I’m going to say something controversial about Hades II (Supergiant Games), and I’m going to say it from the bottom of my heart.
*SPOILERS*
Fuck the final boss of the upward path.
Of course, massive spoilers ahead. I’ll try to keep it as vague as possible, but I need to talk about the final boss of the upward path.
I fucking hate him.
The end.
Obviously, it’s not the end of the post, but it might as well be.
Look. The final boss on the downward path is a pain in the ass, and he’s part of the reason I put on God Mode. About 35%, I must say. The other 65%, though, is the fucking final boss of the upward path.
When I first started the game, I switched between up and down every other run. Then, at some point, I focused on the downward path because at least I could get to the final boss of the fourth biome on that path. Even though I could not beat that boss. I finally did manage to eke out a win on the downward path after an extraordinary amount of time.
Then, at some point, as I was bashing my head against getting to the fourth biome on the upward path, I cracked. I had beaten the boss of the third biome once and dipped a toe in the fourth, only to be immediately killed by something. Don’t know what because I could not spot it, but that was what got me to think about trying God Mode.
I flipped it on and off for several runs until I finally just started leaving it on. See, I was not having fun when it was off. Even when I beat the bosses with ease (on the first two floors), I was thinking about how much I needed for the later stages.
By the way, it’s astounding how different the up and down paths are. The downward path is fairly easy, at least until you get to the final boss. The upward path? So fucking hard. First floor and boss? Easy. Second floor? Easy. Second floor boss was really hard, then became easier, but never easy because of my issues (depth perception, reflexes, spatial). Third floor is hard with the boss being almost impossible for me, and the fourth floor? Let’s not even talk about it–but I will talk about that boss.
Again, I want to emphasize that I’m talking about this boss in terms of my abilities, not in terms of the hardcore fans. I’m sure they think the boss is easy and that anyone whining about it just needs to ‘git gud’.
I don’t enjoy the gameplay for the most part–I endure it. Honestly, I felt the same way with the first game, but that one clicked at some pointt. I’m not sure when or why, but the gameplay became tolerable if not fun.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my way of 100%ing the first game was loading up on Athena boons. They give you deflect, and there was an ult in that game for every Olympian. Her ult gave me a defensive shield for a length of time. Very handy, I must say.
She is in this game, but only shows up once per upward run* to give you exactly one boon. There is speculation that she was limited in this game because her boons were too OP in the first game. Yes, probably, but so what? Let people be OP if they want. There are plenty of ways to make a run as pure as possible. Like choosing the worst boons, avoiding health/magicks upgrades, etc. I mean, you’re going to have to upgrade yourself to some extent because you have to choose a reward for every room, but there are rewards that are definitely better than others.
Also, you don’t have to upgrade your weapons. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s a choice you can certainly make.
I never felt that I was OP in the first game. In fact, I’m astounded that I actually managed to 100% the game, but it was all thanks to Athena. And the fact that my abilities weren’t close to shit back then. I mean, they were poor, but they are atrocious now.
The final boss on the upward path has four stages according to a guide I found. It’s hard to tell because it doesn’t have a helath bar (it erases it at the beginning of the fight), which I think is horseshit. Someone calculated that it has nearly twice the HP of the downward path boss. Plus you have to fight two mini-bosses in the fourth biome before battling with the final boss, whereas you usually can avoid fighting a mini-boss in the fourth area of the downward path.
The boss is supposed to be epic and–
Well, ok. Now we have to talk about the fact that I just beat the boss. It doesn’t change my feelings about the boss, really, but it has shown me that I was very close to beating the boss the last time I fought him. VERY close. I don’t know how I feel, really.
I will say that the reason I even got close was because of Demeter’s Infusion. Each god/dess has an infusion boon. In order for it to work, you have to have a certain number of an element or several elements. In this case, her infusion boon is called Frosty Veneer, and it means that if you take a hit that gives you more than 20 points of damage, you take less. Can you see why this is such a good boon?
Apparently, the earlier version was called Coarse Grit and you needed 6 earth to prock it. Once you did, you could not take more than 15 damage per hit. I can see why they nerfed it (and changed elements. The vast majority of her boons are ice-based, so this makes more sense). Anyway, I had decided to choose her boon whenever I saw her. Not specifically to get her infusion boon, but I wouldn’t say no to it. When I found it in the fourth area, I was so relieved that I could use it.
Now, to be sure, I didn’t know how much less damage I was taking per hit, but any less damage is better than the same amount of damage! I also had Phase Shift as my Hex, and it slows down time dramatically. It’s by far the best Hex for the final boss fights (with the one that makes you impervious to damage for several seconds a close second), and I had added the Olympiad touch to it by having Demeter step in twice to freeze the boss as I was zapping him.
I’ve always liked Demeter’s freeze boons, and they have shot to the top of my list in this game, too. It’s funny to me that when I win, I really win. What I mean is that in the last downward path last boss fight and this, I still had Death Defiances and/or the Luckier Tooth. In fact, with the former, I was shocked when it ended. With this fight, I was just holding on with all my might. “Please let it end please let it end please let it end” was what I was chanting in my head.
The fact that there’s no health bar is still bullshit. I don’t understand why that decision was made except as a way to be HARD. I mean, obviously, it messes with you as you’re fighting the boss, but what does it really add to the fight? Nothing. Especially as his HP is so gargantuan (in comparison to all others), and I don’t have time to notice the little details that show he’s taking damage. I didn’t like it in Monster Hunter World (Capcom), but at least the tells were more obvious in that game.
This boss fight is just miserable. It’s the boss sitting high above, constantly throwing shit at you. All the mini-bosses in this biome are bits of this boss, and they are all super-annoying. People seem to agree that there are four stages to the fight, but I really think there are two major stages. It doesn’t matter, anyway, since it’s just a bunch of shit being thrown at you.
In my first few attempts, I tried to stay up in his face and ignore the adds, but that didn’t work well. Also, I quickly realized that there were times when you had to be close to him and times when you had to be far away. When he slammed down his jaw and hoofs, you had to be far. When he did the tongue lash laser whip, you had to be near. When he did the storms, you wanted to be far. When he did the bouncing eyeballs, well, I didn’t know what to do with that. Basically, I’m going to eat that attack because I can’t track the small bits and where they bounce.
I have more to say. Tomorrow.
*There are exceptions, but that doesn’t matter for this post. None of the exceptions help.