An Over-Analysis of FROM Software Boss Design: Dark Souls III
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- Ever since I played Dark Souls, I've wanted to toss my opinions in the great all-consuming void that is Dark Souls Video Essays - and now it's time for the cinematic finale of the Dark Souls Trilogy and all it's multi-phase encounters!
This is the fourth part of a series going through all of FROM Software's bosses, analyzing what each of them attempt to do, how they attempt to do it, and how well they succeed (or how it is they fail).
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:00:41 - Iudex Gundyr
0:03:33 - Vordt of the Boreal Valley
0:06:23 - Curse Rotted Greatwood
0:10:00 - Crystal Sage
0:12:50 - Deacons of the Deep
0:15:05 - Abyss Watchers
0:19:37 - High Lord Wolnir
0:21:43 - Old Demon King
0:25:21 - Pontiff Sulyvahn
0:28:27 - Aldrich, Devourer of Gods
0:31:38 - Yhorm the Giant
0:35:43 - Dancer of the Boreal Valley
0:38:39 - Oceiros, the Consumed King
0:41:25 - Champion Gundyr
0:43:00 - Dragonslayer Armour
0:45:04 - Lothric & Lorian
0:48:07 - Ancient Wyvern
0:50:48 - Nameless King
0:55:44 - Champion's Gravetender & Greatwolf
0:57:47 - Sister Friede & Father Ariandel
1:02:42 - The Demon Prince
1:08:36 - Halflight, Spear of the Church
1:13:35 - Darkeater Midir
1:17:10 - Slave Knight Gael
1:22:10 - Soul of Cinder
1:27:25 - Epilogue
#darksouls #darksouls3 #bossfight #videoessay #eldenring
What's cool about the "I'm on fire now" phase 2, are the bosses are becoming Embered.
Like you can with an Ember.
Which means more for the Lords of Cinder, since they succeeded in linking the flame the state seems to be more than a health boost.
Funny that you mention Siegward doesn’t respawn ‘because he isn’t an ashen one’ …because he actually is. After the first fight with the demon he says “we unkindled must put our duties first.” And yes, unkindled and ‘ashen ones’ are the same thing.
always felt weird that souls games dont have npc respawn despite them canonically being able to do so in most of their games.
@@blackbloom8552 it would probably be unnecessarily complex to sort out. You just assume that everyone either goes hollow or moves away after you kill them
@@Timebomb_19 Also, in DS3 some Firelink NPCs do respawn out of necessity (you can't live without Andre, for instance). Needless to say, they aren't very happy with you when they come back.
"you HAVE to fight gundyr!"
let me introduce you to black firebombs
Quick boss fight and an early chunk heck yeah
@@EinSilverRoseearly chunk?
@@KittensLeftFoot black firebomb trades for a chunk with the crows in the central hub
Beating champion Gundyr melee only no items no block no parry is still one of the coolest gaming experiences I’ve had
I didn't learn to parry until I was well into my second or third run. Perhaps ironic because my first character was a sword and shield. I got good at blocking but always found parry attempts too risky to be worth it. Especially when I learned I could stancebreak when two handing weapons on my second character. I like how multiple approaches are viable, you can absolutely beat the game without using any parry equipment
Good work
I've beat all souls bosses but I'm still terrible at the game, I just never give up
@@heatrayzvideo3007 thanks
@@heatrayzvideo3007 brute forcing is a legitimate strategy
Oh boy oh boy, a new DS3 essay video to obsess over and fall asleep to? Yes.
Literally about to play this as I go to sleep lol
The thing I appreciate the most about your analysis is how you are very willing to talk about when bosses under perform in feeling fun to fight. How minor frustrations in design can lead to the overall experience being subpar. A lot of discussion surrounding the boss fights of this series has way too many people being blase about how certain attacks/collision can be annoying to play around and simply not enjoyable. Just saying oh it's a "skill issue", because too many people in the community are living vicariously through no-hit and other challenge runners despite being an average joe amongst the playerbase.
I don't like using video analysis to sort of self-validate thoughts I have but yours constantly hits opinions I also share so it's hard not to. :U
You know what's really ridiculous though? When those challenge runners happen to not think one of these games is perfect, they too get attacked with the same nonsense. There's a guy, I think his name is Nasu (apologies if I spelled that wrong), but he did the first level 1 no-hit run of Elden Ring, and because he had to learn all the bosses to such an extreme degree, he then did a review of them afterwards. Overall, he wasn't that impressed with a lot of them (I won't go through his criticisms here, but I think they were definitely accurate and have been echoed by others), and the FromSoft playerbase attacked him saying "skill issue" and "mad because bad" etc etc. They literally have no other defense and proper discussion with them is impossible.
@tWanderingBard Yeah, and it's really a shame. The souls series are a great discussion topic because of how subtly in depth these games are. But the marketing for it has done irreparable damage to the sub-culture surrounding this game. Not to say that the sub-culture itself also isn't at fault for perpetuating a lot of nonsense.
You'd think, the guy who learned these bosses to a degree to be able to fight them flawlessly would have the best outlook on reviewing them in detail. But here we are. People are way too obsessed with the funny phrase.
@@TheLastWanderingBard Just because he did a RL1 run doesn’t mean he’s automatically correct. I did one too and I found a lot of his criticisms to be straight up wrong. I hate the get gud argument, but he doesn’t even understand some of these bosses on a fundamental level, like the beast clergyman and Maliketh fight.
Jerma, trying to remember the name of the ds3 tutorial boss: " what is his name again? Jumex Bunger?"
Wolnir is my Crystal Sage. Sometimes he’s easy, other times his RNG breaks bad and spams skeleton summons and forward charges until I’m pinned against the wall with 3-5 carthus greatsword knights.
Also the greatwolf does have a second phase, where its eyes go red, its wind dash gains a third pass, and he gets more aggressive. Also pretty sure it doesn’t do its frost breath attack until then.
I can see Wolnir's RNG getting wild.
And rewatching my footage... I never put together anything changed. I just thought his damage got boosted!
TH-cam algorithm please bless this man!
Yeah I appreciate when people add new thoughts but sometimes it's like they're reading off a card of "opinions" that everyone thinks already
Yes bless him, but Don't bless him so hard that we have to listen to more VPN sponsors or raid shadow legends sponsorships god forbid.
Soul of cinder was truly a different experience the fight felt so personal like the game was talking to you, the player, for all the time you spent with it. Speaking to you about all your struggles. letting fight yourself, the you from all thoose years since the first game came out. And then when gywns theme hits and he shifts its something akin to the past its like over coming your own triumph in a way that lets you move on from it. The struggle is over.
just a note on yhorm:
his arms and head take much more damage and cause him to stagger
during his stagger you do thousands of damage to his head
this makes his fight much more bearable and engaging as you try to line up opportunities to hit his hand
Mild take but DS3 was the peak of the series
Homestly I'd put it right behind bloodborne and sekiro
For me it's between DS3 and Sekiro - they're by far my favorite complete packages.
The series as in the trilogy?
@@TheAkasharose personally i'd say
1:BB
2:DaS2
3:DaS3
4:ER
5:DaS1 (first half and dlcs carry it, of course)
6:Sekiro
7:Ds2 SoTFS
havent played DeS yet
@@carlossssssss5492 yeh, Sekiro is my favourite from game period
Finally, a fellow Old Demon King appreciator
my fav ds3 memory is dodging the pontiff clone to parry the real one for a riposte win
That must've looked so cool!
you're quickly becoming one of my favorite channels to watch, really hope to see you grow soon! this series is golden
Oh holy shit man these vids are SO GOOD i'm so hyped for yet another lets goooo
I agree with you on the timing of Lorian's teleports. First time I went up against him, I had nothing but Artorias' gear and high hopes. Got vibe-checked a couple hundred times. Then, I realized that his attacks are perfectly in time with the Macarena, and it took five attempts because I also timed all my moves with the Macarena. Funniest thing ever, I tell you.
Tbh I stumbled upon your bloodborne video and then suddenly was wondering wish he had a ds3 video so I could watch that too and here it is
Just came to say, I absolutely adore your boss analysis, I've practically binged the entire set. I just love how you've taken the time to think about each boss in a deeper way and your clarification of your preferences helps a lot, I feel like there are a lot of fights I've grown to appreciate far more, whether I liked them a lot or not. I am very curious about the opinions you hold for the future games from here, but I can wait patiently for such fantastic content!
Jumping to the latest video to say WOW
I so enjoyed your boss breakdowns, and agree with many of them.
Keep up the amazing work, it's great to see new names in the Souls yt community.
Loving the thoughtful, entertaining analysis-making me want to replay these for the 30th time
Was waiting for this vid man!! As usual you knocked it out of the park.
Finally a relatable take on the crystal sage! I still have nightmares because of a INT only run I did while playing with keyboard and mouse. The sage was one of the most frustrating fights in the whole series!
These videos are great, I hope you get more recognition!
I love your energy and passion, wishing you many more subs
This is a solid analysis and your channel is definitely underrated
god, I love this game!
finally got time to watch this, and you didn't disappoint
so glad i could find someone to agree on the crystal sage
You changed my mind about Aldrich, and that's a tall order. Thank you my friend. Fantastic video.
I am playing DS3 for the first time ever right now, and also fought the Abyss Watchers 3rd. I just went straight! Then they were the next ones in my way.
Rarely do I ever watch 1hr+ videos but this was a great watch!
I've been watching all these souls game boss analysis videos, they've been great. I was happy to see you comment on the ds3 protagonist getting into a lot of fights because they try to touch something, it is pretty funny. One of my earliest souls memories is someone describing them as "Ashen One, Toucher of Things"
Oh boy, been waiting for this one
What a fantastic video. Very happy I found this channel. Especially when I saw you have a AP of the single best ttrpg system out today, P2e
Quality content and a list I almost completely agree with. Good stuff!
Another Vordt Greathammer enjoyer! Kudos
I gotta say, you are the first person besides me claiming CrystalSage is a difficult boss. Even after couple tens of full playthroughs I'm still usually losing once or twice against him on any NG+0 run.
Amazing video as always, thanks a million for that!
These vids are fire you deserve more subscribers
I just got into this video series a day ago, this is just perfect for me!
Pretty much agree with everything else sans Spear of the Church, who's easily an A in my books. I don't personally run an amazing build for PVP, but I am quite versed in it so that skill isn't an issue. I find SoTC to be too easy most of the time, as the first painting guardian is fairly easy to kill alone, leaving you with a player and another painting guardian down the line. The player boss doesn't have any poise it wouldn't have normally if you fight it alone except after it uses the unique spear move given to it, so pressuring the guardian while the boss tries to keep it alive is really the last hurdle the fight has in store. Mind you, even if it takes a bit, the painting guardian only casts the AOE heal twice, so past that its not going to punish you further.
Once you kill the guardian, its basically just a PVP fight where you have your remaining estus versus a guy with no estus. It doesn't take many hits to finish the fight against any build and while I agree that some builds can be insufferable, a lot of the people I find as SoTC are either clueless or doing a fun boss cosplay, so its never really that bad. I do enjoy seeing the unique things people come up with though, trying to make their boss experience. It was a good sendoff to the best PVP Fromsoft has done in their games to this point, seeing how horribly things went regarding PVP in Elden Ring.
Hell yes, so excited for your ds3 takes
Great video, great series and I’m hoping you do analysis on bosses in series outside of Soulsborne!
I do wish you would put up timestamps for each boss to make finding specific ones much easier, but that aside I loved this!
Timestamps are actually limited to 1000 Subscribers - so I'm actually really close to being able to do that!
And 100% - I'm already planning on doing Hollow Knight & Death's Door, and I want to finish Lies of P and make a Vid on that soon!
@@TheAkasharosewelp, looks like; as of the time of this message posting, you are a good 70 subs passed your requirement for timestamps! Congrats and can’t wait to see your content moving forward! 🤘🏾
@@CyckOne I just finished Dark Souls - I'm hoping to have the other timestamps up by this weekend and post further videos with them up and active as we go now!
Your character's face, lord have mercy
I’m so hyped for this vid
fantastic video like the rest!
but I must say I was very surprised the Nameless King got 0 mention of his story, it's one of the highlights of the whole game for me.
I can forgive new players for glancing over the nameless King's identity if they haven't dug into the lore, but if you're familiar with the first game it should at least be familiar.
but no mention at all? I find that a bit confusing, that alone easily makes it an S rank fight. but hey your list! and I'm enjoying it a lot.
I remember thinking DS3 is Bandai being greedy and wanting something magical to happen. And yet I've grinded until platinum, and in retrospect it has several wonderful boss designs and a great conclusion to Dark Souls series. Great analysis on Bloodborne, glad you've continued.
Amazing vid! Really agree with most bosses. Surprised me with the sage take tho.
My strategy to cheese the sage's 2nd fase, is throwing any type of projectile to the copies (throwing knives for example). If I'm not wrong they insta die with any hit, making it only a few spells coming at you.
found you from your bloodborne video, staying for everything else
samesies
Dragonslayer Armour catching people off guard with the fake stagger before Lies of P did it 😮
One interesting thing about the Abyss Watchers is that if you lure the two nearby Darkwraiths toward the arena the boss will try to attack them through the fog wall, I once had a Darkwraith glitch into the arena and briefly help with the fight. Apparently their AI is built to recognize and prioritize eachother as enemies
Great video! Looking forward to the elden ring one eventually
I've probably beaten this game 40 times. One of my all time favorites
1:27:18 one of my favourite little details there is that the soul of cinder looks directly at the player as it dies.
One thing i think would be interesting is so to look at the unique bosses added by the Convergence Mod. It's very interesting how the mod changes boss locations are straight up makes new bosses to make up for the games flaws.
DS3 has the best boss design and mechanics in the entire series. Easily, by far.
Great video and analysis! Can’t wait for the ELDEN RING VIDEO let’s goooooo
I'm glad you share my excitement about the bisses in the game, but that's to be expected. And if Midir is THE dragon fight for you in gaming, then check out Dragon's Dogma for Grigori. Haven't gotten to him yet on the sequel so I can only speak for the first game, trust me, you'll love it.
1.5 hour analysis of a fromsoft game?
you spoil us.
great vid
Anyone complaining about Ariandel being a short dlc must not have been factoring in the amount of time they spent on Sister Friede.
My favorite concept from Dark Souls III was without a doubt in the second DLC where another player is the boss, it was so cool to be the boss and fight other players trying to progress
You do know this happened before right?
@@DionPanday uuh no? Should I?
@@MessedUpSystem yes it was litteraly what put souls games on the map
@@DionPanday that is a stupid logic lmao. But no I didn't know that a precursor of the Souls series did that concept earlier, and it doesn't matter because my point is that I loved that in the game, not that Dark Souls 3 invented the concept. Wheter or not Dark Souls 3 invented it is irrelevant for my enjoying of that part, and I'm not a Souls Series historian to need to know everything about the series and what led to it, I'm just someone who enjoys the games and have more to do with my life than knowing everything about it
@@MessedUpSystem then why are you even here if you have better things to do?
I love this game so much. Big agree with you on Yhorm. On my last playthrough I killed the dancer as 2nd boss and your STILL get teleported after the 3rd lord. Thankfully, I didn't do Yhorm last so I got to finish Siegward's quest properly
fun lore facts, the demon prince fight takes place in ds1 firelink shrine. Midir takes place in the "rise of the lords" in the ds1 custscene when all the would be gods claim their lord souls and rise into existance. Some opinions on the bosses you said were bad, halflight... his damage i am pretty sure is BEYOND what a player can do with frayed blade.. the dark dmg on it is minor and the bleed does not matter cause i have never died to the bleed from him EVER on any build. It's always his katana laser that offs me if not his r1 SPAM. Now of the bosses i have EVER done without being hit are judge and champion gundyr,gael,cinder,dragonslayer armour,old demon king,aldrich,dancer cause.. bleed or magic build super EZ,wolnir,lothric,nameless. Every other boss has hit me at least once on every build and every run nearly. One last fun fact, cinder can PARRY you, i think its in his pyro phase. Anyway, i am loving these dissection vids on these games so souls or not i hope to see more from you.
I love dark souls 3, probably my favorite game of all time. The lore, the call backs to the original (even if everyone writes them off as fan service.) the bosses. I love bloodborne and elden ring but DS3 is what got me really hooked on the series.
Soul of Cinder is 100% my favorite fight ever thematically the idea of not only fighting yourself but everyone else and all the previous bosses in one I like that the fight is so straightforward it feels so personal and poetic
I remember playing Darksouls 3 for the first time when I was a kid and it took about 2 days to bet Gundyr. I felt unbeatable when I finally beat him😂
roughly 300 hour in DS3 and I'm only just now learning Deacons has an instant kill move that allegedly adds urgency to the end of the fight. I've never died to them, not even on my SL1 run
The only run I ran into it with was Pyromancy only. They have a ton of fire resistance, and it caught me really off-guard.
Damn, you have (so far, surely that'll change)
18:50 I missed the Sages at first on my first playthrough, so I got all the way to the bridge to Irithyll before doing them. The Abyss Watchers quickly became my favorite boss, and I was a little disappointed on subsequent playthroughs with how easy they became after doing the Cathedral first.
Would you consider making an analysis of the Convergence mod bosses for DS3?
i like these videos coz i agree with most of the rankings but each list has at least 1 ranking that makes me physically shake with anger which is kinda fun, gd stuff bud
Was looking forward to this vid since Ds3 is my fave of the series, will there be an Elden ring video?👀
There will! I'm editing a Sekiro video right now, and just finished scripting a Demon's Souls. After I hit both of those, I'll dive into the beast that is Elden Ring!
Champion gundyr became over time my favorite boss from the base game, he dosen't look like anything special at first especially on regular new game where you can sometimes cut the fight short but on higher cycles he starts to really shine
The 2 main things that sets him apart from the other fights are pacing and style
His more physical and almost wrestling like moves are really unexpected from a knight type boss, the shoulder bashes and kicks also mean you have to keep consistent eye on his left hand and leg because he can combo these moves with any number of other moves which helps make him more dynamic and less predictable
The pacing of the fight is what really elevates it tho because while other fights give you clear windows of attack gundyr can combo chain his attacks almost endlessly which gives the illusion that he never stops attacking sometimes however here's the trick, he chain those combos with a slight delay which allows you to punish him mid combo which if mastered will make the fight incredibly fast paced, this combined with his wrestling style creates the most fun dance for me in the game outside some dlc bosses
I also want to highlight his ultra high tracking charge attack because I think it's really brilliant how many ways there to counter this one attack, if you're close the best way is to roll the initial roar and circle around him, if you're in a medium range the best way is to dodge into him in particular timing then dodge into him again to avoid the follow up (hardest and fanciest dodge in the game imo) or if you're far away you space out the initial charge by walking backwards then dodging into him for the follow up, I highlight this because this move is either over looked or harshly criticized for how unfair it might seem on the surface
Ey, love the videos! Could you do 60fps if possible for the next? Binge watched all today but watching was kinda painful at low bitrate 720p. Thanks! Amazing videos tho, really good points
Ancient Wyvern is cool. It’s a spectacle encounter. If it didn’t have a boss health bar, people would probably see it for what it is: an epic interactive cutscene.
What saves Iudex Gundyr's second phase for me is that the first phase teaches you that when you roll you really are impervious to any attack, so for phase 2 all you have to do is dodge. Don't overthink it
Having to play DS games sound like shoving hot needles under your fingernails so I really enjoy these well-made videos that give us the good parts. Thanks!
On my first play through, I was so frustrated with Midir that I wound up cheesing him with mist. I just couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do, or when I was supposed to do it. It wasn't until my third playthrough (I skipped him on my second) that it finally clicked for me; Midir doesn't have moves, he has _strings._ There are exceptions like various breath attacks, but most of Midir's attacks throughout the fight link into each other in a set sequence. He has multiple sequences, but those sequences never change, and they all end with a pronounced period of vulnerability where his head is within reach. You can tell from his first claw swipe or bite what his next six or seven attacks will be, always coming with the exact same rhythm and ending with a nice long pause where his head is defenseless and very within reach. And once I understood this, Midir went from my least favorite boss, one I was so frustrated with I almost deleted the game out of pure spite, to my favorite boss, one I looked forward to on every playthrough, a battle I knew like a dance with an old friend. I'll always remember him for that
I'm somewhat surprised about Aldrich. I agree with everything except not mentioning the way his second phase bow attack is kind of a mess. It's a great concept, objectively, but the fact he can do it repeatedly and without any clear trigger makes it go from what could be the ultimate "get off me" punish to a flatly oppressive and annoying "stop fighting for 10 seconds" spam. It detracts from my enjoyment to the point I think it takes him from an A, maybe S tier boss to a C or low B.
I wish they dynamically adjust the camera distance farther away based on the boss size.
Would you do a vid on the best fromsoft boss designs across soulsborne and sekiro?
Oh! So for crystal sage, he’s a guy! The one in Lothric Archives is the female one (she has visible hair while the farron one is bald), they’re like a brother-sister duo that serves the undead legion, and are possibly the reason why Seath is omitted from the trial of the legion (the flame extinguishing we do, behind the bowls (which are meant to symbolize the lord vessel) are depictions of Nito, Izalith, and the Four Kings) as Seath is like; the sorcerer’s God
And their crystal ball is actually a big prism stone!
34:41 I could swear that doesn’t happen. I strongly remember being able to talk with him and he says bye. The moment he tells you bye then the cutscene comes in.
I had so much trouble with the sages that I developed my own strategy, I just stocked up on throwing knives since I noticed the clones all died in a hit so I could now take them all out at a distance quickly with an item. I the spent days helping people beat them because I had struggled for so long.
Very curious to hear your opinion on elden ring bosses
I played DS3 for the first time in the last year. I previously played DS1 & 2 as well as Bloodborne and I think I’m pretty decent at souls games. Crystal Sage was the only boss that made me quit and come back the next day. It’s pretty validating to hear you call it difficult because I felt so silly getting stuck on him.
18:34 Your wife is right; because the scenario you described for fighting it early as being unlikely is exactly what I did on my first playthrough 😅 granted i had played other souls games, so while it did seem like a difficulty spike it wasn’t TOO bad for me.
EDIT: also didn’t even realise about Wolnir’s mist mechanic, since he went down so fast…
great breakdown as usual just missing an S rank for midir's soundtrack alone (can't wait for sekiro)
One thing you didn't mention in the Halflight fight is that the host can summon too. Which makes the fight extremely unbalanced, but the other way around. They have one player available to focus on each enemy, and when the painting guardians are down, it becomes a 3v1. If the team is well prepared and came with a balanced setup including one mage, there's very little you can do as Halflight. In normal invasions the invader has the other enemies and element of surprise to help them. In this fight, you just get ganked as the painting guardian is usually dead by the time you spawn.
I think Ds1 is the best for lore and atmosphere. Ds3 is also fantastic. Ds2 exists and is a video game.
Dark souls 3 has some of the only bosses I want to fight over again, not because of complexity (even though that is a case for a lot of them), but purely because of style and atmosphere of them. When I first fought the dancer, I won on my second try and I was kinda let down because of how hard everyone said it was but I was so entertained by just the feel of the boss.
Not that it would change anything, but did you know the cursewood has a rare attack where it stands up , walks a few steps toward you then falls and tries to face plant on you lol its great with massive intimidation and comedy.
Crystal Sage drove me insane until I figured out that Throwing Knives delete the clones in seconds from basically anywhere in the arena, and they're hella cheap.
Also, I recently finished my first DS3 SL1 run and Halflight was definitely the hardest, ended up cheesing him with a crossbow.
Profaned Greatsword was my best counter. Halflight is just a nightmare at that low level point.
I always assumed Vordt's behind weakness was an intensional choice by fromsoft to help players understand how much of a role positioning played. Iudex can be defeated easily by only standing in front of him, rolling his glave (and standing far enough to avoid punches), but tail hugging is a tried and true strategy in dark souls that will continue to play a role even against bosses and enemies that do have moves that respond to it.
Found the camera of king of the storm not so bad. If you stay a decent distance close but periodically locking on and off.
What I find funny with the demon prince is that I've seen people confidently say "this attack is easier to avoid than the other" for both attack which makes me think it's really a matter of preference. which is pretty neat
Id also like to aknowledge how amazing the OST of DS3 Is. I know most people hate the CRG and there are some legitimate criticisms there. But that boss music is PERFECT and some peak Dark Souls in terms of atmosphere. I submit Crystal Sage as another kinda flawed boss with outstandingly creepy music
That Pontiff intro music? Absolutely perfect. And yeah - Crystal Sage has some incredible music, such an incredible atmospheric track.
@@TheAkasharose Pontiff is a great track also. I love the harpsichord in Crystal Sage's music, it almost reminds me of an acoustic guitar! Then it kicks in with the strings usually when Sage has the arena covered in those eerie crystals. The mix of visuals and music make it a great fight in those regards. But yeah I tend to frown on any boss that relies on 'clones' like that
Finally the best game in the series and the one that made me fall in love with the genre. Nothing compares to the way this game teaches you and wants you to beat it. From dying to Iudex many times to beating Gael on my first try. Im not trying to flex, all im saying is that when you accept that (almost) everything this game throws at you is fair and manageable, you are able to beat it no matter what it expects from you (Maybe not Midir because he made me his bitch for a few days, but I kept going and learned his every move which lead to finally beating him). I honestly think that this game is a masterpiece and has the best roster of fights in the series.
If YT were a Stock Exchange, I’d be dumping money into your channel right now. I look forward to watching your subscriber count skyrocket.
ROYAL RAT VANGUARD SHOUT OUT!!! WE UP RAT GANG!
23:27 "Sif's (last stand) was a bit more effective because dogs are cuter than...this thing."
I actually think the opposite. I like how bosses like the Moonlight Butterfly, Last Giant, and the Old Demon King are more subtle in their goal of making you question yourself and whether you're really doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Sif feels like overwrought emotional manipulation trying *so hard* to make you feel bad for doing what the game forces you to do in order to progress, even when you both know each other post-DLC and the game still railroads you into the fight.
Contrast this first to the Butterfly (not using Gwyndolin as an example because I'm too biased in his favor and would make a bad argument), whose ambiguity was more effective in my first playthrough because of its comparative subtlety. Even before I found out they were forcibly made by Seath out of human women, it seemed almost angelic and much more defensive in its behavior than the bosses up to that point. It's still clearly trying to kill you, and it's harder to anthropomorphize than a mammal, but there's that little nagging doubt it instills, that maybe you weren't in the right for putting it down.
Then there's the Last Giant, which I think the Old Demon King ended up improving upon, where this monstrous creature is portrayed sympathetically, especially on a repeat playthrough where you know just who he is and why he recognizes you. Sif is a much more mechanically-engaging boss, but the Giant caused me to feel a bit bad for killing it even the first time because there was clearly an element of antagonistic tragedy; the literal Last Giant, desperate to kill you to the point where it mutilates itself.
But the Giant was still a weaker boss than the Old Demon King, which has a more personal touch to it as a reminder of the demons of Dark Souls 1, not only portraying himself but also all demons by extension as sympathetic. Sif is hardly even a wolf, but an enormous dog carrying around a sword like a stick. The Old Demon King is not cute, it's not trying to make you feel bad for attacking something which looks like a 'good guy'. He elicits sympathy because he alongside the Smouldering Lake portrays the monstrous, swing-club-at-you-till-you-stop-moving demons as something which they were implicitly said to be from the very beginning, victims of their situation and the disaster that was the Witch of Izalith attempting to recreate the first flame. Now there's only a few of the original Chaos demons left, and this grizzled fossil tries in vain to slay this last opponent. He is the Merriam-Webster definition of a 'tragic *monster.'*
For around 1:08:00 actually there is one fight in elden ring that actually did the demon prince's first phase almost 1:1 imo. The twin gargoyles. One stands back and spews poison at you and the other attacks head on. Though with twin gargoyles they actually have the poison deal actual damage and stack poison.
Don’t you dare compare that piece of GARBAGE to the demon prince. Their poison isn’t even telegraphed well enough to warrant comparison, the color of their arena obscures it and there’s no sound cue
58:40 isn’t it the L2 -> R2?