I’m still playing Stranger of Paradise; Final Fantasy Origin (Team NINJA. Note: That’s how the write their name. Previously, I had been calling them Team Ninja, but have realized they capitalize all of Ninja). I just went up against the second boss, who was much easier than the first and only had one health bar, no (noticeable) second phase. I’m playing an normal (three modes) and try to be over-leveled for each mission (because Team NINJA makes the level suggestion ludicrously low for each mission). When I was playing Nioh, I learned I should try to be at least 1 1/2 times the level they suggested. Oh, by the way, here’s part four in that series.
I was telling Ian that I really appreciated the flamboyancy of the second boss. *SPOILERS* It was a pirate…Captain, ah, Bilke, I think it was. Captain Bikke. With a siiiiiick big axe of some sort. He wasn’t very hard and afterwards, I apparently unlocked the axe category of weapons because the tutorial showed up.
Brief sidestep into the tutorials. I hate them. Not just for this game, but for all Team NINJA games. They want to show you the combos, which, fine. It’s good to know the combos. However, in the tutorial, it’s a study in frustration because you need to do the combos as they appear on the screen. For whatever reason, I cannot get the timing on the last combo on the first page of almost every category. I have Googled it, and it’s not just me. Other people have had frustrations with it as well. I watched a few vids of people doing it and most seemed to have no problem. I have to conclude that it’s my reflexes/dexterity that is the issue.
Side note: I’m watching a review of the game that I have included belowe. I am grateful to hear him say that the level design is hot trash. He mentioned several of the things that I find frustrating about the game–most especially how same-y all the corriders look. He said that it was like, “Was it down the vaguely purple hallway or the vaguely blue one?”
He clarified that he played it pretty soon after he played Elden Ring, so he couldn’t help compare the two. He was frustrated with how there were no signifiers as to where to go next, nor a map. He said the same things were true for Elden Ring, but he implied that that the level design was much better in that game. Which is very true. One of the classic examples was in Dark Souls. Blighttown is a notorious area for several reasons. One being that it is really confusing to navigate. I did not notice until I read about it much later (like, perhaps on my third or fourth playthrough or later) that the ladders all have a torch by them. It’s obvious once you know about it, but until then, it’s easy to overlook.