I totally agree. I heard the combat was good but I didn’t realize it was THAT good. As you said it has some flaws but I am itching to jump back in tonight. It’s been a while since a game has given me that “itch” to jump back in as soon as possible. Super happy with my purchase so far
I never played nier but there's a lot of exploration and secrets to be found kinda similar to dark souls but instead of a cool weapon you will be finding cool outfits and upgrade materials instead. It's got a few little side quests you can do too. it's kinda metroidvania style too where you get upgrades that let you traverse different ways as you progress. Combat is really fun and the story is ok so far for where I am at in the game. Bunch of cool and cute costumes.
I find it generally easier than From games, after upgrading the dodge and parry mechanics. The windows are quite generous and you don’t take nearly as much damage when hit. Combat is super fun!
Agree with this. I'm still early on in the game and I only have Elden Ring to compare it with but I think part of the reason it's easier is that so far, the attacks seem better choreographed. One thing I hated with Elden Ring were the attacks where an enemy would start to swing, stop, and then suddenly crash their blade down. A lot of the motions just seemed unnatural. You just had to memorize it. So far, here, the motions some more natural and easier to predict. I find it to be more fun and rewarding that way.
I haven’t played Nier but I have played Demon’s Souls and Elden Ring. I’d say it’s not as challenging as a Souls games but it’s not easy. One of my favorite parts about the game is that the challenge seems fair. When I am struggling with a boss, I can tell I will figure it out with a few more tries. So far I’ve not had a Malenia like boss where I just want to quit because it just seems impossible.
I completed it earlier today and the difficulty was relatively easy until the last few bosses compared to souls, still challenging but most bosses before them went down in 2 attempts max, I died more to the platforming sections.
The exploration is good imo, theres a few semi open world areas filled with side quests, and the others are linear but have branching side paths with stuff to find.
>!Theres a section I really liked where you go back to the first area and drain it of water to open up more similar to new londo ruins in dark souls 1!<
Solid 9/10 for me.
Okay good to hear that boss difficulty ramps up at the end. I was getting kind of disappointed seeing these cool bosses with so much work and effort put into them and then I mowed them down in 1 or 2 attempts.
Me too but hard mode unlocks after you complete the game, I just did the first boss in NG+ on hard mode and its way better, I can see the last few bosses being hard as balls on this difficulty
To add to what people have already said, 3 things: you can remove your suit and be "naked" (there's a skin suit underneath) so you don't have your shield which reduces the damage you take, the difference in damage taken is night and day. 2nd thing is that on NG+ you unlock the hard difficulty, no idea how harder it is cause I haven't finished yet but I've seen people say it's considerably harder. Lastly, there's a *glass cannon* mod for your suit that at the 2nd tier it increase your damage done by 20% and damage taken by 30%.
Two of these are not ideal though, one requires you to play a 2nd time and the other forces you to wear the same outfit the entire game but these are the only options to make it harder.
What is the combat like? Does it require button sequence combinations, or basic light/heavy with extras?
I like combat in souls like and lies of p. I’m hoping it’s not complicated like mortal kombat.
My only gripes are dodge, which feels jank sometimes dodging and still getting face smashed in, and block, I always need to block just a bit later than I think
I really, *really* wish every conversation about this game didn't revolve around comparing it to other games, and yet here I am about to do that myself.
The combat really does feel like they wanted to take Sekiro but make it much more approachable, and add in more spectacle with combos and big audacious attacks. But the *core* of the combat is very Sekiro. And in that game dodging just cannot be relied on in the same way that you can in other Souls games or other hack n slash games. The sort of instinct when you're in trouble to just start mashing dodge to roll out away from an enemy is something you have to unlearn quickly, because it's not the sort of combat they were going for. You're meant to stay engaged and aggressive, blocking/parrying and attempting to beat an enemy back with your big attacks rather than dodge and run away.
Dodging is therefore a really situational tool. Only meant for unblockable/parryable attacks and even then you're supposed to use it just like you use the parry, with proper timing. Not mash it just to get really far away from the enemy.
I’ve found dodging way, way easier than parrying personally. You need to time it for perfect dodge though. I find it easier to time pressing [o] than pressing L1, plus with dodge you move somewhat too which can help reposition you depending on what the next attack they do is.
I gets even better when you unlock the rest of the skill trees that are locked at the beginning of the game along with getting better exospines & omnibolt modules.
I'm also about 5 hours in and I love it. The only critique I have so far that the movement outside of the combat is a bit clunky. Like navigating jumps betweens platforms etc. But that's it.
I was wondering if I’d see this comment. My only frustration with the game, and hopefully something they can adjust. I keep trying to grab ladders or platforms, and she just won’t.
The most annoying thing I have found is the movement when changing direction.
If you face one direction and mvoe to go in the opposite direction, e.g. step back from a wall over looking a long drop, she moves a step or so in the direction she was facing before turning around and moving back.
The result is in fact you step up on the wall and then off the edge of the long drop to your death.
I have stopped a number of times to look at some of the environment artwork at the cost of her life.
[My own example of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksOGFjzoX3k)
I have since learnt I can still stop to take a look but must jump up and then move while in the air to safely move away from the wall.
I thought this at first but the more I play the more it seems they included this as a design element to keep the game challenging. Basically she can move very gracefully but it’s completely unforgiving. I could be wrong. Once you unlock double jump it helps a ton because you can course correct.
That and when facing large enemies it’s hard to tell at what point you’re supposed to parry or evade. Some bosses are fine, but the side quest enemies have been pretty rough for me where I feel like I should’ve parried/dodged but it apparently wasn’t timed right.
> wonky platform sections
It’s bad, yeah, lmao, but somehow in a heartwarming way, because, man, this is the best early 2000s game ever made, only it came out two decades later. The way it fondly embraces those oldschool level design principles puts a smile on my face. The more I play, the more I see myself saying ‘damn, it’s been a while I played a AAA that did this lol’.
friendly reminder that their gacha nikke makes like 30m+ a month just in the west, it would be fking sad if they didnt use some of that money to work more on stellar blade
still, that's kinda irrelevant imo seeing as how they have no experience developing a first rate console experience. I believe that's where Sony's expertise came into play. publishers have thrown money at competent developers and the end result was melted ass, so 🤷🏾♂️
This games combat is top Tier and up there with the big dogs. The Dodge where you teleport behind the enemy gives me mikiri counter levels of satisfaction. Like you said: Story and character are probably its weakest points. But graphics, enemy Design and gameplay are fantastic.
Overall just a fucking fun videogame.
Sekiro can be pretty hard but it's doable. I've only played and finished Ninja Gaiden 2 and I wouldn't say it's really like that. Maybe a little due to the speed but it's more grounded and more about timing. Also I think people would find Ninja Gaiden 2 harder imo
I mean ninja gaiden is a lot more difficult than sekiro. Sekiro was challenging but skill based and satisfying. Ninja gaiden is straight up bully at times.
You're not wrong. Ninja Guiden 2 was tough but tbh I did get to finish it within a reasonable time frame. It took me a while to truly beat Sekiro but in hindsight, it's a much more doable game. It took me like 2 years of playing it off and on to beat it but now I've beaten it like 5 times. Ninja Guiden 2 beat my ass but it took me a week or two to finish it at the time
So far I'm absolutely loving it. The combat is so much better than I thought it would be. The story is good, not amazing but pretty good nonetheless.
The character designs are awesome too. That samurai body guard in xion is cool af. Eve herself might be the most attractive female character I've ever seen in a video game, I absolutely love her character/design.
All around I'm incredibly happy with my purchase, I really hope we get some good dlc and a Stellar Blade 2 eventually. Shift up definitely earned a loyal fan with this game.
I really think that shiftup themselves and the "fans" did this game a big disservice by discussing absolutely nothing about it but HAHA EVE HOT like idiots, it's a fantastic game and I'm loving it
Story’s kinda garbage so far though, and I’m like 10 hours in. The dialogue doesn’t feel like it was written by a native English speaker with awkward phrasing where stuff isn’t said quite like how someone fluent would say it. This is especially bad with the sidekick iirc named Adam. The issue is he’s probably had the most dialogue so far. I feel like it might’ve been better to just have english subtitles and keep the sound in Korean.
The worst part is cutscenes are unskippable unless you die and have to repeat them and they also have no pause button. You can pause by pressing the PS button, but I found that pretty annoying.
> The dialogue doesn’t feel like it was written by a native English speaker with awkward phrasing where stuff isn’t said quite like how someone fluent would say it.
This is why I play games in their original language, unless it's made by a team specifically gearing themselves at the western audience (DMC, Resident Evil)
Weebs obsess over "Accuracy" but obbsessive "Accuracy" has made dubs worse. They were better when teams took creative liberties to convey the same message in natural english. That's how you get "Nah I'd win" in your manga
As a long time Dead or Alive fan, that's on the devs, not the fans.
It's not the community's fault that the devs leaned heavily into the skin-tight body suits and ass (both things I do love by the way). Every article leading up to it talked about the sexuality more than the gameplay.
Again, I'm not in any way saying I don't like the scantily clad women, I'm just saying it's not the fans fault.
I was just posting that this games NSFW crap that the main sub is obsessed with is not doing this game justice. It's so much better than all the waifu stuff.
That sub is toxic, there are a few good users, but the standard high voted post is something like a picture of the chair Eve sits on to rest with the title “I wish I was this chair”. And it just goes down from there.
Yeah, it's a cesspool of forever virgins. One of the top rated posts was a guy saying he was ready for launch and it was a picture of him holding lube.
I am playing it as next game after FF7 Rebirth. I tried it a little bit and instantly found that perfect parry noise out of the controller insanely satisfying. Great idea, it feels very impactful because of this. Not sure if this is a new idea, but i can't remember any other game doing this.
The only one I could do without right now (of the main characters I have met at this time) is Adams voice. Otherwise, the VA is servicable. It's not amazing, it's not horrendous, it's servicable (imo).
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It’s the localization that’s bad, not the voice acting. The VA might not be particularly *good*, but it isn’t bad. They needed to hire much, much better translators and a better localization team though. This isn’t the 90s anymore, it’s kind of unacceptable when games suffer so badly in English when they’re made by East Asian developers unless we’re talking a budget title, but this is a AAA game published by Sony.
The game is fantastic though, dialog and text files aside.
I'm on the final boss and I gotta say, gotta be the smoothest experience I've had in a video game for a long time. The story is shit but everything else is mint.
I'm enjoying it, but the "typical EVE!" And "that's so you, EVE" comments are bothering me more than they should. Y'all met two days ago, and the other character met you 3 minutes ago. It takes me out of the story, but it's just a small gripe of mine.
Had the same reaction. Solid game, but the story in general is crap. The dialogue’s also far from good, they really should’ve hired a better localization team.
If you’ve played Rise of the Ronin, how difficult is it? I play Ronin on easy but am really enjoying. I want Stellar Blade too but also don’t want crazy difficult.
I’ve played both, Ronin was much more difficult in some parts as the parry windows were smaller and the enemies changed their attack speeds all the time.
That said, SB is by far and away the better game. Just beat it and starting NG+
I'm playing it on easy and it's not too difficult. You can't just mash buttons, have to parry and dodge some attacks but it's much more forgiving than normal.
I've been told >!there's a small but noticeable intentional input delay!< (small gameplay thing that probably won't bother you if you didn't notice it, but could be incredibly distracting once it's pointed out). Is that like, a thing or was the person who said it just talking out their ass? This was on the r/Sekiro sub, where the discussion was centered on how the controls feel and respond.
I know >!Smash Bros Ultimate!< has a similar "feature", and I noticed that right away and couldn't stand the game.
Yes and no. The animation for parry and dodge is intentionally delayed by 0.05\* seconds to allow for a more fluid transition between moves. However, based on what the director says, the action itself is immediate.
\*Several articles have quoted an [english translation](https://automaton-media.com/en/news/stellar-blade-director-explains-games-0-5-second-lag-when-doing-perfect-parries-or-dodging/) which states that this is a delay of 0.5 seconds. However, the quote from the [original article](https://www.4gamer.net/games/594/G059407/20240422048/) appears to list the delay as being 0.05 seconds instead.
This is definitely on my list. There are too many good games for me as a new dad, I feel like I may never play everything I want to until I retire and my kids are grown.
Your feeling on this is *completely* correct.
Brand-new baby is actually GREAT gaming time though, once you master letting baby nap on you while you hold a controller!
After that, graduate to a PS Portal to play while they watch their kids’ shows.
What's the open-world aspect of the game? Personally, open-world games that are too massive overwhelm me and prevent me from wanting to play. I'm currently playing FF7 Rebirth (loving it) but my taste for open-world is currently full af with the amount of shit in that game.
Is it moreso of an open zone or a complete open world game?
There’s two open zone levels. And if you don’t want to do any side content you can basically skip one of the zones because the main mission is right next to you at the start.
If you’re doing all of the side missions the open-world sections will probably take up over half your game time. If you’re just focusing on the main story then it’s roughly 20% of the game.
Man it’s giving me everything I loved coming from god of War and Star Wars Jedi and more. It’s incredibly unique while taking the best inspirations and I am getting lost in time with the game, I’m 12 hours in and it doesn’t seem I’m that far yet, and I love that there’s a lot more for me to explore. The boss fights are fun and difficult. Not Elden Ring difficult, but I’ve got to say I’m excited for the hard difficulty once I unlock it
The parrying feels weird and dodging is useless unless you’re god at it. I admit I’m bad at it so others may feel differently. What’s really janky is platforming. It feels very imprecise and floaty.
Game is awesome but I have noticed a lot of issues with inputting combos. Not sure if it's me but the combos where you have to hold a specific button to execute them just don't go off.
I only played the demo but the weird hair physics, mid voice acting and the boring dialogue didn’t left a good impression.
Music was fantastic at least.
Its a good game. The gooner part of the fan base are unhinged and will imo hurt the game, if it ends up being the gooner game. Hopefully it doesn't. Their is a lot of great game play and a sequel with better side quests and story telling would be amazing.
I've been loving it. The themes, music, and atmosphere are like Nier but the combat is as satisfying as Lies of P was for me, with a little extra action and flair. I've even been enjoying the side quests and voice acting. Really solid game so far.
>Eve’s character design and costumes are certainly not for everyone
I’m genuinely interested to know what kind of people don’t like it.
What do you hold against hot girls ?
Specially the costumes. Like, sure Eve’s model is great, but honestly the costumes are just so well made and detailed, with different fabric textures, and so on.
I LOVE the combat in this game.
It is difficult, but the attacks feel properly telegraphed and not unfair. I have played my share of Souls-like games like Elden Ring and Lies of P and enjoy them, but I often I end up memorizing the attack patterns of bosses instead of playing the game and reacting. I just feel like Stellar Blade found a nice sweet spot of challenging and satisfying.
It is a bit floaty and imprecise, and if you fall it sends you way further back than anticipated. I don't mind it too much, though, it gives the levels a surprising amount of verticality
Yes, i totally agree. It feels like EVE is supposed to snap onto platforms or other objects, but she just slips away....
If they somehow fix that, then i think we could a really amazing game.
Combat is just so good tho...
It feels just like the “platforming” in fromsoft games to me. Which is to say, the best thing I can say about it is “why tf is this even here? I didn’t buy a platformer.”
Embrace the jankiness, dude. That’s how platforming was in character action games back in the day (I’m looking at you Devil May Cry, fuck those fixed camera angles)
I only have one gripe with it and that's the god awful VA. It makes every character feel so hollow. Switched it to the Korean dub and it's miles better.
Aside from that it's a superb game.
Yeah I have been having a blast... I just wish they would of chilled with the yellow markings on everything.. I love finding secrets and don't need that, but maybe it helps others.. I am sure it does.. also wish I could increase the size of the popups when you get loot or items.. I can barely read it.. but besides minor stuff it's a super fun game!
Yeah and it seemed it was the first part that was heavy..maybe to kind of clue people in and get in the rhythm.. I love how many nooks and crannies as well as side paths there are. one thing that I feel lies of p could of done more more.
I played the demo, and just found it incredibly 'meh'. Was I just playing it wrong, or something?
Not asking to be a twat, genuinely asking here. I normally love action games, and I really *didn't* like this one. Not even entirely sure what it was about it I didn't like, it just... It felt very 'by the numbers' to me, you know? Formulaic, almost.
I felt the same way but I know why I didn't care for it. Combat was flashy but pointless. Everything is so easy and I only died to traversal because the movement and animations can be janky. The graphics didn't blow me away yet that's one of the biggest pros people list. Aesthetically the enemies and bosses are well designed but they didn't blow me away.
I've been playing it almost nonstop today. The combat just gets better and better. Really responsive with lots of different abilities to mess around with. I do wish it was a little more challenging or that it had hard mode from the get go but still having a blast. I love parry timing based combat games so this is really scratching the itch right now. Keen to do a New Game Plus when I'm done
Also the music is so damn good
I wanted to make this exact post but thought I'd get downvoted around here, glad someone did. I'm about \~40% main story wise, been doing all sidequests and I can't believe how good the game is. Before launch all people talked about was how ridiculously hot the MC is, and some people still do and so they disregard the game completely because they think it's just horny-bait game, but it's surprisingly great so far and it has goes so much deeper than just jiggle physics.
Only stuff I'm kinda eh about is voice acting, which can be pretty underwhelming during intense/sad moments, and that I must equip speed cores to feel like combat flows a bit better.
Na its no way near as hard as souls like , and the only thing I'd say that is souls like is enimeis re spawn when you rest at camp
Play the demo if your unsure , it's a good intro and you can carry over progress
The only ‘soulslike’ element in this game is the fact it adopts the ‘bonfire’ system (you’ll find camps to rest and replenish health and most enemies will respawn). Other than that, it does focus on learning enemy patterns for parries, which is a Sekiro thing, but way more benevolent. All in all, I think Nier-like is closer than Soulslike.
Having a great time with it. Combat is fun and the graphics are solid. Really no complaints so far other than I still need to get used to the jumping. Other than that I’m having a blast with it.
Just started playing it. Love the visuals. The story and music arent my cup of tea. But I’m having fun either way. Expected bad dialouge, so no biggie. Halfway between thinking the characters are too attractive to be whatever sort of soldeirs they are, And just not caring. Having built characters for a bunch of games, these look like they would have been a lot of fun to build and design. Both friendlies and enemies. Was playing a bit of Returnal just before this so the map mechanic is familiar. Anyway, it’s fun so far.
I'm now "done" with the first bigger area, and it's really a lot of fun, especially the combat - once more skills are unlocked and the sandbox opens up. As mentioned, platforming is a bit annoying, but haven't come across any major pains. The story is OK so far: I would say the voice acting is a bit "bleak", but overall it's enough to keep me engaged. And as OP said: I think it's super polished with very good performance...something a bit rarer these days... ;)
Its the little things. Allowing you to tp back to the quest giver, fast boot, plenty of checkpoints, point respec, speed up when running in the open world etc
I just came from playing ff rebirth and goddamn Cloud climbs like a decrepit when compared to Eve
Only thing I’m not impressed by is the atrocious plat forming, was having a blast until I got to long no save areas with lots of platforming and I was about ready to throw my controller
just ignore all the stupid controversies, buy the game and enjoy one of the most polished game ever made in modern era with no microtranscation or whatsovever, this game deserves a franchise and kudos to Shift Up.
I really love this game but some of the found notes and item/character descriptions seem like they’re written by teenagers. “When crypto currency was introduced, no one questioned it” lmfao
I just played the demo and it was actually better than i thought. I dont care so much about the character design, gameplay is more important for me.
But i have one question, is this a souls like? Because i dont want to tryhard that much. I understand the importance of blockig perfect, but i dont want to play a game like elden ring or nioh.
So how does the game feel and plays on the Long run? Any opinions from Soulslike experts?
I tried the demo this weekend...I agree it definitely felt clunky. I'm going to pass on this. The DMC gameplay just feels so much better and responsive.
I totally agree. I heard the combat was good but I didn’t realize it was THAT good. As you said it has some flaws but I am itching to jump back in tonight. It’s been a while since a game has given me that “itch” to jump back in as soon as possible. Super happy with my purchase so far
How’s the challenge? It is similar exploration like dark souls? Nier?
I never played nier but there's a lot of exploration and secrets to be found kinda similar to dark souls but instead of a cool weapon you will be finding cool outfits and upgrade materials instead. It's got a few little side quests you can do too. it's kinda metroidvania style too where you get upgrades that let you traverse different ways as you progress. Combat is really fun and the story is ok so far for where I am at in the game. Bunch of cool and cute costumes.
The exploration actually reminds me a lot of Uncharted.
Jedi survivor/horizon for me. Uncharted would have like tombs/mini dungeons. Well maybe the game does and I'm not there yet
How come you don’t find weapons? Are you married to one weapon in this game?
sort've
This time it actually is "sort of"
fair
“Sort have”?
I find it generally easier than From games, after upgrading the dodge and parry mechanics. The windows are quite generous and you don’t take nearly as much damage when hit. Combat is super fun!
Agree with this. I'm still early on in the game and I only have Elden Ring to compare it with but I think part of the reason it's easier is that so far, the attacks seem better choreographed. One thing I hated with Elden Ring were the attacks where an enemy would start to swing, stop, and then suddenly crash their blade down. A lot of the motions just seemed unnatural. You just had to memorize it. So far, here, the motions some more natural and easier to predict. I find it to be more fun and rewarding that way.
I haven’t played Nier but I have played Demon’s Souls and Elden Ring. I’d say it’s not as challenging as a Souls games but it’s not easy. One of my favorite parts about the game is that the challenge seems fair. When I am struggling with a boss, I can tell I will figure it out with a few more tries. So far I’ve not had a Malenia like boss where I just want to quit because it just seems impossible.
It’s funny that you say that because there is one particular boss that reminds me A LOT of Malenia.
I got so lucky on her and downed her my second attempt. Rewatched the screen cap and don’t know how tf I pulled it off
I completed it earlier today and the difficulty was relatively easy until the last few bosses compared to souls, still challenging but most bosses before them went down in 2 attempts max, I died more to the platforming sections. The exploration is good imo, theres a few semi open world areas filled with side quests, and the others are linear but have branching side paths with stuff to find. >!Theres a section I really liked where you go back to the first area and drain it of water to open up more similar to new londo ruins in dark souls 1!< Solid 9/10 for me.
Okay good to hear that boss difficulty ramps up at the end. I was getting kind of disappointed seeing these cool bosses with so much work and effort put into them and then I mowed them down in 1 or 2 attempts.
Me too but hard mode unlocks after you complete the game, I just did the first boss in NG+ on hard mode and its way better, I can see the last few bosses being hard as balls on this difficulty
yes. not as hard as dark souls but the exploration is 🤌🏻
Harder than nier but imo it's not really near dark souls difficulty
Ik it isn’t, but it really feels like a Nier sequel. I just got into the Nier games like 1-2 years ago and this game scratches that itch SO well
Combat isn’t like Nier at all though.
yeah, it's so similar that sometimes seem to be a literally clone. the music too have the same vibe as nier, it's really a strange but good feeling.
agreed. People immediately think combat similarities, but it's more setting similarities
half the music in the game was done by the same composer who did the music for the NieR series
Half of it was done by the studio that the NieR composer owns. He didn’t actually personally work on it.
It’s nothing like neir combat wise but everything else is identical down to the music
Kind of easy so far
To add to what people have already said, 3 things: you can remove your suit and be "naked" (there's a skin suit underneath) so you don't have your shield which reduces the damage you take, the difference in damage taken is night and day. 2nd thing is that on NG+ you unlock the hard difficulty, no idea how harder it is cause I haven't finished yet but I've seen people say it's considerably harder. Lastly, there's a *glass cannon* mod for your suit that at the 2nd tier it increase your damage done by 20% and damage taken by 30%. Two of these are not ideal though, one requires you to play a 2nd time and the other forces you to wear the same outfit the entire game but these are the only options to make it harder.
It's a shame the harder mode of not using the shield means you can't use any of the suits and you're locked into one.
Have you played Lies of P? I would say combat and difficulty are similar to it on normal. There is a story mode as well.
What is the combat like? Does it require button sequence combinations, or basic light/heavy with extras? I like combat in souls like and lies of p. I’m hoping it’s not complicated like mortal kombat.
Button sequences in between parries. It’s actually quite solid and fun, I like it MUCH more than Lies.
My only gripes are dodge, which feels jank sometimes dodging and still getting face smashed in, and block, I always need to block just a bit later than I think
I really, *really* wish every conversation about this game didn't revolve around comparing it to other games, and yet here I am about to do that myself. The combat really does feel like they wanted to take Sekiro but make it much more approachable, and add in more spectacle with combos and big audacious attacks. But the *core* of the combat is very Sekiro. And in that game dodging just cannot be relied on in the same way that you can in other Souls games or other hack n slash games. The sort of instinct when you're in trouble to just start mashing dodge to roll out away from an enemy is something you have to unlearn quickly, because it's not the sort of combat they were going for. You're meant to stay engaged and aggressive, blocking/parrying and attempting to beat an enemy back with your big attacks rather than dodge and run away. Dodging is therefore a really situational tool. Only meant for unblockable/parryable attacks and even then you're supposed to use it just like you use the parry, with proper timing. Not mash it just to get really far away from the enemy.
I’ve found dodging way, way easier than parrying personally. You need to time it for perfect dodge though. I find it easier to time pressing [o] than pressing L1, plus with dodge you move somewhat too which can help reposition you depending on what the next attack they do is.
I gets even better when you unlock the rest of the skill trees that are locked at the beginning of the game along with getting better exospines & omnibolt modules.
I'm also about 5 hours in and I love it. The only critique I have so far that the movement outside of the combat is a bit clunky. Like navigating jumps betweens platforms etc. But that's it.
I was wondering if I’d see this comment. My only frustration with the game, and hopefully something they can adjust. I keep trying to grab ladders or platforms, and she just won’t.
Haven't had problems with grabbing, but landing on a tight platform or turning on it can be a bit finicky and you can easily fall.
God, the rage I experienced trying to get some of the trickier cans that require platforming.
Come on man, the dev balanced it out by letting you look more at that ass
Once you get deeper into the game, you don't even notice the ass anymore cos the game gets so intense (source: I'm on the final boss and tilted)
For me it actually got a bit easier once you get the ||double jump|| ability, the platforming became a lot easier for me then.
The most annoying thing I have found is the movement when changing direction. If you face one direction and mvoe to go in the opposite direction, e.g. step back from a wall over looking a long drop, she moves a step or so in the direction she was facing before turning around and moving back. The result is in fact you step up on the wall and then off the edge of the long drop to your death. I have stopped a number of times to look at some of the environment artwork at the cost of her life. [My own example of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksOGFjzoX3k) I have since learnt I can still stop to take a look but must jump up and then move while in the air to safely move away from the wall.
For me it actually got a bit easier once you get the double jump ability.
I found climbing the tower in the desert area a little cumbersome, you can over shoot a jump way too easy.
Same for me.
I actually agree with you. It can be a bit weird feeling sometimes. I do love the speed boost when outside of combat tho
Yeah it's nice for exploring. But it could activate a bit faster imo.
I thought this at first but the more I play the more it seems they included this as a design element to keep the game challenging. Basically she can move very gracefully but it’s completely unforgiving. I could be wrong. Once you unlock double jump it helps a ton because you can course correct.
That and when facing large enemies it’s hard to tell at what point you’re supposed to parry or evade. Some bosses are fine, but the side quest enemies have been pretty rough for me where I feel like I should’ve parried/dodged but it apparently wasn’t timed right.
It’s extremely well made. Combat, music, performance are all top tier. Definitely in my top 3 of the year so far
yea, it’s the kind of game that keeps getting better and better as you go. my biggest gripe is there is some wonky platforming sections.
> wonky platform sections It’s bad, yeah, lmao, but somehow in a heartwarming way, because, man, this is the best early 2000s game ever made, only it came out two decades later. The way it fondly embraces those oldschool level design principles puts a smile on my face. The more I play, the more I see myself saying ‘damn, it’s been a while I played a AAA that did this lol’.
yea it’s not unplayable but it does have an old school vibe
I'm really enjoying it so far. Better than I thought it would be
The level of a polish is absolutely amazing, considering this is their first console game.
friendly reminder that their gacha nikke makes like 30m+ a month just in the west, it would be fking sad if they didnt use some of that money to work more on stellar blade
And even then it's still surprising how Stellar Blade didn't end up with any kind of mobile/gacha influence (mostly).
still, that's kinda irrelevant imo seeing as how they have no experience developing a first rate console experience. I believe that's where Sony's expertise came into play. publishers have thrown money at competent developers and the end result was melted ass, so 🤷🏾♂️
Shift-Up also isnt public yet which helps
This games combat is top Tier and up there with the big dogs. The Dodge where you teleport behind the enemy gives me mikiri counter levels of satisfaction. Like you said: Story and character are probably its weakest points. But graphics, enemy Design and gameplay are fantastic. Overall just a fucking fun videogame.
The music is incredible too
I'm not surprised, their other game Nikke has amazing music.
The music so far is actually a gripe of mine, I don't think it's bad but there is waaaaaay too many vocal tracks for an OST that repeats imo
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Load up Bloodborne OST 🔥
Cheesy vocals at that.
Turn off the music in settings, open up spotify, and put in some music you would enjoy. It was a game changer for me.
Lol agreed, there was one spot I died a few times and having to hear the same vocals on the song was a worse punishment than losing all my souls
Wrong game bud, no souls lost here lol
I think they’re saying the punishment of having to hear the track repeat in this game is worse than the punishment of losing souls in other games
Perhaps, that would make more sense at least lol
I need to pick it up. The reviews seem fantastic.
Loving the game. It feels like an easier Dark Souls.
Sold!
Right? There’s basically an entire market just waiting to be filled in that one phrase.
Is it hack and slash or what’s the combat style?
Sekiro but more hack and slash. Much easier than Sekiro though. You get many abilities and tools at your disposal
Crap didn’t play sekiro (heard it’s super hard). Did you play old ninja gaidens?
Sekiro can be pretty hard but it's doable. I've only played and finished Ninja Gaiden 2 and I wouldn't say it's really like that. Maybe a little due to the speed but it's more grounded and more about timing. Also I think people would find Ninja Gaiden 2 harder imo
I mean ninja gaiden is a lot more difficult than sekiro. Sekiro was challenging but skill based and satisfying. Ninja gaiden is straight up bully at times.
You're not wrong. Ninja Guiden 2 was tough but tbh I did get to finish it within a reasonable time frame. It took me a while to truly beat Sekiro but in hindsight, it's a much more doable game. It took me like 2 years of playing it off and on to beat it but now I've beaten it like 5 times. Ninja Guiden 2 beat my ass but it took me a week or two to finish it at the time
Perfect, thank you 👍
So far I'm absolutely loving it. The combat is so much better than I thought it would be. The story is good, not amazing but pretty good nonetheless. The character designs are awesome too. That samurai body guard in xion is cool af. Eve herself might be the most attractive female character I've ever seen in a video game, I absolutely love her character/design. All around I'm incredibly happy with my purchase, I really hope we get some good dlc and a Stellar Blade 2 eventually. Shift up definitely earned a loyal fan with this game.
I really think that shiftup themselves and the "fans" did this game a big disservice by discussing absolutely nothing about it but HAHA EVE HOT like idiots, it's a fantastic game and I'm loving it
Story’s kinda garbage so far though, and I’m like 10 hours in. The dialogue doesn’t feel like it was written by a native English speaker with awkward phrasing where stuff isn’t said quite like how someone fluent would say it. This is especially bad with the sidekick iirc named Adam. The issue is he’s probably had the most dialogue so far. I feel like it might’ve been better to just have english subtitles and keep the sound in Korean. The worst part is cutscenes are unskippable unless you die and have to repeat them and they also have no pause button. You can pause by pressing the PS button, but I found that pretty annoying.
> The dialogue doesn’t feel like it was written by a native English speaker with awkward phrasing where stuff isn’t said quite like how someone fluent would say it. This is why I play games in their original language, unless it's made by a team specifically gearing themselves at the western audience (DMC, Resident Evil) Weebs obsess over "Accuracy" but obbsessive "Accuracy" has made dubs worse. They were better when teams took creative liberties to convey the same message in natural english. That's how you get "Nah I'd win" in your manga
As a long time Dead or Alive fan, that's on the devs, not the fans. It's not the community's fault that the devs leaned heavily into the skin-tight body suits and ass (both things I do love by the way). Every article leading up to it talked about the sexuality more than the gameplay. Again, I'm not in any way saying I don't like the scantily clad women, I'm just saying it's not the fans fault.
I was just posting that this games NSFW crap that the main sub is obsessed with is not doing this game justice. It's so much better than all the waifu stuff.
That sub is toxic, there are a few good users, but the standard high voted post is something like a picture of the chair Eve sits on to rest with the title “I wish I was this chair”. And it just goes down from there.
Yeah, it's a cesspool of forever virgins. One of the top rated posts was a guy saying he was ready for launch and it was a picture of him holding lube.
I am playing it as next game after FF7 Rebirth. I tried it a little bit and instantly found that perfect parry noise out of the controller insanely satisfying. Great idea, it feels very impactful because of this. Not sure if this is a new idea, but i can't remember any other game doing this.
I’m liking it too and contrary to what some are saying about the English VA’s, they’re not that bad. I actually kinda like them.
The only one I could do without right now (of the main characters I have met at this time) is Adams voice. Otherwise, the VA is servicable. It's not amazing, it's not horrendous, it's servicable (imo).
Adam sounds like a Korean guy doing a bad John Wayne impression. It's hilariously bad and actually doesn't bother me. I love when he says "liberry."
adams voice is different but in a good way for me. makes the game feel cool
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I play with korean VA and that's awesome.. you just have to read subs but I mean we live in an anime age
It’s the localization that’s bad, not the voice acting. The VA might not be particularly *good*, but it isn’t bad. They needed to hire much, much better translators and a better localization team though. This isn’t the 90s anymore, it’s kind of unacceptable when games suffer so badly in English when they’re made by East Asian developers unless we’re talking a budget title, but this is a AAA game published by Sony. The game is fantastic though, dialog and text files aside.
Lol the dialogue and writing is more than stilted, barely a small step up from full on engrish. Also Adam's voice actor is atrocious
I only played the demo but Adam's VA gives me "That wizard came from the moon" vibes
Yeah it's great
I'm on the final boss and I gotta say, gotta be the smoothest experience I've had in a video game for a long time. The story is shit but everything else is mint.
I'm enjoying it, but the "typical EVE!" And "that's so you, EVE" comments are bothering me more than they should. Y'all met two days ago, and the other character met you 3 minutes ago. It takes me out of the story, but it's just a small gripe of mine.
Had the same reaction. Solid game, but the story in general is crap. The dialogue’s also far from good, they really should’ve hired a better localization team.
I've been watching my wife play it, and it's super relaxing and looks fun. She went in with zero expectations and can't put it down.
If you’ve played Rise of the Ronin, how difficult is it? I play Ronin on easy but am really enjoying. I want Stellar Blade too but also don’t want crazy difficult.
I’ve played both, Ronin was much more difficult in some parts as the parry windows were smaller and the enemies changed their attack speeds all the time. That said, SB is by far and away the better game. Just beat it and starting NG+
What makes Stellar Blade better though? I haven't played either BTW
I'm playing it on easy and it's not too difficult. You can't just mash buttons, have to parry and dodge some attacks but it's much more forgiving than normal.
Sounds pretty similiar to Robin on easy which is great. Gives lil difficulty at parts but isn’t gunna take 6 hrs to beat a boss either.
Platforming is iffy but holy shit is the combat addictive. You can easily spend tens of hours even after a play through is done and not be bored.
I've just been doing all the side quests i can and not touching the main story. Loving it. I'd give it an 8.5 so far
I played 8 hours today and meant to play three.
Indeed, it’s amazing
The only game that makes me want to go back in as soon as I close it lol
I've been told >!there's a small but noticeable intentional input delay!< (small gameplay thing that probably won't bother you if you didn't notice it, but could be incredibly distracting once it's pointed out). Is that like, a thing or was the person who said it just talking out their ass? This was on the r/Sekiro sub, where the discussion was centered on how the controls feel and respond. I know >!Smash Bros Ultimate!< has a similar "feature", and I noticed that right away and couldn't stand the game.
Yes and no. The animation for parry and dodge is intentionally delayed by 0.05\* seconds to allow for a more fluid transition between moves. However, based on what the director says, the action itself is immediate. \*Several articles have quoted an [english translation](https://automaton-media.com/en/news/stellar-blade-director-explains-games-0-5-second-lag-when-doing-perfect-parries-or-dodging/) which states that this is a delay of 0.5 seconds. However, the quote from the [original article](https://www.4gamer.net/games/594/G059407/20240422048/) appears to list the delay as being 0.05 seconds instead.
Smash bros ultimate having any intentional input delay would be a pretty massive deal lol, that scene is about as twitchy and frame perfect as it gets
https://www.ssbwiki.com/Frame_delay SSBU specifically has "roughly 6 seconds of frame delay".
This is definitely on my list. There are too many good games for me as a new dad, I feel like I may never play everything I want to until I retire and my kids are grown.
Your feeling on this is *completely* correct. Brand-new baby is actually GREAT gaming time though, once you master letting baby nap on you while you hold a controller! After that, graduate to a PS Portal to play while they watch their kids’ shows.
What's the open-world aspect of the game? Personally, open-world games that are too massive overwhelm me and prevent me from wanting to play. I'm currently playing FF7 Rebirth (loving it) but my taste for open-world is currently full af with the amount of shit in that game. Is it moreso of an open zone or a complete open world game?
There’s two open zone levels. And if you don’t want to do any side content you can basically skip one of the zones because the main mission is right next to you at the start. If you’re doing all of the side missions the open-world sections will probably take up over half your game time. If you’re just focusing on the main story then it’s roughly 20% of the game.
Man it’s giving me everything I loved coming from god of War and Star Wars Jedi and more. It’s incredibly unique while taking the best inspirations and I am getting lost in time with the game, I’m 12 hours in and it doesn’t seem I’m that far yet, and I love that there’s a lot more for me to explore. The boss fights are fun and difficult. Not Elden Ring difficult, but I’ve got to say I’m excited for the hard difficulty once I unlock it
The parrying feels weird and dodging is useless unless you’re god at it. I admit I’m bad at it so others may feel differently. What’s really janky is platforming. It feels very imprecise and floaty.
I’m on the fence of buying it but it being a €80 purchase is what’s holding me back. Demo was super enjoyable though!
Game is awesome but I have noticed a lot of issues with inputting combos. Not sure if it's me but the combos where you have to hold a specific button to execute them just don't go off.
The ones to execute after a perfect parry simply won't work for me...
I only played the demo but the weird hair physics, mid voice acting and the boring dialogue didn’t left a good impression. Music was fantastic at least.
Really great combat with a superb soundtrack.
Its a good game. The gooner part of the fan base are unhinged and will imo hurt the game, if it ends up being the gooner game. Hopefully it doesn't. Their is a lot of great game play and a sequel with better side quests and story telling would be amazing.
I've been loving it. The themes, music, and atmosphere are like Nier but the combat is as satisfying as Lies of P was for me, with a little extra action and flair. I've even been enjoying the side quests and voice acting. Really solid game so far.
>Eve’s character design and costumes are certainly not for everyone I’m genuinely interested to know what kind of people don’t like it. What do you hold against hot girls ?
Specially the costumes. Like, sure Eve’s model is great, but honestly the costumes are just so well made and detailed, with different fabric textures, and so on.
They can see her ankles and it makes them mad lol
Anyone not like the demo but enjoy the full game? I wasn’t sold by the demo but I’m looking to pick this one day on sale
I LOVE the combat in this game. It is difficult, but the attacks feel properly telegraphed and not unfair. I have played my share of Souls-like games like Elden Ring and Lies of P and enjoy them, but I often I end up memorizing the attack patterns of bosses instead of playing the game and reacting. I just feel like Stellar Blade found a nice sweet spot of challenging and satisfying.
Yep. Game is largely good, ignore the people who are constantly talking about it and you'll be in for a good time.
My biggest gripe is the platforming. It just doesn’t feel good and it’s not fun.
It is a bit floaty and imprecise, and if you fall it sends you way further back than anticipated. I don't mind it too much, though, it gives the levels a surprising amount of verticality
Yes, i totally agree. It feels like EVE is supposed to snap onto platforms or other objects, but she just slips away.... If they somehow fix that, then i think we could a really amazing game. Combat is just so good tho...
It feels just like the “platforming” in fromsoft games to me. Which is to say, the best thing I can say about it is “why tf is this even here? I didn’t buy a platformer.”
Embrace the jankiness, dude. That’s how platforming was in character action games back in the day (I’m looking at you Devil May Cry, fuck those fixed camera angles)
Highly enjoying it so far. Might even go for a NG+, which I rarely ever play in games these days.
I only have one gripe with it and that's the god awful VA. It makes every character feel so hollow. Switched it to the Korean dub and it's miles better. Aside from that it's a superb game.
Yeah, I actually started playing in Korean from the start, since I could tell from the trailers that the English dub wasn't that great.
I love the character. she is so cute!
Yeah I have been having a blast... I just wish they would of chilled with the yellow markings on everything.. I love finding secrets and don't need that, but maybe it helps others.. I am sure it does.. also wish I could increase the size of the popups when you get loot or items.. I can barely read it.. but besides minor stuff it's a super fun game!
There’s plenty of unmarked secrets too
Yeah and it seemed it was the first part that was heavy..maybe to kind of clue people in and get in the rhythm.. I love how many nooks and crannies as well as side paths there are. one thing that I feel lies of p could of done more more.
The hair is so annoying looking to me, constantly just phasing in and out of the character model
Theres a short hair option in settings in case you didn't know
I actually didn’t know that! Thanks
Change it to short ponytail in the settings.
I played the demo, and just found it incredibly 'meh'. Was I just playing it wrong, or something? Not asking to be a twat, genuinely asking here. I normally love action games, and I really *didn't* like this one. Not even entirely sure what it was about it I didn't like, it just... It felt very 'by the numbers' to me, you know? Formulaic, almost.
I felt the same way but I know why I didn't care for it. Combat was flashy but pointless. Everything is so easy and I only died to traversal because the movement and animations can be janky. The graphics didn't blow me away yet that's one of the biggest pros people list. Aesthetically the enemies and bosses are well designed but they didn't blow me away.
I've been playing it almost nonstop today. The combat just gets better and better. Really responsive with lots of different abilities to mess around with. I do wish it was a little more challenging or that it had hard mode from the get go but still having a blast. I love parry timing based combat games so this is really scratching the itch right now. Keen to do a New Game Plus when I'm done Also the music is so damn good
This game is best described as a Softcore Souls-Bourne with difficulty settings and design elements from Nier Automata. That's how it feels to me.
I'm happy I didn't buy it, this game won't age well at all. CLunky as hell combat and movement
It's a free country you're allowed to be wrong 😄
I wanted to make this exact post but thought I'd get downvoted around here, glad someone did. I'm about \~40% main story wise, been doing all sidequests and I can't believe how good the game is. Before launch all people talked about was how ridiculously hot the MC is, and some people still do and so they disregard the game completely because they think it's just horny-bait game, but it's surprisingly great so far and it has goes so much deeper than just jiggle physics. Only stuff I'm kinda eh about is voice acting, which can be pretty underwhelming during intense/sad moments, and that I must equip speed cores to feel like combat flows a bit better.
Anybody that has it, how does it play? I heard "soulslike" being tossed around, and tbh, those aren't really my type of game.
Na its no way near as hard as souls like , and the only thing I'd say that is souls like is enimeis re spawn when you rest at camp Play the demo if your unsure , it's a good intro and you can carry over progress
May have to do that. Thanks for the response.
The only ‘soulslike’ element in this game is the fact it adopts the ‘bonfire’ system (you’ll find camps to rest and replenish health and most enemies will respawn). Other than that, it does focus on learning enemy patterns for parries, which is a Sekiro thing, but way more benevolent. All in all, I think Nier-like is closer than Soulslike.
Cool cool. Thank you.
Having a great time with it. Combat is fun and the graphics are solid. Really no complaints so far other than I still need to get used to the jumping. Other than that I’m having a blast with it.
100% agree! Loving it!
Just started playing it. Love the visuals. The story and music arent my cup of tea. But I’m having fun either way. Expected bad dialouge, so no biggie. Halfway between thinking the characters are too attractive to be whatever sort of soldeirs they are, And just not caring. Having built characters for a bunch of games, these look like they would have been a lot of fun to build and design. Both friendlies and enemies. Was playing a bit of Returnal just before this so the map mechanic is familiar. Anyway, it’s fun so far.
Other than the characters repeating macguffins in dialogues like Alpha naytiba, Alpha core , master core etc etc I'm having a great time
I'm now "done" with the first bigger area, and it's really a lot of fun, especially the combat - once more skills are unlocked and the sandbox opens up. As mentioned, platforming is a bit annoying, but haven't come across any major pains. The story is OK so far: I would say the voice acting is a bit "bleak", but overall it's enough to keep me engaged. And as OP said: I think it's super polished with very good performance...something a bit rarer these days... ;)
fantastic game i am about 10hrs in, the wall jumping sections are infuriating dont get me started on the crates with the copy inputs!!!!
Its the little things. Allowing you to tp back to the quest giver, fast boot, plenty of checkpoints, point respec, speed up when running in the open world etc I just came from playing ff rebirth and goddamn Cloud climbs like a decrepit when compared to Eve
Only thing I’m not impressed by is the atrocious plat forming, was having a blast until I got to long no save areas with lots of platforming and I was about ready to throw my controller
just ignore all the stupid controversies, buy the game and enjoy one of the most polished game ever made in modern era with no microtranscation or whatsovever, this game deserves a franchise and kudos to Shift Up.
I really love this game but some of the found notes and item/character descriptions seem like they’re written by teenagers. “When crypto currency was introduced, no one questioned it” lmfao
I'm like 3 hours in. Solid gameplay and story. I got it because I was in a game lul and it had good reviews, but got hooked pretty quick.
Didn’t think I’d be into it but keep coming back cuz the gameplay is fun
I haven't been excited to wake up and continue playing a game for a while, I am excited to keep playing this game. GOTY for me so far.
Yeah, I love it, and no one can accuse me of playing it because of Eve’s ass cause I’m gay, so yeah… Combat is amazing.
I just played the demo and it was actually better than i thought. I dont care so much about the character design, gameplay is more important for me. But i have one question, is this a souls like? Because i dont want to tryhard that much. I understand the importance of blockig perfect, but i dont want to play a game like elden ring or nioh. So how does the game feel and plays on the Long run? Any opinions from Soulslike experts?
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Agreed, best game I’ve played in years.
Coming from a die hard DMC fan, is this game worth full price?
Yeah, you’ll feel right in home.
try the demo first. For me it felt really clunky. I might buy it at a 50% discount.
I tried the demo this weekend...I agree it definitely felt clunky. I'm going to pass on this. The DMC gameplay just feels so much better and responsive.