I’m going to talk more about Dark Souls III (FromSoft) and how I’m absolutely in love with it again. But first, I want to share a video I found. I have posted it down below. I found the Elden Ring one first, and it just warmed my heart. These videos are so adorable, and they really just make me smile. It’s the little (tiny) things in life sometimes. Here is my post from yesterday in which I talked about one of my hardest bosses in the game. Today, I will be talking about another really hard boss.
*SPOILER*
I did an optional area today, including a bullshit boss that has the worst hitbox in the world. It’s called the Ancient Wyvern, and when you first encounter it, you do potato damage on it. There’s a muessage on the ground that says somethnig about a plunging attack. It’s a dev message, and it’s supposed to be a clue as to what you need to do. I don’t remember if I figured this out myself or not, but here’s what you have to do.
You have to race up the level as the Ancienty Wyvern chases you, breathing fire on you. There are enemies along the way, and you have to get to the top of the castle so you can–wait. We’ll get there in a minute. You can access this area roughly halfway through the game. In typical From faashion, it’s really hard to find this esoteric and obsucre area.
Shall I tell you how? Sure, why not. So. There’s an area with a bunch of dragons sitting, looking at a castle in the distance/on the horizon. First time, I saw it and thought , “Hm. I’ll get there eventually.” Because if you can see it, you can go there. At least in the Souls games.
Did I figure out how to get there on my own? Nope! I had to look it up and read the forums with one eye (trying not to see other spoilers). You have to go to another completely optional area, beat an optional boss, kill an enemy, and pick it up down the road. With this gesture, you then go to the area with the sitting dragons again. You do the gesture and get whisked away to the far-off castle.
Which is hard as hell.
Seriously. You don’t want to go there too early. It’s really hard. And the hardest boss in the base game is there. Optional, integral to the story, and so damn hard. It’s another one that I had to summon for in my first playthrough, and they are still so hard now .It’s the Nameless King* and the bird he rode in on. Who is called the King of the Storm. That’s the name bar you see when you first go into the boss arena.
Let’s talk about the boss I actually fought today. That would be the last boss, Soul of Cinder. He doesn’t give me much trouble except once. I don’t remember which playthrough, but I just could not get him, even with the two NPCs. Now, though, I have the secret weapon–Dorhy’s Gnawing. It’s the littl eflies that prock bleeding (which then takes off a chunk of health) and takes fairly little blue in comparison to my beloved Chaos Bed Vestiges (pyro).
I even managed to keep both NPCs alive the whole fight (well, one died just right before I killed the boss, but I’ll count that). Normally, both NPCs die before the end of the fight, which means I have to run around, cursing, until I manage to get in a lucky last shot.
I really like this boss because it’s the amalgamation of all the people who lit the fire prior. Which means it can use all the sorceries, miracles, and pyros that the player can. And in the second phase, Gwyn’s piano theme starts playing mournfully, and it gives me chills. Still. The Soul of Cinder becomes Gwyn, and while I’m sure some fans found it cheesy, I loved it.
I wanted to see if I could find a human or two to summon (I could not for the Twin Princes), but Steam refused to sync. So I decided to try it with the two NPCs (which, again, takes a lot to get them to show up. One is perhaps my favorite NPCs in the game, Yuria. The other is an acolyte of hers). They both do dark magicks. Hexes? Whatever they are called in this game. I think it’s Dark or Dark Magic. Anyway! I was ready to do it several times, but to my surprise, it was one and done. And it wasn’t even close.
That’s Dorhy’s Gnawing for you. You can shoot it off from a fair distance, so that negates the need for quick reflexes. Which is good because the Soul of Cinder has an insane reach with his second-phase weapon. And he has a six move combo (may be exaggerating a tad, but not by much) that is just deadly. I don’t have much health (I tend to put my points in my magicks), and I’m terrible with my reflexes, so I need to keep my distance. I like to joke that I spell the enemy while walking backwards–briskly.
That’s all for today. I will write more about it tomorrow.
*Turns out he’s the first-born son of Gwyn, and, boy, were hardcore From fans maaaaaaaaad. The fandom head canon was that Solaire was the first-born son of Gwyn, and, boy, did they not like the fact that a new character was introduced in the third game who was actually the chosen one. There are so many fans who were convinced Solaire was the first-born son of Gwyn. And, who knows? He might have been at the time.
I could easily see Miyazaki change his mind after seeing so many fans wanting Solair to be the Crown Prince, but I could also see that he never intended Solaire to be the first-born son of Gwyn in the first place. Either one fits in with his personality.
I never bought that Solaire was Gwyn’s first-born son. I don’t know why. It’s not as if it was such a weird thing to believe. It made sense that he was the first-born son, but it never sat right with me. Plus, he’s never been my favorite NPC. Ever. I get roasted every time I say that, but it’s true. It’s not that I dislike Solaire because how is that possible? He is the only jolly fellow in a very desolate world.
A bit too jolly. Look. I like a good laugh now and again, but there’s no reason to be that happy. And, yes, it leads to his downfall, but that’s not until much later in the game. And you can circumvent it if you do something really ridiculous. Meaning, elaborate and time-consuming. Of course, I doo it every time because I can’t let Solaire die (and you get an NPC you can summon for the final boss).