I have more to say about FromSoft. I just did the worst boss in FromSoft history (Bed of Chaos), and it reminded me why it’s considered the worst boss in FromSoft history–yes, all of the games combined. The thing is, I can see the cool idea behind the boss, but Miyazaki was pushed to finish the game–and this was the area that really suffered. He has apologized for it, and he redid the area in Dark Souls III to his satisfaction.
Anyway, I did it early, and I had very little health. Plus, with my terrible spatial aptitude, it was frustrating beyond belief. So was the Centipede Demon. Anything that I can’t see for several seconds is going to be a problem to me.
Back to the Bed of Chaos. It really represents the best and worst of FromSoft thinking. It’s a puzzle boss in which there are two glowing orbs on either side of a living tree (the Bed of Chaos). You have to hit both orbs and then the floor in front of the bed crumbles away. You have to jump on a thin branch and run up to kill the actual boss.
I know this sounds easy, but, trust me, it isn’t. Why? Because the tree sweeps its branches at you and makes bits of the floor disappear. The sweeps takes off nearly a full health bar for me, and it’s hard to spot the holes in the ground while sprinting for the orbs. or the hole in the ground you need to jump in.
I have never had as much difficulty with this boss as I did this time–and it was always me getting swept into holes. It happened the same way something like three times in a row–and the runback was more aggravating each time. One of the best things From did in Elden Ring was get rid of the boss runs. I can tell you that there’s little as frustrating as taking five minutes to actually get to a boss and then dying within ten seconds.
I have included a video below of a guy trying to do the boss with a bunch of weird self-imposed limits. (People like to do all kinds of weird runs.) I want to point out that he has roughly three times the health that I do, which made it easier. Not easy, mind, but easier. Even still, he was having a tough time with this boss (in terms of getting hit, not in getting killed).
Normally, these days, I don’t do the second half of the game because the areas/bosses in the second half ar not fun at all. This boss in particular. One of the crowning jewels to the shit sundae is that in the last jump to the thin branch to get up to the boss, she can sweep you off as you jump or after you land on the branch (which happens in the video). I did not have that happen to me, thankfully, but I died at least a dozen times while trying to get the second orb.
You really need to get good RNG for this boss, too, which should not be the case for a boss. I mean, you usually can be helped a little by RNG, but in my winning run for the second orb, she did not do any of the sweeping attacks nor really much of any attacks as I raced to the second orb.
Oh, the video I included–he actually did quit. Huh. I wasn’t expecting that.
I don’t know why I didn’t give up and go back later. I got into a stubborn phase in which I had to do it. I had no choice, really. I hate when I get into that mentality because it makes me hate the game for as long as it takes for me to beat the boss (and longer, really).
Back to the new exclusive Switch 2 game, The Duskbloods. Many people speculate that it’s a spiritual successor to Bloodborne, which it could be. I have no idea. There are certainly similarities between Bloodborne and The Dusbloods, at least from the little I’ve seen of the latter. (Which is the trailer.) But that could be because they’re made by the same developer, too. I would say that all of From games have some throughpoints that connect them all. They’re going to be high fantasy. They’re going to be grim. The NPCs will all laugh weirdly and talk in cryptic code.
I will say that The Duskbloods does have an aesthetic that is more similar to Bloodborne than the other games (meaning Gothic). But the NPCsl/character players seem to come from all different games. The bosses are your usual horrific and grotesque FromSoft bosses. It definitely has a FromSoft feel to it, but I would not say that it is definitively a Bloodborne spiritual successor.
Watching the trailer again, I can’t help but heave a deep sigh. Look. Miyazaki has reached the level where he can do whatever he wants with abandon. I mean, not that he’s ever needed my approval to do anything. He’s Miyazaki. He’s one-of-a-kind and beyond compare. What I love about him is his creativity and his ability to think outside-the-box. That’s a double-edged sword because whatever tickles his fancy may or may not be something that is right up my alley.
Supposedly, Miyazaki is not good at PvP himself, so The Duskbloods is in part to see if he could create a game that would be fun to PvP for people like him. If you say so, Miyazaki. He’s also said that they will continue to make single-player action RPGs. And, I don’t know if I believe him. Not say he’s a liar, but he tends to say things in a way that could be easily misconstrued.
For example, when Elden Ring came out, a FromSoft rep said that it would take thirty hours to play the main storyline. He said that with a straight face and this whole heart. Without a trace of a smile on his face. When the DLC came out, Miyazaki said that it was about the size of Limgrave (the first area of the base game). This, too, was said in an earnest manner.
It took me 200+ hours to finish my first playthrough of the base game. About half of that was main story–well, it’s complicated. It depends on what you mean by main story. On my third playthrough for the plat, I finished it in 10 hours in NG+. I know someone who did it in two hours for the same reason. But that was his third playthrough as well.
My point is that if you’ve played the game already, yes, you can find ways to do what you absolutely need to do in very little time. In order to finish the game, you only have to beat two big bosses to get to the end game (and technically, you don’t even have to do that). In total, you have to fight nine bosses (if I remember correctly). On NG+ and beyond, you have everything you need to just romp through the game.
Saying that, I don’t think most people would be able to do a first playthrough in thirty hours. Seventy to a hundred hours is common as is well over a hundred. Again, about half of that is main storyline.
That’s all for now. More tomorrow.