In the last post, I talked about why I don’t like the DLCs of the third game, which is my favorite game in the world. I have played it dozens of time, and, yes I play the DLC every time except for the not-plat run on NG+ and NG++. I will say that I recently started not fighting the Champion Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf duo because I can’t get a summon for it to save my life. Can I beat them solo? Yes, I can and have. Do I want to? No. It’s a boring fight and it’s mostly so you can get an item for PvP. You can get that same item in the second DLC, so it renders the boss fight moot. It’s just really uninspired and more to the point, it includes the worst of all the negative tendencies of FromSoft games. Starts with the gravetender and three wolves. That’s bad enough because I hate adds in a boss fight. It just seems like a lazy way to add instant and artificial difficulty. Then, when you get the gravetender down to a quarter health or so, he whistles in the greatwolf. If you’re a squishy caster like me, it’s difficult to finish off the gravetender before the greatwolf materializes, but it’s what you need to do. Otherwise, gravetender will cheese you from afar while the greatwolf bum-rushes you.
There is nothing new in this fight nor is it memorable in any way. As much as I loathe the DLCs for the third game, all the other bosses are memorable for one reason or another. Sister Friede is epic and one of my favorite bosses though she’s not fair at all. Demon Prince–ok, he’s not that memorable but there’s still the gotcha factor of it going from two demons to one after you kill the two demons. Midir is grueling and a test of your patience/skills. Gael is fucking amazing, but also unfair. So I’m not saying they’re great, mind you, but just that they are noteworthy in one way or another. Champion Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf is a boss fight that doesn’t stand out in any way. So I’m not motivated to do it even though I can beat them.
I did the Sister Friede fight yesterday and got two SunSib (rather than SunBro) summons. We made short work of her and it was so much fun. I mostly used Dorhy’s Gnawing, which is the miracle I used to beat her solo. Also, I had thought that as long as I didn’t go to the final area in the second DLC, I could still summon Gael for the Sister Friede fight. I was incorrect. His summon sign was not available so it was a good thing I got the two SunSibs to help me out. Looking it up afterwards, apparently if you start the second DLC, then he won’t show up in the first. Which I thought was ridiculous because you don’t actually find out what happened to him until the final area of the second DLC. And he helps you along the way! But, with reflection, I realized that it’s not him helping you–it’s his spirit. When he shows up to point the way for you (literally), it’s not him. Same with when you summon him to help with the Demon Prince. On the other hand, it would also be the case when you summon him for Sister Friede, so I don’t see why he can’t still be there.
I’ve said more than once that the DLCs are for the fanbois. It’s a nod to the people who think running through the games as a OneBro is too easy or who loudly declare on every post that Nameless King is sooooooo easy and why is everyone complaining? The OP got him in one try with nothing but sheer grit and determination. Look. I am not doubting that every boss has some people that find him/her/them/it easy. But it’s wearying to read it over and over in the forums. In fact, that’s something I really hate about the games–the very vocal minority of dudes in the community who exude such toxic masculinity, you can almost choke on it.
Any time there’s a post about how to beat a boss, guaranteed there’s at least one person saying ‘git gud’. Maybe not as much these days now that it’s a meme, but back in the days, it was actually written without irony. The other thing that is annoying is how the OP would say that they were, say, a rogue character and how they were struggling against a boss–O&S to keep old school about it. There’s always one asshole who tells them to change their build, which is worse than useless. I want to make clear that most people in the forums are truly trying to help, but without fail, the assholes pop up.
Back to the games themselves. Hitboxes can be hit and miss. There is a well-worn joke in the community about how enemies can hit you through walls in ways you can’t hit them. Another pet peeve is that in every game, there is a ridiculous platforming section that does not need to be there. I have banged on and on in the past how games that are not platformers should not have platforming in them. FromSoft LOVES their platforming sections and they are bad at them. Full stop. I’m not including Sekiro in this because you have a grappling hook and you’re meant to traverse vertically up and down. In the DLCs of the third game, there are trees you have to jump onto the limbs of to go downwards. This happens twice and I’ve fallen off both in my current playthrough. Even though I’ve done this dozens of times before! You have to line it up just right and heaven forbid you flick your control stick a bit too hard as you jump. Plus, there are only certain spots you can jump to without dying. It’s annoying, especially since I haven’t played in several months. It’s funny. I know the game like the back of my hand, but shit like this doesn’t stick. Probably because I have difficulty with spatial awareness.
I’m really glad they added the grappling hook to Sekiro because then they could indulge in their passion for verticality without it being painful. In fact, I might saw that the grappling hook is one of FromSoft’s best ideas in a long time. I was skeptical before the game because of the aforementioned issues with platforming, but it quickly became one of my favorite things about the game. Being able to whisk from tree to tree without touching the ground is such a great feeling.
I have many issues with that game even though I think it’s a brilliant game in general. Not being able to summon is one. The bosses being harder than nails is another. Putting the two together means me not replaying the game because once I have beaten a boss solo, I have no qualms summoning. In fact, summoning is actually one of my favorite parts of replaying the game. Not being able to have a caster build, no RPG elements, and being stuck using one weapon the entire time also bums me out.
There’s the fan favorites such as the poison swamp, though this one isn’t terrible in and of itself. Repeat bosses–four Headless? Really?!?–is not enjoyable, either. This game is more linear than the others and there’s less sense of exploration. In the RKG Facebook group, someone asked for people to list the FromSoft games in order of what they thought was best (to worst). Almost everyone listed Bloodborne as their favorite with Sekiro being up there. To me, both of those are at the bottom of the list because they don’t play to my strengths. I like a shield and I like to use range. There is absolutely no ranged ability in Sekiro (well, a few of the prosthetics had distance to them, but not much) and very little in Bloodborne. I’m not including the gun because that wasn’t actually for damage.
The thing is that for someone with shit reflexes (me), the games are very demanding. Obviously, I get something out of them and the experience during the first playthrough is bar none. However, they are not perfect games and I cannot blame anyone who bounces off them. There’s a bit of masochism in loving the games, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.