially in the English voice over!) as he is determined to stop Sekiro entering Ashina castle.

So, for the fight Oniwa basically uses his giant polarm to try and whop Sekiro's ass with as his horse stampedes all around the outer grounds of the castle and at first this can be a fairly challenging fight. However the fight itself once you get to grips with it isn't too bad overall but it does set up nicely what you can sort of expect ahead of you.

As for how to deal with this fight, well I felt the best way was to pop and Ungo's sugar to reduce the physical damage that Oniwa deals out, which can be pretty hefty aswell as use the grappling hook skill if you have it, which will launch Sekiro towards Oniwa's horse and he will perform an attack after. I would also suggest using shinobi firecrackers to stun the horse so that Sekiro can get quite a few hits in and at this point you might want to also pop an Ako's sugar to boost your damage to the horse. So basically if you use the firecrackers, deflect Oniwa's polearm strikes and use an Ako's sugar and strike the horse in between Oniwa's attacks, rinse and repeat then the fight should be over fairly soon.

So, for me Gyoubu Oniwa is reasonably challenging fight that took me a few goes to get past on my first playthrough but there are for sure much tougher challenges ahead in the game.

9. Great Shinobi Owl

At No.9 is one of the late game bosses, the Great Shinobi Owl and this would be entering big spoiler territory if I was to fully explain why you fight him, so I might leave that out here for now not to spoil anything.

And the GRO while he isn't the toughest of bosses, he still does pose a fair challenge for Sekiro in the game at this stage and he has quite a few damaging attacks to watch out for.

First up, Shinobi Owl likes to use firecrackers...alot...and he can perform a pretty devastating slash attack after that, which will wipe out most of your health bar. Next, the Shinobi Owl can also perform combo attacks that can pummel your posture and health and what can be more dangerous he can throw items that prevent you from healing, which could spell big trouble for you if you get caught in the path of one. In his second phase, the Shinobi Owl can also throw out poison pellets that can easily poison you and poison damage in this game is pretty obnoxious so again you are best staying away from it. And lastly the GRO has a devastating Mikiri Counter, which he will use if you ever perform a thrust attack, he will perform the counter and follow up by stabbing Sekiro, which will take away about 90% of his health!


Strategy wise though for this boss you are best deflecting his attack whenever possible and simply dodge his anti-healing items whenever he throws them but they are pretty well telegraphed so its easy to do and also just back off whenever you see him throw poison pellets. The two things you will want to dodge the most though are his firecracker slash combo and above all else his Mikiri Counter, so for this fight you NEVER want to perform thrust attacks as you will get punished for it big time! I also used the combat art, Ijimonji double, to bump GRO on the head that helps build up posture damage in the 1st phase. And in the 2nd phase I mainly used the Mortal Blade draw, which is great for building posture and health damage and the best time to use it is just after he performs his jump attack and lands. So if you repeat these then the Great Shinobi Owl should eventually fall.

So, even though there are tougher bosses ahead of him, the Great Shinobi Owl can still provide a tough challenge and his attacks can be pretty devastating so you need to be on guard to beat him and as such he deserves to be at No.9 on the list.

8. Guardian Ape

So, at No.8 is the Guardian Ape and I know that some people would place this pesky ape much higher on their lists but I figured I would place him here because after I struggled on him in my first playthrough, I've since managed to work him out and beat him a fair easier. However this big ape is still a dangerous opponent and not to be underestimated. 

As for the Guardian Ape's attacks well this is a first for a FromSoft game boss because here we have a boss, who will pull a big pile of crap from his ass and chuck it at you and he can also fart on you aswell and both of these do poison damage (what has this guy been eating???!!). Other than this, the ape can perform some pretty nasty jump attacks and a brutal grab attack that deals out alot of damage and a flailing attack where he writhes around on the ground. However after you think you have beaten him and you see that much welcome "SHINOBI EXECUTION" caption come up, you soon discover he's not done yet and he rises up again but this time he is headless and he carries his head in one hand and a big katana in the other! So from here, the ape does some pretty nasty slashes with his katana and he can also dish out some hefty terror damage, which will kill Sekiro instantly if his terror metre goes all the way up! So its quite a lot to deal with!

As for how I dealt with the Guardian Ape well for one a good way to deal with him is to use divine confetti as it does some good physical damage to the ape's health. For this poo attack, this can actually be blocked without Sekiro taking much damage or you could simply jump forward when you see him about to perform this attack and you will dodge it. As for his grab attack simply jump back before he can perform it and I would suggest the same for his writhing ground attack.

2nd phase however is mainly a case of deflecting the ape's katana attacks and when he falls face down, wade into him with the katana buffed with confetti but you can also use the loaded spear tool yank out his centipede inside his head for posture damage but I never had much success at this.  As for his terror attacks just use pacifying agent or the purple mottled gourd to counter it but you can usually tell when he is about to do it so you can back off before he does. So if you do all this then the Guardian ape should be beaten and the fight will be FINALLY over for real this time!

So, I would have to say that I did find the Guardian ape quite tough on my first playthrough but after working him out I've since found him much easier and I did beat him on my first try on my 3rd playthrough!

However that aside, this big ape is still a tough opponent and as such he does deserves his spot here at No.8.

7. Lady Butterfly

So, at No.7 is Lady Butterfly, who depending on how you play it can be the 2nd or 3rd main boss you will encounter in the game but I would suggest tackling her 2nd as she can be a fair bit easier than the other boss you would encounter who I will get to a bit later on. However Lady Butterfly herself can prove to be quite a difficult boss to deal with for sure.

As for her fight, this is actually a very balletic one as Sekiro and Lady B lock battle, she spins around a lot making her moveset pretty unique among the other bosses. Lady B also employs the use of a couple of perilous attacks as she can do a dive attack on you from overhead wires and throw shurikens at you as well as perform a grab attack that deals alot of damage. In the 2nd phase, Lady Butterfly will start creating a series of illusions to disorientate Sekiro and these can be followed up by a pretty devastating phantom Kunai attack that can obliterate Sekiro's health bar.

So how I dealt with this fight was to try and deflect her spin attacks as much as I could before my posture would break which is pretty standard stuff anyway. As for her perilous attacks in phase 1, for her overhead dive attack just use a Shuriken which will knock her on her ass and cause some posture damage and the other perilous attack just back off before she performs it. In the 2nd stage you are best either using snap seeds to dispel the illusions that Lady Butterfly creates or simply just around the inside of the pillars around the room until she dispels them herself. The snap seeds aren't actually that effective as they can only dispel local illusions in the room and not all of t6hem at once. As for her phantom Kunai attack you have to basically again just run around the room to dodge them. That aside its a case of just blocking and attacking her and she will eventually go down.

So as a fairly early game boss, Lady Butterfly is certainly quite difficult and as such she definitely deserves her spot on here at No.7.

6. True Corrupted Monk

So, at No.6 to round off the first part of this list is the True Corrupted Monk, who is the real version of the ghost Corrupted Monk you face earlier in the game and she is no joke it has to be said.


As for the Corrupted Monk's attacks, well they can be pretty brutal as she uses a large twinblade weapon and performs some sweeping combos that deal big damage. In the 2nd phase however, things change up as the Monk creates a mist and some illusions of herself that can also attack Sekiro and in the 3rd and final phase, a centipede comes out her head that can inflict terror damage and her attacks are much the same as in phases 1 and 2 only more aggressive.

This fight can be very tricky I certainly struggled with it myself on my latest playthrough where it took 19 attempts beat the monk and its mainly down to her brutal sweeping attacks that are hard to avoid given the size of her twin bladed weapon. In the first phase you its a matter again of trying to block her attacks to build up posture damage and try and get a few hits in in-between with using Ako sugar you can get a damage buff that will help build that posture meter of hers.

In the 2nd phase if you are lucky you can instantly land a deathblow on her if you rope up to the trees above immediately after the 1st deathblow and as the mist appears and you get a lock on her, just jump down and you should get the deathblow red marker. This however isn't necessarily always a guarantee and if you don't succeed in this then you are best roping between the tree branches above to avoid the Monk's phantom clones and then jump down and attack her similar to phase 1 and hope that when the mist comes you can rope up again to the top branch and get the deathblow.

As for the 3rd phase, I found what worked in the end for me was to use Ako's sugar for extra damage and also firecrackers to stun her and if they run out then use fistful of ash, which the monk is weak to and it will you to beat on her more. So, its a case of rinse and repeat this process until she falls and you get the final deathblow. Its also worth noting that you should use pacifying agent to null her terror attack in this phase or the purple mottled gourd.

So, for me the True Corrupted Monk is definitely one of the toughest bosses in the game with her three phases and brutal combo twinblade attacks and initimidating size makes for a tough opponent and one that deserves a spot on the list at No.6.

Right, so that's it for Part 1 and I will be back soon with Part 2 where I look at who made it into the top 5.

So, till then its bye fer now!

My 10 Favourite Films of The Decade 2010-2019 Part 2

Right, so now its time for Part 2 of my look at my pick of the films of the decade from 2010 to 2019 and again these aren't in any particular order and not necessarily from every year in the decade.

So, with that said let's continue with the list...

6. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

So at No.6 is one that people might not necessarily put on their lists but I figured I would put it on mine which is the finale of the Christopher Nolan trilogy of Batman films: The Dark Knight Rises.

Now I have to say that many people may prefer the The Dark Knight over this one but I personally prefer The Dark Knight Rises as I just see it as a better movie and a bit more satisfying to watch and I also think that The Dark Knight is pretty overrated (only my opinion of course). It also acts as a very solid conclusion to Nolan's trilogy aswell and it of course left things wide open for someone to take over the franchise in future.

As for the story, it follows on from the Dark Knight by about 8 years where Bruce Wayne has hung up his mask and cape and become a recluse while crime in Gotham has gotten under control thanks to the Dent act (named after Harvey Dent, who became Two-Face in TDK) so Bruce no longer feels needed by the city. Meanwhile however, a masked man named Bane (Tom Hardy) escapes FBI custody by hijacking a plane and sets in place a plan to take over Gotham and fulfil the destiny of Ra's Al Gul (Liam Neeson from Batman Begins) and destroy it to end its corruption. Bruce as Batman then returns to fight Bane but is soon overpowered by him as Bane breaks Bruce's back he sends him off to a remote prison abroad. And from here Bruce must find a way to recover and escape from the prison to get back to Gotham and stop Bane from carrying out his plan...

As far as trilogy conclusions go, this is a very solid one and The Dark Knight Rises pays off in quite a few departments with its excellent performances, great action scenes and one of Hans Zimmer's finest scores.

Christian Bale once is great here as Bruce Wayne/Batman although he still does insist on overdoing the husky voice as Batman! As for the new cast members, Tom Hardy is also excellent and quite sinister in his role as the physically intimidating Bane, who wears a tubed mask that helps him breath and stay alive and his fight scene with Batman is one of the most intense in the trilogy. Then there is Anne Hathaway, who is also great in her role as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman and she exhibits the right amount of sass and sexiness to play the part, not to mention there is that scene with Catwoman leaning over on the Batbike! And lastly Marion Cotillard is excellent aswell as Miranda Tate, who Bruce has a brief romantic fling and helps him along the way but later there is a twist involving her.

And as mentioned for me one of the standout aspects of this film is its soundtrack as Hans Zimmer's score is superb and its incredibly intense and suspensful throughout and is great way for him to close out the trilogy also.

So, The Dark Knight Rises is definitely one of my favourite films from the 2010s and for me also the best of the three films in Nolan's trilogy and as such it deserves its spot on the list.

7. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019)

So at No.7 is a film from last year and its the latest offering from Quentin Tarantino, Once upon a time in Hollywood, and for me its easily one of his best films in years. The film itself is Taraninto's loveletter to the end of the Golden era of Hollywood in the late 1960's but it also surrounds the events of the Manson murders that happened around this time.

WARNING: THESE PARAGRAPHS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS BUT NOT BIG ONES!

Story wise it follows the two fictional characters, Rick Dalton (Leo Di Caprio) a TV actor who's career is now struggling after previous success on the small screen with a western show called Bounty Law and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). So in the film Rick does however manage land himself a role in a western TV show called Lancer where he delivers an impressive performance as a villain and he also soon attracts the attention of a casting agent Marvin Schawz (Al Pacino) who wants him to do Spaghetti western films in Italy.

Meanwhile Cliff befriends a hippie girl known as Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) who takes her out to a ranch where the Manson family are located and he talks to the ranch owner, George Spahn (Burce Dern) to check out he is OK and not being taken advantage of but he is soon dismissed by George. Cliff then leaves the ranch but not before beating up one of the family for puncturing a tyre on his car (or rather Rick's car).

The film's other subplot also surrounds the lives of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband and famed director, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) who also just happened to next door neighbours to Rick as well as Sharon's former boyfriend Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch).  And the film's plotlines all intertwine as it leads towards its climax where the events of the Manson murders loom to unfold...

For me, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood is a real return to form for Tarantino after making a couple of hit and miss westerns with the disappointing Django Unchained and the better but overlong and at times uneventful Hateful Eight. However here he manages to succeed in creating a highly enjoyable and at times even charming comedy drama that takes some pretty dark themes with the Manson family and combines with the fictional characters of Rick and Cliff that leads to a somewhat unexpected end (which I won't say anymore about promise!). Rick and Cliff's friendship is also one of the things that drives the film and it gives it its heart as Cliff supports Rick through thick and thin as Rick tries to get his ailing career back on track.

Performance wise of course the film is also excellent as the two leads of Leo and Brad deliver great performances in their respective roles as Rick and Cliff and you get a sense of just how good buddies they are. The supporting cast are also just as good with Margot Robbie excellent as Sharon Tate as she plays her like a daydreamer living in a dream world in Hollywood as she mingles with the cream of the town. Margaret Qualley is also very good as the hippie girl Pussycat, who is bubbly and energetic yet she happens to also be a member of the Manson family. Al Pacino does very well too in his brief role as the casting agent Marvin Schwarz as does Bruce Dern as the rancher owner, George Spahn. And last of all is Mike Moh as Bruce Lee, who does a fine impression of him but his performance courted controversry due to his depiction of Lee being seen as too arrogant and as such disrepectful to his memory.

So, overall Once upon a time in Hollywood is an excellent Tarantino film and a great return to form for him and as such one of the best films of the decade and it more than deserves its spot on here.

8. Skyfall (2012)

So, at No.8 is a James Bond film, Skyfall, which has often been acclaimed as one of the very best Bond films and its easy to see why as its a Bond film that has just about everything in it with Daniel Craig maybe giving his best performance in the role, a very creepy villain, fine action scenes and a great score.

Plot wise the film begins with a terror attack that destroys MI6 headquarters in London that brings Bond (Craig) back out of hiding after he was presumed dead during a previous botched operation. Bond undergoes a series of medical/physical tests to determine that he is fully fit to return to duty but he ends up failing them all but his superior M (Judi Dench) clears him for duty nonetheless.

Bond then travels to Shanghai where he tracks down a mercenary named Patrice but during a fight, Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn who he is employer was. Bond regardless finds a casino token from Patrice who intended to cash it in and it leads him to a casino in Macau. Bond once there approaches Patrice's accomplice, Severine (Berenice Marolhe) who Bond seduces and they travel to an island where Bond meets her employer, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) who turns out to be a former MI6 agent and the one behind the attack on MI6. However Bond manages to apprehend Silva and takes him back to London where he is interrogated by M but its no long before Silva manages to escape MI6's clutches and he then goes after M and its up to Bond to stop him....

Skyfall is undoubtedly one of the best Bond films in recent years and its a great conclusion to what is arguably a trilogy of films that Craig had done up to that point even though SPECTRE was still to come and his final Bond flick was in the works. But here Skyfall hits all the right notes and provides some great action scenes, moments of fun, suspense aswell as one of the most memorable Bond villains in quite some time in Silva. The film also features one of Thomas Newman's finest scores as his music for Skyfall is just superb from start to finish.

If I did however have a criticism of the film then its the final showdown in the Scottish Highlands is a bit of a letdown in some ways and it takes a bit too long to get going and then there is of course the whole thing of Bond's contempt for his old Scottish home that did kind of annoy me (git!).

That aside however this is still an excellent Bond film and one that warrants repeated viewing and deserves a spot on the list.

9. The Martian (2015)

So, at No.9 is Ridley Scott's The Martian, which was based on the novel of the same name by American writer, Andy Weir and its highly entertaining and gripping sci-fi film which is easily one of Scott's best films in years.

As for the story it is set in the future in the year 2035 where a space crew are exploring on Mars but while the crew are out on the surface they are soon hit by a strong dust storm that forces them to abort their mission and make an emergency take-off. However unbeknownst to the rest of the crew one of the team, Mark Watney (Matt Dillon) is struck by debris and left in the storm and stranded on the planet. As the storm worsens, the crew believe that Watney must be dead and their mission commander (Jessica Chastain) decides they must go back to their orbiting vessel, the Hermes.

Watney in the meantime however regains consciousness and manages to get back to the crew's surface base on the planet and performs emergency surgery on himself to remove a piece of debris that punctured his suit. Watney then starts to keep a video diary of his progress on the base and he tries to find a way to keep himself from starving as he creates a makeshift farm inside the base using his skills as a botanist, he starts growing potatoes to eat as food. Watney then determines that it will take four years before another ship will head out to Mars on a mission. However, back on Earth at NASA one of the satelitte planners notices that there is still activity on Mars and determines that Watney survived.

So its from here that NASA must find a way to communicate with Watney in order to start the process to bring him back home....

On seeing The Martian the first time I was quite surprised at how good a film it was and given its subject matter that it was handled in such a light hearted way and that is certainly one of the best aspects of the movie itself is that the tone of it is perfect. Scott also does a great job at showing the story from both Watney's perspective on Mars and the NASA teams on Earth trying to bring him back home aswell as the crew of the Hermes, who are unaware that he survived.

Performance wise, The Martian is also very good with Matt Damon giving one of his best as Mark Watney and he plays him in a very down to Earth way (no pun intended!) and about as level headed as you could possibly be given the situation that he is in. The supporting cast also do very well with fine performances from Jessica Chastain as the Hermes commander Lewis, Jeff Daniels is also excellent as Teddy Sanders, the director of NASA. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also great in his role as Vincent Kapoor, NASA's Director of Mars missions and lastly Sean Bean gives a pretty solid performance as Mitch Henderson, the Hermes flight director at NASA.

And for the most part this is a film that rarely sets a foot wrong although I do have to say there are two things that bugged me about it, one: the inclusion of Watney being subjected to listening to Lewis's cheesy 70s disco music and two relates more to a big plot spoiler so I won't mention here!

That aside, The Martian is an excellent film and one of my favourites from the decade that is well worth checking out.

10. Wonder Woman (2017)

So, at No.10 is another superhero film and who would have thought it would be a DC one instead of Marvel?! So yes I have decided to go with Wonder Woman to round off the list and its quite a film indeed.

As for the story, it follows Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) from the early years of her life in Themyscira where she was raised among Amazonian warriors created by Zeus to protect mankind. The film then moves on to 1918, near the end of the First World War where Diana is now grown up and one day she rescues a US pilot, Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) who is washed up on the shore after his plane has crashed on the coast. However its not long before the German forces arrive on the island and invade with many of the Amazonian warriors being killed in a fight. Steve soon reveals himself to be an allied spy who has stolen a book from the Germans documenting a powerful mustard gas that they intend to use to the defeat the allies. Diana believes that Ares, the God of War is behind all this and decides to travel with Steve as they head into the war in London and she intends to stop the war and Ares once and for all.

Wonder Woman is undoubtedly one of the best superhero films of the decade and it works so well mainly because of its tone is in such stark contrast to the previous DC films before such as Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman and it actually has engaging characters as well as great action scenes. And one of the film's most memorable scenes is when Diana reveals her Wonder Woman outfit and braves it across No Mans Land and takes on the enemy German forces, its one of the most visually impressive sequences in recent years in an action movie.  The film also features a very good score by Rupert Gregsen-Williams that has a pretty distinctive theme that works well.

Performance wise, Wonder Woman is also great as Gal Gadot is terrific in her role as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (although she is never once referred to as Wonder Woman!) and she looks drop dead gorgeous which also helps! Gal also get's some good lines in the film and the most quotable one is when Diana asks what Etta does for Steve and she explains "Well I do whatever he tells me to do" and Diana says "Well, where I come from, that's called slavery!".

Chris Pine is also excellent in his role as Steve Trevor, the US Captain who is allied with the British and he ends up falling for Diana as the film goes on and he has some good moments in the film such as when Diana tells him that she was sculpted by her mother and brought to life by Zeus to which Steve replies "Well that's neat!".

Connie Nielsen also does very well in her briefer role as Queen Hippolyta, the mother of Diana as does Robin Wright as Antiope, the Amazon general who trains Diana. Danny Huston makes for a pretty good villain in the film as the evil General Ludendorff. Lucy Davis is also great as she provides some comic relief in the film as Etta Candy, Steve's secretary and she get's some good lines in the film such as the scene where Diana tries to walk out of a clothes store in her new outfit carrying her sword and shield and Etta tells her "It doesn't go with the outfit!".

And last of all is David Thewlis who does pretty well in his role as Sir Patrick Morgan but as the film carries on we discover that he isn't all he appears to be and for the sake of no spoiling the film for anyone who hasn't seen it I won't say anymore!

So for me Wonder Woman is definitely one of the best superhero films in recent years and in a barren midst of mediocre DC films, this one definitely stands out all on its own with engaging characters, great action scenes and a very solid soundtrack and as such it deserves its spot on here.

Right so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post of sorts.

Till then its bye for now!

My 10 Favourite Films Of The Decade 2010-2019 Part 1

Well I'd just like to start off this post by wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope you all had a good one.

And now that the 2010's have come to a close, I figured I would do a list of some of my favourite films from this period of time.

Now I've chosen to go with 10 films since well its a decade but I won't do a film from each year and I won't list them in order of preference as I find that a bit too difficult to decide in this case.  So, instead I will just list these films in no specific order of year either and split this post over two parts.

So, with that all said let's take a look at my pick of the films of the decade...

1. The Social Network (2010)

So, first up is the Social Network released back in 2010, which was a gripping look into the creation of Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). The film portrays Zuckerberg as a pretty self obssessed a-hole, who would ultimately do his business partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) out of Facebook at the behest of one of the company's partners and business mentor, Sean Parker (Justine Timberlake).

The story is told in a very verbose but entertaining way thanks to Aaron Sorkin's wordy but excellent not to mention, oscar winning screenplay. How accurate the story is to the real life situations is of course debatable but its still a very well put together film and its director, David Fincher does a superb job here in creating an engrossing drama that is highly watchable.

The performances are of course also top notch with Jesse Eisenberg speaking at 100 miles an hour as Mark Zuckerberg but he also captures the essence of a man driven by his own project. Andrew Garfield also does very well in his role as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's room mate at Harvard and business partner in Facebook and Justin Timberlake shows his acting chops as Sean Parker, the ambitious enterpeneur, who worked his way into Zuckerberg's head to become his mentor much to the chagrin of Eduardo.

So, the Social Network for me was definitely one of the best films of the decade and told a gripping, entertaining story and is well worth checking out 10 years on. 

2. Whiplash (2014)

So next up is Whiplash, which is a film is was not previously aware of until last year when I saw a Youtube video about it and I was intrigued to check it out and I would have to say I'm glad that I did as it really is a highly enjoyable and somewhat intense experience.

As for the story it follows a young, ambitious jazz drum student, Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) who goes to a prestigious jazz school called the Shaeffer conservatory (which is fictional). Andrew however has far from an easy time at the school as he is given some pretty brutal tutelage by hotheaded and ruthless band leader, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who pushes him to his very limit. And throughout the film, the two men have a battle of wits as Andrew is determined to prove himself and stand up against Fletcher's rutheless ways.

From the word go, Whiplash reeks of sheer intensity as you are thrown into Andrew's world as a jazz drum student and the moment he meets Fletcher you know that he is in for one rough ride as he constantly berates and yells at him. Basically think of Full Metal Jacket set in a jazz school and you've got the gist of this film right away.

And what makes the film so good is of course its performances as both Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are gripping throughout and in particular Simmons delivers a terrific performance, which won him an academy award for best supporting actor. Simmons of course also get's the films best lines, which are also pretty foul mouthed but being a ruthless band leader you would probably imagine that would be the case. And he has so many quotable lines such as in the scene where he chastises Andrew for not playing in time "Were you rushing or dragging?!" and later "Not my fucking tempo!" and of course when he berates a smaller student "I can still fucking see you, Mini-me!". There are plenty more of course but I'll leave it at that.

So, Whiplash for me was a tremendously entertaining film from start to finish, even if it does have some far fetched moments here and there, it still makes for essential viewing and a worthy place on the list. 

3. The Irishman (2019)

At No.3 is Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama (and I do mean epic as it must easily be his longest film!) starring three Hollywood heavyweights: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and it ranks as one of the most engrossing crime films in recent years.

The story itself follows the real life events of gangster and hitman, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his time working for the Bufalino crime family lead by crime boss, Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). The film begins with Frank working as a honest delivery driver but on meeting Russell one day, its not long before he is sucked into the criminal underworld. Frank also later on meets and befriends Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) who was head of the Teamsters union back in the 60s and 70s and it also deals with the crime family's struggles with Hoffa's stubborn personality aswell as many other things.

There is little doubt that this one of Martin Scorsese's best films in quite some time and although he did make the amusing but highly perverse Wolf of Wall Street early this decade in 2013, The Irishman tells a more gripping story. The cast are also on top form here throughout with De Niro delivering a fine performance as Frank Sheeran and he tells the story as an old man in a care home but the film also uses CGI to make De Niro look younger for his backstory.  Joe Pesci is also great in his role as Russell Bufalino and he plays his part with more restraint but there is no doubting his ability to play authoratative mob figures. And lastly Al Pacino does a great job as Jimmy Hoffa and he delivers what is easily the most flamboyant performance in the entire film as the arrogant, stubborn head of the Teamsters union, which was a massive movement back in the 50, 60s and 70s.


Perhaps the film does lag a bit in places given its extensive length of 3 hours and 30 minutes but that aside its still one of Scorsese's best in recent years and its well worth checking out and deserves a spot on here. 

4. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

At No.4 is something of a surprise in a way because for me the original Blade Runner by Ridley Scott stands as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time so to do a sequel to it was a very daunting task. However with Blade Runner 2049 I was plesantly suprised to find an incredibly solid sequel to the original that stands up very well on its own.

The story itself basically follows on from the original by 30 years and by this time replicants are now common slaves in society but there are still some known rogue replicants, which are still hunted by blade runners. And one such blade runner is K (Ryan Gosling) who is actually a replicant also but has been designed to hunt the rogues. However it is soon discovered that replicants are capable of reproducing as K finds the remains of a replicant who died after a c-section birth. K's superior, Lt Joshi (Robin Wright) insists that K track down and "retire" the child replicant as she fears a war could break out if it is discovered that replicants can reproduce. And from here K starts his trails to find the child which along the way leads him to a former blade runner, Deckard (Harrison Ford).

Blade Runner 2049 is definitely a very impressive sequel and the fact that it is able to hold its own against a classic such as Blade Runner makes it even more remarkable. The film also has a pretty good story and the performances are excellent throughout and I was particularly impressed by Ryan Gosling as I previously was unaware of his films other than Drive, which I never was interested in here but here he does a terrific job as a replicant on a journey that is both personal and professional.

The supporting cast are also excellent with Ana de Armas as K's hologramatic girlfriend, Jared Leto as Niander Wallace, the rutheless CEO of the Wallace corporation, who created the replicants and Robin Wright as Lt Joshi, K's superior officer. And last all and by no means least is of course Harrison Ford, who reprises his role as Deckard but he doesn't appear until much later into the film, which is a bit of a shame and one of the more disappointing aspects of it.

That aside however and maybe some issues with pacing here and there, Blade Runner 2049 is definitely an excellent sequel to the original and certainly deserves a spot on the list. 

5. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

So, at No.5 is one of the many Mission Impossible films that Tom Cruise has starred in but if I had to have a guess, I would say that Ghost Protocol is probably my favourite out of them all and as such I thought I would put it on here.

As for the story it follows IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) who is trying to track down a man code named "Cobalt" who has Russian nuclear launch codes. Ethan is helped along the way in his mission by Benji (Simon Pegg) who was formerly a tech support agent but has since been promoted to a field agent by the IMF and later on helped by Jane Carter (Paula Patton) another agent, who's boyfriend was murdered by an assassin Sobine Moreau (Lea Seydoux). And Ethan's mission sees him travel to the Kremlin, which he flees from as it is destroyed in a terror attack and later he travels to Dubai where he is also joined by intelligence analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) who has a mysterious past. And together they must find a way to stop the Russian codes getting into the wrong hands...

As far as action films go (or did go) in the last decade, Ghost Protocol was certainly one of the best as it is a film that is packed with some great setpieces and the one that stands out the most is of course where Ethan climbs outside the Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscarper in the world) something which Cruise himself did! And this scene has got to rank as one of the most suspenseful action scenes in moder cinema!  Then there is of course the memorable scenes such as where Ethan flees the Kremlin as it literally explodes behind him and later on his chase in the sandstorm aswell as his showdown with the main villain. 

The film also sets up a new MI family with the inclusion of Benji, who did feature in MI III aswell as Brandt and of course Luther Stickler (Ving Rhames) although Jane Carter would only appear in this film but they all gel well together here and share some nice moments of banter.

The film was suprisingly also directed by Brad Bird, who was best known of course for directing Pixar animated movies such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille so this proved to be his first live full film feature. And it really has to be said makes a very confident transition here from the animated world to real life with this film.

So overall I would say that Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a very solid action film and one that deserves its spot on the list.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with part two of my list.

Till then its bye for now!

Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker Review

OK, so just before Christmas comes around, I thought I would do a quick review of a film I recently seen and the film in question is Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker, which is to be the final film in the Star Wars saga.

Now this film has really split the fans and critics right down the middle and has had its fair share of mixed reviews and bad reactions from fans. So, is it a good sold finale or just a big letdown?? Well, let's find out.

And as I will say just a little bit about the story, the following warning is coming up...

THE ODD SPOILER OR TWO ARE AHEAD BUT NOTHING MAJOR (HONEST!!).

STORY

So, the story begins with Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) searching for the location of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) that leads him to the planet, Exegol where he finds a physically impaired Palpatine. Palpatine tells Ren that he must find and kill Rey (Daisy Ridley) in order for him to complete his destiny and become the supreme ruler of the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Rey continues her Jedi training under the tuition of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and the other resistance fighters receive information from a spy in First Order that Palpatine is indeed alive and has returned. Rey on looking for clues for Palpatine's whereabouts searching Luke's notes that include Jedi texts about a Sith wayfinder that will lead her to Palpatine. And so its from here that Rey travels with her friends and fellow resistance fighters, Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo replacing the late Peter Mayhew) along with C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 to the planet Pasaana to start the trail to find Palpatine...

THOUGHTS

As a conclusion to the Disney trilogy and indeed the main Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker is an entertaining film that has actually been getting alot of stick from many fans and reviewers alike but I personally think its a better film than its been given credit for so far (or a lack thereof).  And I really do have to say I don't get the hate for this film as there is still plenty to enjoy here as it has its share of good action scenes, engaging character moments and a reasonably decent ending. And while its certainly not a perfect film, I still think it makes for a solid end to its trilogy and its WAY better than the Last Jedi was and this film in a way sets out to perform a certain amount of damage control inflicted by LJ's director, Rian Johnson (boo lol!). 

PERFORMANCES

As for the performances the cast are all on good form here.

Starting with Daisy Ridley who is excellent once again in her role as Rey, the last jedi who takes up her pivotal role again in the trilogy and in the film we learn more about her background story but I won't say anything about it here! Ridley has some good moments but again I won't really say much about them but suffice to say that Rey's character has developed some rather unique force powers that we haven't seen before now and she does have her share of good action scenes.

Adam Driver is also very good again in his role as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, who by now is the supreme ruler of the First Order and seeks out Emperor Palplatine, who is rumoured to be still alive but still has his own emotional conflict as he harbours feelings for Rey. And as the film progresses, Kylo will have a very important choice to make that has quite an impact on the film's ending but that's all I'm going to say!

Carrie Fisher even though she passed away three years ago still puts in a fine performance here as Princess Leia. And what we see here was cobbled together from unused footage of The Force Awakens and it works very well for the most part and hangs together well as an actual performance and it was great to see that we even managed to get that much for her final send-off.

Oscar Isaac also does pretty well in his role as Poe Dameron, the commander of the resistance, who is also a formidable pilot and he is given alot to do here as he takes on a hefty role as the film progresses. We also later get hints into Poe's past as he meet someone he previously knew at some point in the film where its suggested he had a prior relationship with them.

John Boyega is also pretty good in his role as Finn, a former first order stormtrooper now a resistance fighter. John however somehow is actually given less to do here, despite his screen time, his character doesn't develop that much more over the course of the film, which is a bit of a pity.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS KIND OF A SPOILER!

Mark Hamill also makes a return to his role as Luke Skywalker who by now is a force ghost and he consults Rey later on. Basically at this point, Luke is taking on the same mantle here as Obi-wan Kenobi did in the Return of the Jedi and there are some pretty clearly drawn comparisons here between the two films for these scenes.

Anthony Daniels does very well again as C-3PO in what his of course his final performance as the pesky protocol droid, who seems to get on everyone's nerves. Threepio however does kind of have a touching moment later in the film but I won't say much more about it than that. At any rate, Anthony Daniels is the only actor to have appeared in all the episodic films of the Star Wars saga, so he get's a good send-off here.

Keri Russell is also pretty good in her role as Zoril Bliss, who is an old acquaintance of Poe's and she ultimately ends up helping the resistance out with their mission (and yet again that's all I will say about that here!). Strangely however, we never actually even get to see Keri Russell's face in the film as she is always wearing her helmet and there is one brief moment where she opens her vistor so we can see her eyes and that's it!

Billy Dee Williams makes a welcome return to the Star Wars saga here again as Lando Calrissian, except he looks decidedly older of course than he did before (and a bit heavier lol!). Regardless however of his age, Billy Dee Williams still looks well, especially given that he is now 82 years old! At any rate, its good to see Billy back in Star Wars even if it does feel like they are trying to re-uinite the old gang at any cost!

Kelly Marie Tran does well enough in her role as Rose Tico, who befriended Finn in the Last Jedi and it appeared like there would be a blossoming romance. However, the romance it appears to have been stopped dead in its tracks by director JJ Abrahams as she has been largely sidelined here with very little to do in her role, which is in some ways not a bad thing as the alleged romance never went anywhere anyway between Finn and Rose.

Domhall Gleeson also does OK in his role as the weasly General Hux, a senior officer in the First Order, who has harboured much resentment over Kylo Ren in the previous films and continues that here.

Richard E. Grant also makes an appearnce here as General Pryde, who is a high ranking officer in the First Order and he is a pretty ruthless SoB it has to be said and appears to have the backbone to do what Hux probably can't. Again I won't say much more here about Grant's role except of course he is very good in it as Grant is in just about anything he does.

And last but not least is Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine and his is great once again in the role as he is pretty comfortable in it by now and he certainly revels in hamming up the evil Sith lord, who is out to regain his rule over the galaxy. And we learn a pretty big spoiler about Palplatine's connection to one of the characters here, which I will leave for another time and most likely in a revisitation of this post.

DIRECTOR 

As for the direction, J.J. Abrahams returns to the helm here and for the most part he does a pretty good job as despite the film's fairly lengthy run-time of 2 hours and 22 minutes, it never really lags at any time. I would probably say there are times where J.J.'s pacing is just a bit too chaotic, especially at the start of the film where there is so much going on at the one time. That aside, J.J. knows how to handle action scenes and he get's some good, engaging performances from his cast and he does a solid job overall here (take that haters heh heh!).

MUSIC

Music wise of course we get one final score from the great John Williams, who thankfully is still around and its great to see him live to finish the scoring for all nine Star Wars films and he contributes a very fine one to end proceedings. The only thing however I would say about the score is that there is a lot of retreading of the old themes from the original trilogy, which feels like they are trying to pay a bit too much lip-service for the fans. That aside however, its just great to see Williams finish off the saga than someone fill in for him.

FLAWS

As for the flaws...yep OK I admit that The Rise of Skywalker isn't perfect however I don't really want to get into spoiler territory here so I will try and address a few issues by going into as little plot stuff as I can.

So, to start off, one of the issues I had to do with the film is that the start of it is way too chaotic as Abrahams has the audience thrown right into the action straight off with no let-up and then it jumps too quickly between its other storylines. And its here that the film feels really rushed in places with its structure and I felt like they should have slow the pacing down in the opening 30 minutes or so as it just a bit too overkill how it is.

WARNING: KIND OF SPOILER IN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH BUT NOT A BIG ONE!

Another issue I had was to do with the idea of Rey's new force powers as she suddenly use the force to heal wounds and maybe bring people back from the dead! I mean that is some pretty powerful force stuff right there, which was never exhibited in any of the previous films! So, for me I felt like Rey's new ressurective powers, was a bit daft and its another way of the film maker trying slap on new ways in which the force can be used.

I also thought the reveal of the First Order spy in the film was also pretty stupid and I will not mention here who it was although I do admit that the reveal itself was fairly surprising and I didn't twig right away who it would be. In the end though, the whole First Order spy thing felt a bit uneccessary.

Also like I previously mentioned, there are times where the film tries to pay a bit too much lip-serve to the fans in its use of music from the previous films just in case you needed a reminder of things. As an example there is a moment where we see an X-Wing being lifted out of a swamp! Ring any bells on that one?! And yep of course John Williams music from Empire Strikes Back suddenly ramps up at that moment. So, yeah in those moments it all get's a bit trite and contrived and again it feels unnecessary for Abraham to keep prodding people into remember the greatest hits moments from the classic Star Wars films.

Then there is the whole idea of the force connection between Rey and Kylo, which to be honest is pretty stupid and no thanks to The Last Jedi, we still get that connection in this film. And without giving much a way there is one moment in the film where Kylo can essentially physically touch Rey using this connection and he is able to pinpoint here location through it! And I'm sorry but I have to say that the whole thing is basically a bunch of BS and shouldn't really have been included again here. Sadly the damage control for the whole virtual-physical-touch-over-millions-of-miles-away force power introduced by Rian flipping Johnson was overlooked here!

And last of all I think it would be safe to say as one Youtube reviewer said that the opening title scrawl for the film sucks! Yep, the opening scrawl is very badly written and it begins with perhaps the WORST opening line I have ever seen in any of the scrawls which is "THE DEAD SPEAKS!". WHAT???! Is that really the best you can come up with for an opening scrawl?! Sorry but again its a completely naff way to start off the title scrawl, which doesn't really get that much better as it carries on.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, the finale to the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker is actually a pretty entertaining, decent send-off to the main chapters of the franchise and while I agree that it is far from perfect, what I don't agree with is all the hate this film is currently getting as it feels pretty unwarranted. Its like people wanted to see the greatest film ever made and expected something much higher and mightier than this but in the end I do think this is a very decent worthy send-off for Disney's trilogy and it deserves a bit more credit than its been given so far.

So, while its no masterpiece, I still think The Rise of Skywalker is well worth a look.

Anyway so that's it for now and I would like to finish by wishing you all a Merry Christmas tomorrow and I will be back with another post or two soon before the year is out.

Till then its bye fer now.

Soulsborne and Sekiro Game Rankings Part 2 - No's 3-1

Right, so its time for part 2 of my ranking the Soulsborne and Sekiro games in my order of preference and here I will look at the games in the top 3 of FromSoftware's catalogue. Again I have left Demon's Souls off this list because I haven't played it yet and given its lack of availability on other platforms other than the PS3 makes it difficult for me to get unless I get a PC emulator version, which I might look into in future in order to play it.

Also just to say that this list is based on my own preferences so feel free to disagree as I'm sure we all have different opinions on what is the best Soulsbornekiro (someone else coined this phrase not me by the way and its pretty good imho lol!).

So, with that all said, let's take a look at the remaining top 3 games...

3. Dark Souls III

So, at No.3. is funnily enough a game with the number 3 in it, Dark Souls III, which saw the return of Hidetaka Miyazaki as director after he took a leave of absence in Dark Souls II as he was busy working on Bloodborne at the time and felt he didn't want to direct two games simultaneously.


And with Miyazaki's return we got a real treat with Dark Souls III as its a game that is high on quality not only in its general content but also in its challenging boss fights as well as having a terrific soundtrack. Also given that this was to be the final Dark Souls game it was a fitting send-off to a great trilogy of games and as such one of the best in the series.

Story-wise Dark Souls III differs somewhat from its predecessors where your playable character is a champion of Ash, known as the Ashen One and someone who was almost made a Lord of Cinder but ultimately was not given that mantle and shares a similar undead curse to the previous game characters. So, the basic idea here is that the Ashen One will collect the souls of the Lords of Cinder in order to link the flame but in doing so they must fight their way past many dangerous enemies before they can reach their path to Lothric castle where ultimately the Ashed One will fight Princes Lorian and Lothric to complete the required souls needed to do so.

Dark Souls III succeeds really well in borrowing elements from the previous games and tweaking some of the issues from those games, especially by cutting down on the amount bosses and focusing more on creating memorable boss fights rather than just a bunch of boring filler ones like in Dark Souls III. And the game also feels a lot tighter than its predecessor as a result of this which also helps become a more enjoyable game.

And Dark Souls III has no shortage of memorable and challenging boss fights such as The Twin Princes, Lorian and Lothric, which is an incredibly difficult battle as the two brothers teleport around their throne room twatting you with miracles and a giant flaming sword! Then there are other great fights such as the Nameless King, who's difficulty is notorious in the series and with good reason as he is mighty brutal to take on in combat! And of course there is also Slave Knight Gael, who stands as easily one of the best bosses in the series, who pretty much concludes the entire series itself as he is the last DLC boss of the game itself.

Dark Souls III also includes some new neat elements such as the weapon art focus point system, which did appear in Demon's Souls but only this time the combat and move sets of the weapons now feel way more refined and sophisticated than before. There are also plenty of new weapons to check out of which quite a few of them are pretty cool such as the Sellwsword Twinblades, Millwood Battle Axe and the Follower Sabre. You can also even create weapons from boss souls just as you could before and from that you also get some pretty nifty weapons such as Lorian's Greatsword, which is a firey one and Vordt's Hammer, which is essentially a giant hammer that inflicts frostbite damage.

You also have the opportunity to use consumable items such as coloured pellets that help reduce elemental damage such as fire, lightning and dark and these come in extremely handy throughout and it helps that they last two minutes, which is great when you are in the middle of a boss fight.

Dark Souls III also does something a bit different with hollowing than in previous games because rather than you reverting back to your hollow form when you die, this time you don't and you need to undergo a process to become a hollow, which involves seeking out an aged sorcerer that gives dark sigils that make you hollow. And the more you die, the more this will increase your hollowing level, which can also increase your attack power if you do certain builds such as luck or bleed. 

There are of course still some issues with Dark Souls III in that maybe it is the least most innovative entry in the series as it builds on what is already there without adding a great deal of new content. I also felt that it lacked certain things such as more alternative healing items other than your standard estus flasks and just a handful of divine blessings, which you can only use one at a time! You can get some items that restore your health but they work far too slowly to be that effective and overall I'd say the lack of extra healing items is a pest here.

I also felt it was daft to have the blacksmith Andre (who also appeared in the original Souls game) upgrade your estus flask usage rather than the bonfire keeper yet you could upgrade the amount of health the estus flask restores yourself at the Firelink Shrine bonfire! It just felt to me like this whole estus upgrade process was rushed and wasn't really thought through properly.

But those issues aside, Dark Souls III is an incredibly solid entry in the Souls series and one of my favourites that saw the series get a great send-off and it deserves it place here at No.3.

2. Bloodborne 

So, at No.2 is Bloodborne, which for me ranks as one of the two masterpieces that Hidetaka Miyazaki has directed in the Soulsborne series and is a tremendous game overall that despite some similarities to the Souls games, it still stands out on its own.

As for its story, Bloodborne differs quite a bit from the Souls games in that it follows more the ideology of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who was an American gothic horror writer. And the game itself is set in a Victorian-esque time where you play as a hunter who enters a dream-like world, fighting against a scourge of beasts in the town of Yarnham where you must try and find a way to stop the beast plague and end the nightmare that plagues the town.

Bloodborne is a terrific game without a doubt and even though as I said it shares some similarities to the Souls games in terms of healing, the travel system, being essentially an undying character as well as very similar weapon upgrade items, it still remains a pretty unique game in its own right. The game also has a great, brooding atmosphere to it as you wander the creepy town that is Yarnham fighting a large number of beasts and getting covered in torrents of blood as you do it making this easily one of FromSoftware's bloodiest games!

This game is also great because of its innovative ideas and this is especially the case with its weapons, as they are known as trick weapons that have initial form but can be transformed into another one to perform different attacks.

As an example there is the Hunter Axe, a strength weapon which starts off as a basic battle axe but on its transform mode it extends into essentially a halberd that allows for greater ranged attacks. Other trick weapons also include the strength based Whirligig saw, which in its un-transformed phase is a large stick which you can use to perform blunt attacks but when transformed you can attach a circular buzz saw head to the stick to perform serrated damage attacks. Then there are skill weapons such as the Blade of Mercy, which is refined sharp blade that can break off into two smaller blades as can perform some very fast combo attacks. And there is another skill weapon such as Rakuyo, which performs similarly to the Blade of Mercy except it starts as a longer slender sword that breaks off into two blades and can also be used to perform combo attacks.

The game also makes use of items known as runes that act similarly to the rings in Dark Souls that can boost your resistances to certain types of damage such as poison, fire, bolt and frenzy (which is similar to curse in the Souls games and can kill you outright or take a large amount of your health). Other ruins can also boost your attack power, help to discover more items from fallen enemies and even help you to restore your health when attacking enemies that have damaged your health.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH FEATURES A SPOILER CONNECTED TO THE END OF THE GAME!

Another great element of Bloodborne is of course the boss fights, which for the most part are also pretty memorable, very well designed and can also be pretty tough too. And the memorable boss fights include Father Gascoigne, a blood-thirsty hunter who driven mad by his desire for blood, Lady Maria, a hunter you encounter in the Hunter's Nightmare in the game's DLC. Ludwig, who was formerly a hunter and is now a hideously mutated horse like beast. Gerhamn, the First Hunter, who (SPOILER!!!) can become a boss if you refuse to leave the Hunter's Dream at the end of the game. And last but not least is the Orphan of Kos, who is rather gross looking humanoid creature with a large placenta (yuk!) which he can attack you with and must rank as the hardest boss in the entire game!

The game also has arguably the best soundtrack of any of the games in the Soulsborne-Sekiro series so far as it is absolutely superb with one exception which is the theme for boss, Micolash, which is rubbish and is the only blight in another-wise magnificent score. And some of my favourites from the score include the themes for Gerhman, Lady Maria, Ludwig, Blood Staved Beast and Laurence, The First Vicar all of which are terrific, memorable themes.

Flaws wise, Bloodborne does have some issues here and there and the biggest issue alot of people raise it is to do with the game's Chalice Dungeons, which are a group of underground dungeons that the hunter can explore in which they will fight a hoard of enemies and more bosses. The dungeons are also where the hunter can pick up the very best blood gems in the game, which you use to boost the damage output of your weapons. The only problem is that the dungeons can tend to get pretty tedious after a while although I have to admit, I actually don't mind searching through them and they can be fun for a time.

Another issue I had was to do with farming for blood chunks that will upgrade your weapons to +9 as the process to do this pretty tedious and takes a long time! However if you can boost your discovery level high enough with the aid of the correct runes then you will be able to get a slightly better drop rate from certain enemies but without them its a major slog to do!

Lastly I felt, as I'm sure plenty of other fans of the game do that the PVP (i.e. online option of the game) is pretty poor and especially the summon system as you can literally spend FOREVER trying to get a summon for a boss fight! I also felt that PVP invasions in the game were a bit hit and miss and idea to find and kill a chime maiden makes things a bit annoying if you want to prevent being invaded when you are online. 

However all that aside, Bloodborne is still one of the very best games in the Soulsborne series and its filled with great, fast paced combat, innovative weapons, a terrific soundtrack and stylish well designed not to mention, challenging boss fights. And I think it easily deserves to be ranked in the top 2 games of the series as its that good.

And with only one game left to look at, I think we can all guess what is at No.1....

1. Dark Souls

Yep, at No.1 is of course the original Dark Souls, which for me is the best overall game in the Soulsborne-Sekiro series and even though Demon's Souls started the whole shebang off, Dark Souls was the first game I played and as such is still my favourite.

So, what makes Dark Souls so good? Well, for me again it brings a lot of innovative ideas to the table and it is also a game that is filled with varied combat, memorable and engaging NPCs, challenging boss fights and for its, very impressive visuals that got an excellent overhaul in the Remastered edition that came out last year.

Dark Souls also introduces the core concepts of its trilogy with the story of a chosen undead that is destined to succeed Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, in order to break the curse and link the flame to keep the age of fire going. However in order to do so, the chosen undead must fight their way through a hoard of enemies, bosses and also claim the souls of four Great Ones in order to access the final area of the game and take on Gwyn in combat.

Dark Souls has so much to offer in terms of its variety of combat, traversing different areas and environments not to mention giving players the chance to create many different builds such as a warrior, sorcerer, pyromancer, swordsman (or woman) or even a cleric. And again you have access to a wide variety of melee weapons such as swords, axes, halberds, spears, clubs and hammers as well as magic spells, miracles (for Clerics), pyromancies and dark magic. So there are plenty of weapons to choose from here and many of them would reappear in the sequels and are among my favourites in the series. With all this at the players fingertips, the possibilities of creating builds in Dark Souls is practically limitless.

The game also has plenty of interesting and memorable NPCs such as Solaire, a knight who is in search of his own personal enlightment and can be summoned to help you in several boss fights. Then there is of course Patches, a sneaky and untrustworthy merchant, Big Hat Logan, an eccentric but legendary sorcerer and of course Siegward of Catarina (aka onion bro!) who wears onion-like shaped armour and even sleeps standing up!

Then we have the game's bosses some of which rank among the very best in the series not to mention the most memorable. And the game's best bosses include of course the legendary Ornstein and Smough, Knight Artorius, Four Kings, Manus: Father of the Abyss, Gwyn: Lord of Cinder and Pinwheel (just kidding about Pinwheel!). And if you are unfamiliar with the Souls games and are new to them then these bosses are sure to tie you up in knots and in fits of frustration for days on end!

The game's visual design for its time is also very impressive and the variety in its environments is also just as good with again some terrific well designed bosses and interesting, not to mention tough standard enemies. However I would say though that the character models for your playable character aren't the best as their faces look just a bit too soft and undefined in comparison to the other games in the series.

Dark Souls also differs from the other games in that you can upgrade your own stats at the bonfire yourself without another figure such as you would need to do in the other games. The game also even let's you upgrade your own weapons and armour at the bonfire, which is something none of the other Souls games let you do without a blacksmith. So, in a way Dark Souls is the most forward thinking of the three games in the trilogy and in that respect the sequels kind of took a backward step.

Where Dark Souls does fall down a little is that the weapon upgrade path is a bit more complicated that in the sequels as you need to different embers if you want to upgrade your weapons all the way to +15 (the sequels would be +10). Also if you want to make elemental weapons such as fire, lightning or magic ones, you need special shards to do so and it requires you to downgrade your existing weapon to +5 before you can convert it. Not only that but the game insists on using different coloured chunks for the upgrades for different types of weapons, which is a bit tedious and it feels a bit unnecessary and again in the sequels you just used standard chunks rather than a bunch of different ones.   

And lastly there is of course the whole issue with the animation of drinking your Estus flask during fights because when you do drink it, you are rooted to the spot and cannot move and this often can be difference between life and death as more often than not if you drink at the wrong time it will result you in getting killed! Thankfully by the time we got to Dark Souls III, this issue had been ironed out and you can drink your Estus on the move but I always felt this was really frustrating in the original game and to an extent even in Dark Souls II.

However those quibbles aside, the original Dark Souls is still for me the best game in the series and it forever will warrant repeated playing with its exciting combat, great boss fights and virtually endless variety in making different builds and using a vast array of weapons and spells. Its the best of the best and it deserves to be at No.1 on this list.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another review as I recently seen the latest Star Wars at the cinema, The Rise of Skywalker, so you can expect a review forthcoming for that.

Till then its bye for now, may the good blood guide your way and praise the sun!

Soulsborne and Sekiro Game Rankings Part 1 No's 5-4

OK, so for a change I thought I would do something a little different but with a familiar theme as I thought just for fun that I would rank the Soulsborne games and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in a listing to see which ones I liked the least and the best. And I figured given the amount to cover in each game that I would split this up into two separate posts.

Now before I go on, I would just like to say that I really like all of these games so there are none on this list that I hate at all, which is why I decided to title the post without saying which is best and which is the worst.

Also I would like to point out that this list will omit Demon's Souls simply because I haven't played it as it was a PS3 exclusive game and I no longer own a PS3 and haven't done so for several years. I could however try and download a PC emulator version of the game and might still do in the near future but until then I will need to unfortunately leave it off this list.

So, with that all said let's take a look at these games and how I think they rank. 

5. Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin Edition)

So, at No.5 is Dark Souls II, the Scholar of the First Sin edition, which was the remastered version of the original Dark Souls II game and came out for the PS4 with an impressive visual overhaul and a somewhat changed layout of the game from the initial release. And the reason why I have put the Scholar version on here is simply because its the only version of Dark Souls II that I have played and despite the stick some fans of the series give this game, I still really enjoy it myself.

Dark Souls II storyline follows a similar pattern to its predecessor where you play a nameless human undead who is set on a path to try and break the undead curse and obtain four souls of the Great Ones in order to do so. The player is guided along the way by Emerald Herald, a mysterious figure who can upgrade your character's stats along the way (such as strength, endurance and vigour). Emerald also tells your character to seek King Vendrick once they have obtained the four souls, which will ultimately lead them toward their destiny to replace Vendrick as the King of Drangleic.

Dark Souls II had quite a job ahead of itself with trying to better its remarkable predecessor and for the most part DS II goes a pretty good job although it does ultimately fall short of reaching the great heights of the original game. Still that aside there is plenty going for Dark Souls II as it filled with fun combat, great ideas as well as some pretty challenging enemies and boss fights.

What Dark Souls II did well for me personally is that it was a game of fresh ideas such as the inclusion of bonfire ascetics, which allows for you to essentially reset an area and strengthen enemies as well as reset boss fights but the only difference is they are now stronger than before. The upside to this though is that it allows you pick up more of the original items that were there and you can even farm for a tonne of souls in certain areas particularly if you fight the Giant Lord boss you can keep using ascetics to kill him over and over again and earn a tonne of souls! Its almost like a cheat code for the game!

The game also introduced some pretty cool weapons and spells and it greatly improved on sorcery in the original with a greater inclusion of Hexer spells (which is basically dark magic) that allowed you to spam some very cool spells in enemy's faces! It also helped that the casting speed in Souls II is WAY faster than it was in the original, which leaves you less vulnerable than before.  Weapons wise there are also some cool ones that include the redesigned Greatsword, which looks amazing and rather than the skinny looking blade we saw in the original Souls, its now a big thick blade that must about 7 feet long! The game also improved greatly on the move set of the weapons here as if I had one criticism of Dark Souls it was that some of the weapon's combos and moves felt pretty underdeveloped.

Dark Souls II also did a very interesting thing with your character's hollowing and the curse status, which no longer kills you outright but instead it just lowers your health by one level (up to 10 times) and turns you from human to hollow form. So, I thought it was a good idea to actually change the whole idea of curse just outright killing you but instead it more kind of continues to impose the undead curse on you further by making you more hollow in appearance. I also liked the idea that when you turn hollow in this game that you don't suddenly look incredibly skinny like you did in Souls I and III but instead your skin is green and scabby but your body weight remains the same, so you remain in proportion rather than suddenly turn horribly anoxeric looking.

The PVP for Souls II was also a big improvement in that you had the option to burn a human effigy (which is the equivalent of the humanity items you used in the original Souls game to return you to human form) to prevent being invaded for a time (up to 30 minutes or so). This was especially a good thing as random invasions often prove to be a real pain in the ass with the Souls games, especially if you have a lot of Souls on the line!

Where Dark Souls II does fall down however is with its lack of memorable bosses as most of them are frankly pretty forgettable and boring to fight and this is pretty unfortunate given that the boss fights are one of the main staples of the series. However in Dark Souls II there were 41 bosses in total, which include 9 bosses from 3 DLCs and that is simply too many! What also made things worse were that they kept recycling the same bosses over and over again (I mean who's bright idea was it to put Dragonrider in the game four times over?!) which showed the developers were lacking ideas.

However that's not to say that Dark Souls II had no good bosses at all as there will still a handful of good ones such as Sir Alonne, Fume Knight (my personal favourite of Souls II) Sinh the Slumbering Dragon, Vendrick (yeah I kind of like this fight), Burnt Ivory King and of course the original Smelter Demon. Its just a pity that the game decided to waste its time on developing so many mediocre boss fights that could easily have been scrapped especially ones like Dragonrider, Royal Rat Authority, Royal Rat Vanguard and not to mention maybe the worst of the lot: the Covetous Demon, a Jabba the Hutt rip-off attempt!

Also on the plus side, Dark Souls II also has a pretty killer soundtrack for the most part (although its not always regarded that way by the fans) with some great tracks by Motoi Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura. The standout tracks here for me were the themes for Sir Alonne, Fume Knight, Vendrick, Skeleton Lords, Ruin Sentinels and Aldia: Scholar of the First Sin.

So all flaws aside, Dark Souls II is still a lot of fun to play and I've enjoyed doing alot of playthroughs of this game with a variety of different builds using various different weapons and spells. In fact I often found  my choice of build was to either be a hexer or a cleric and both of which you can have alot of fun with but the possibilities within these games are limitless that's always the main fun of a Souls game.

So while it remains the weakest of the three games in the Dark Souls trilogy, Souls II is still a lot of fun and brought some fresh ideas to the table and is well worth checking out despite any hate it get's from certain fan groups.

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

So, in 4th place is FromSoftware's latest offering, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which recently won the game of the year award and its certainly a pretty damn good game. However for me out of all five games I have played of FromSoft while I do think Sekiro is a better game than Dark Souls II it still doesn't quite outmatch the other games ahead of it. 

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Sekiro, it is set in a fictitious version of Japan in the 16th century where you play as a Shinobi (essentially a ninja) named Wolf, who's young Lord, Kuro is kidnapped and Wolf fails in his attempt to save him as he loses his left arm in a duel with an opposing clan member, Genichiro. Wolf soon awakens in a delapidated temple and discovers that his severed arm has been replaced with a prosphetic one by a sculptor, who himself was once a shinobi. So, from here, Wolf begins his mission to save Kuro, who is an undying, divine heir and stop Genichiro in his plan to create an immortal army using Kuro's blood.

And Sekiro has plenty going for it with its intense combat as you clash swords with various enemies and rely on using deflect and parry techniques to take on your opponents, which ends with Wolf using a deathblow to finish off his foes. It also brings alot of other elements to the table that are appealing and unique especially the Shinobi prosphetic tools, which offer plenty of variety in how Wolf can take down his enemies as he can use makeshift spears, axes and other tools such as firecrackers, poison knives and even protective metal umbrellas!

Sekiro is also easily the most visually stunning game they have produced with its glorious graphics, which are rich in detail and the environments varied and above all very colourful, which is a breath of fresh air in comparison to some of the drab colour in their previous titles. The character models also look great here and are by far the best seen in a Fromsoft game so far although this relates primarily more to the main characters than anything else.

Its also fair to say however that Sekiro is very challenging game and its difficulty level is pretty punishing as Wolf can be wiped out by alot of enemies with just two hits! And I have to say that's mainly why I put this game further down the list as I initially found the game's difficulty quite alienating and it took using a PC mod to makes things a bit easier (but not too much honest as this game still gave me a hard time!). I have since replayed it on the PS4 Pro on its standard difficulty and it was quite a struggle to work through but I eventually managed to succeed in completing the game, so I guess I should give myself a pat on the back for that alone lol!

There are also plenty of bosses in Sekiro and in fact I really would ahve to say there are simply too many of them and some of them are even recycled just like they did in Dark Souls 2, which is not a good thing and makes gameplay a bit tedious at times. Infact anyone who levelled recycling bosses at Dark Souls 2 as a criticism should really take a closer look at Sekiro as it totally over does it here by recycling not only main game bosses but also mini bosses too! 

However there are still quite a few bosses in the game that I really enjoyed taking on such as the Guardian Ape, Genichiro, Lady Butterfly, Demon of Hatred and of course the final and unquestionably the hardest boss: Isshin, the Sword Saint. In fact Isshin was so tough it took 3 days worth of attempts for me to finally beat him!

The game also has an excellent score by Yuka Kitamura, who worked on the Soulsborne games in the past and her music is typically very Japanese sounding and fits the period perfectly. The standout tracks for me here were the themes for Isshin, the Sword Saint, Emma the Gentle Blade, The Corrupt Monk, Guardian Ape, the Divine Dragon and the Great Shinobi Owl. 

So, for me Sekiro takes 4th place on the list and even though it doesn't quite scale the heights of the games ahead on the list, its still a pretty damn good game in its own right. And Sekiro succeeds in providing a very challenging single player experience that will push and stretch players to the limit and despite its punishing difficulty, its one that I would still welcome coming back to in the future. 

OK so that's it for now and I will be back soon with Part 2 of my look at my ranking the Soulsborne-Sekiro games.

Till then bye for now!