A Review of Every Dark Souls Boss
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- This is a series of reviews chronicling every individual boss fight in the Dark Souls series from Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3 including the DLC. It's a critical analysis examining their mechanics, move sets, and unique elements that separate them from others.
The gestures at the end of each review are a rating of sorts not meant to be taken fully seriously as it's difficult to sum up a complicated opinion with one gesture. Basically point forward roughly equals (decent), point down equals (mostly negative), and point up means (mostly positive), and then the others mostly speak for themselves.
Timestamps:
Dark Souls: 5:32
Dark Souls 2: 36:30
Dark Souls 3: 1:31:54
Notes- I'm sorry this video took so long to make. I had the most production problems I've ever had when making one of these videos including my AC going out twice, loosing my voice, having to re-edit half of the video because of my voice, and lots of real life issues causing me to have to delay production. I love doing these but this one nearly killed me.
I could never take the Rapier seriously.
*Gael:* Flies in the air and strikes the ground with righteous fury in an explosion of lighting and remnants of the dark soul
*Ashen One:* Poke
I always found that hilarious. Coming from an irithyll rapier main… Boss: I’ve been standing here for ages, accumulating power. I’ve defeated hundreds of opponents! You cannot defeat me. Me: haha freezie stick go poke poke
@@asandflavoredpoptart9151 Ice cream stabby stab
Given how op estoc was in ds3 (and even more so, bss in ds1), they always looked really funny.
I watched the part where he kept poking the twin princes. I fought them with uchigatana on my first playthrough, and it's the one I remember the most. With a katana it was almost like a dance because how beautiful the moveset was.
Personally I love the feel of the rapiers. Feels more eligent even if its just another thing to spam r1 with. I'll always love the crow quills.
@@furrytrash653 i will always fondly remember rapier r1 spam in ds2
You said Gwyndolin's room is endless but if you run towards Gwyndolin for long enough you'll actually corner him at the end of the hallway. Pretty cool stuff.
Damn I never had the patience to try that. I assumed it was endless but, of course, a true endless hallway in a game is impossible because at some point you would crash the game.
@@AzureKite Not necessarily
@@AzureKite not if they deleted the areas behind you or something
@@Tsukuyomi28 or they can just teleport you back to the start due to it being repeating
@@AzureKite my guy mario 64 already did the ‘endless’ hallway with those damned stairs
Fun fact the hollow slayer great sword does more damage to gael in his second/third phase, presenting the idea that he goes hollow mid fight
Makes sense considering he achieves his eternal goal of getting the pigment; which is the blood of the dark soul. The moment he starts bleeding, he knows that the Ashen One will complete it, so after all this uncountable days, he knows his task is done. His beautiful realisation is where he just lets go.
Is the first phase that the hollow slayer deals more damage, in the other phases you do more damage with anti abyss weapons, implying that in the end he fought as a knight one last time
@@aclosh2983 that makes sense tbh…since he kinda lost hope that the blood would ever be his making him go hollow and when he saw that he infact had the blood he finally had a reason to live again . To give the blood to Ariendel
That's not a fun fact. It's a old known fact. It's only a fun fact to elden ring noobs
@@ramrodbldm9876ds3 was my first souls game and I didn’t know that
One added detail I adored on the Old Demon King of DS3 was when you brought him to around 10% of his health. He'll unleash all of his remaining power in an AOE attack that leaves him with nothing left, just a crippled demon with no more fire, unable to even lift his hammer to attack till you finally finish him off out of pity.
One of my favorite moments in any game I've played, so small but tells so much about a character you don't really think twice about.
Cringe
@@Ethan-ib5hk Okay Ethan.
It would be interesting if you could just leave the area then and leave it to wither away and come back later just to collect its soul from its corpse.
@@mackenziebeeney3764 best to put it out of its misery
*people standing next to each other*
Eldritch Augur: This is an homage to Ornstein and Smough
I mean nameless king is literally killing dragon ornstein lmfao
@@pandinus1377 huh i never thought about it like that...
@@pandinus1377 yes but he said the demon prince was an homage to ornstein and smough which is just stretching it a lot
@@roomtempwater1 I think that might have been meant in the way that the final form's moveset is based on the order you kill them in. But yeah, a bit weird lol
lmaooooo
25:25 "Pricilla is the only 100% optional boss in Dark Souls."
This sentence hits different when you have the forbidden, eldritch knowledge that you only have to kill 7 bosses to beat the game.
Edit: I realize that DS has a lot more free exploration (if you know what you are doing) than I have thought of.
The comment below me mentions all mandatory bosses that must be beat and are unavoidable for progression without glitches, the rest is optional.
Though Ceaseless Discharge is technically optional, having the fire resist to avoid dying in Lost Izalith with him being alive makes him kinda mandatory for almost all builds imo.
@@mahmud7645 There are only 12 strictly mandatory bosses. The only mandatory bosses, without glitches, (you don't need master key) are:
Asylum Demon, Bell Gargoyles, Quelaag, Iron Golem, Ornstein and Smough, Sif, Four Kings, Bed of Chaos, Pinwheel, Gravelord Nito, Seath the Scaleless, Gwyn.
@@mahmud7645 stray demon is optional as well,
In the dlc kalameet is also optional
@@btchiaintkidding7837 every boss I didn't list in the above comment is intentionally optional
@@IHateDubstep we don't count Pinwheel
Dark Souls 1
5:34 Asylum Demon
6:49 Taurus Demon
7:53 Bell Gargoyles
10:25 Capra Demon
11:27 Gaping Dragon
12:35 Chaos Witch Quelaag
14:08 Iron Golem
15:21 Ornstein and Smough
18:17 Moonlight Butterfly
18:43 Great Grey Wolf Sif
19:53 Four Kings
20:54 Seath the Scaleless
22:07 Stray Demon
22:37 Ceaseless Discharge
22:58 Demon Firesage
23:21 Centipede Demon
23:59 Bed of Chaos
25:24 Crossbreed Priscilla
25:54 Pinwheel
26:26 Gravelord Nito
27:27 Sanctuary Guardian
28:15 Knight Artorias
29:57 Black Dragon Kalameet
31:03 Manus, Father of the Abyss
32:37 Dark Sun Gwyndolin
33:25 Gwyn, Lord of Cinder
Dark Souls 2 36:30
37:50 The Pursuer
38:57 The Last Giant
39:43 Dragonrider
40:19 Old Dragonslayer
40:47 Flexile Sentry
41:43 Ruin Sentinels
43:01 Belfry Gargoyles
44:13 The Lost Sinner
44:48 Executioner's Chariot
45:34 Skeleton Lords
46:42 Covetous Demon
47:15 Mytha, the Baneful Queen
48:19 Royal Rat Vanguard
48:46 The Rotten
49:37 Scorpioness Najka
50:36 Royal Rat Authority
51:46 Prowling Magus and Congregation
52:48 The Duke's Dear Freja
54:03 Smelter Demon
55:37 Old Iron King
56:04 Twin Dragonriders
56:29 Looking Glass Knight
57:52 Demon of Song
58:33 Velstadt, the Royal Aegis
1:00:22 Guardian Dragon
1:01:41 Ancient Dragon
1:04:18 Darklurker
1:06:06 Giant Lord
1:06:21 Vendrick
1:07:39 Elana, the Squalid Queen
1:08:44 Three graverobbers
1:10:48 Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon
1:12:49 Fume Knight
1:14:36 Sir Alonne
1:18:25 Blue Smelter Demon
1:20:06 Aava, the King's Pet
1:21:16 Lud and Zallen
1:23:18 Burnt Ivory King
1:27:38 Throne Watcher and Defender
1:28:57 Nashandra
1:29:41 Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin
Dark Souls 3 1:31:54
1:33:11 Iudex Gundyr
1:34:55 Vordt of the Boreal Valley
1:35:58 Curse-rotted Greatwood
1:37:05 Crystal Sage
1:38:00 Deacons of the Deep
1:39:16 Abyss Watchers
1:41:18 Old Demon King
1:43:10 High Lord Wolnir
1:44:25 Pontiff Sulyvahn
1:46:19 Aldrich, Devourer of Gods
1:49:08 Yhorm the Giant
1:50:32 Dancer of the Boreal Valley
1:51:57 Ocerios, the Consumed King
1:52:52 Dragonslayer Armour
1:55:24 Champion Gundyr
1:56:59 Ancient Wyvern
1:58:07 Nameless King
2:00:22 Twin Princes
2:03:54 Gravetender Greatwolf and Champion's Gravetender
2:05:31 Father Ariandel and Sister Friede
2:10:41 Demon Prince
2:14:13 Halflight, Spear of the Church
2:16:48 Darkeater Midir
2:19:21 Slave Knight Gael
2:28:24 Soul of Cinder
thank you i love you
Wondrous gent !
So close to perfection... but "Gravetender" had to ruin it smh
@@oblivion1924 Fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out. Can't believe I missed it.
@A Person that's not really what I meant, but sure, that is better. That was a coincidence. I didn't mean that.
I was talking about how it was this perfect straight line of blue that is suddenly cut off by "gravetender." It is better now though.
"Using the same boss 3 times is when it starts to get annoying"
I need to hear this man's take on the Godskin bastards in ER.
Dumbest boss in elden ring
I mean elden ring is an open world game, and nearly twice as long as dark souls 1. It's definitely excusable in elden ring, not to mention the godskins are fairly good bosses anyway. Stray demons just kinda lame
@@menialbee Not the duo.
@@ds3isgreat355 exactly, shoving two similar bosses together that weren't even designed to be fought at the same time and making that a MANDATORY BOSS is completely inexcusable
Most bosses in general in er
A small shame you didn't mention how the arena affects the fight against the four kings. Since it's all a black void, you have next to no depth perception. In my experience the most difficult aspect of that fight was the projectiles for that reason, I could never get the timing to dodge them right because I had no idea how far away they were.
Me with no depth perception: your puny tricks won't work on me!
4 Kings arena is scary
Also to add to the arena you must wear the ring the entire time which could affect your builds. This was unfortunate for my strength build because I couldn't use beefy armor with my greatsword
the hardest part of that fight is figuring out to put that damn ring on before plunging to your death
Its a homing spell so i don't think it is dodgeable
"The giant lord is basically the last giant with a sword"
That's because it literally is lol
@@shitfacejohnson4085 lore wise its the same giant who got captured
that's actually really cool to know, god my lore knowledge sucks
That's why he was angry when he saw you in the cutscene. Because you are the one who defeated him in the past.
@@Savra This. God I love this game :3
@@r0bz0rly His knowledge sucks too, he doesn't know shit!
I believe the Asylum demon boss fight doesn't teach you that the plunging attack is very powerful, but instead that exploration is rewarded. Taurus demon can be lured to the top of the tower to fight him in a more open area. Gaping dragon can be made easier by finding and killing the mage in the balcony. There are more examples but i think that dark souls early game was meant to tell you that this game isn't "become parry/dodge god", but to explore. It's an adventure after all. A depressing one, but an adventure still
@Luis Martinez Asylum demon is a micrography of the actual world. You can beat him by going from the front door or by going to the top and plunging. It is not meant to be a secret technique, this is the tutorial. It just shows you that hey, if you look around for a bit you might find a way to make your life easier
yeah it's cool but i more like gameplsy part of bosses rather than finding someone/something and killing/taking it to make fight easier
@@sassas1487 awaiting your sl1 run
Its been 4 years and I still cant believe how perfectly they topped of this now legendary series with the Gael boss fight. Its incredible.
the ringed city was absolutely insane thinking back on it. the tough as shit enemies, the locations, and 3 of the most badass bosses ive ever fought.
@@KulveTarothsNightGown I mean, I love the ringed city, but the church boss really wasnt great.
@@CrimeFighterFrog I think he's referring to demon prince, midir, Gael.
Personally I must say that sitting and listening to this 2 and a half hour masterpiece whilst getting my ass handed to me by lorian and lothric for the third playthrough in a row has made me realize that I have soulsborne Stockholm syndrome
Didn't even know until you said something and I'm 20 minutes
In
Who doesn’t
1:41:18
Really disappointed you didn't mention this boss's third phase, when brought to low health. He falls to one knee, clutches his wounded chest with one hand, and weakly swipes at you with his hammer if you get close. It really drives home the tragedy of the situation.
It's implied in DS3 that demons never actually were any more evil then humans or giants, and the Old Demon King's feeble desperation before the end somewhat emphasizes that. He's not fighting you out of malice, he simply doesn't want to end up like all the demon corpses that surround him. He was the last demon alive who still remembered the now-extinguished Chaos Flame, and you just killed him for no other reason then because he was there.
Yeah pretty much.
He's not even a required boss. His arena is disconnected from the entire level and you can finish the whole area without entering it.
He's just hiding out among the graves of his people and we walk in and murder him.
@@iamdingus Ash seeketh embers. What better source of fleeting warmth than an ailing old fire demon?
but think about this, killing him was an act of mercy. so he would not have to fight anymore, he could finally rest
@@scrimblo_the_second To be fair he was already resting and most likely he would've rested until the end of time because of all the enemies that you have to face to even get to him, we just barged in, disturbing his slumber, for what? For another soul to add to your collection? Really makes you think if you really are the good guy in the game when you realize some of the bosses that we killed aren't even doing any harm to others and instead just want to be left alone
Not even the last demon who remembered the Chaos Flame, there's strong implication that he, the Stray Demon on the wall, and the two Demons in the Dreg Heap are the last demons period.
You can tell hes used to ds2, rolling a mile away from the boss just to heal
I don’t know that’s just how some people play. I do the same thing in case I get caught off guard with a fast attack
@@cosmiclikesminecraft Yea, but that DS2 drink animation is slow as molasses.
@@HoHhoch at least it can be sped up with adp
I don't heal until after the battles. If I die, I die. If I win by the skin of my teeth, or using cheap tactics I'm perfectly fine with that. Like I just spammed throwing knives with the Last Giant.
@@SeviathTheHumanDrago okay😐
I really appreciate the preface, especially the mention that you haven't played Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, because I feel that those games can contextually change how certain bosses in Dark Souls are experienced.
Ain't that the truth, once you've played Bloodborne Oceiros for example just looks like a botched version of Lawrence
@@justinharris2272 and on the Sister Friede fight, you're basically fighting a hunter instead of an ashen one
Absyss watcher phase 2 basically is a copy of Lady Maria phase 3.
19:25 it is actually an even bigger gut punch, if during the DLC you save her. Not only does she become a ally summon for the fight against Manas. But if you wait to have the fight with Siff until after the fight with Manas, A cut scene will happen at the start of the fight.
The giant dog pins you to the ground snarling, until it picks up your scent, and she remembers you.
She backs up looking at you sadly and then howls. Before slowly making her way to the sword and picking it up ready to fight.
This makes it even more tragic because she doesn’t want to fight you and even though you need that ring she must protect her masters grave.
talk about attention to detail
@@Xxgxxaxx more like talk about pain
She doesn't even protect the grave, she protects you by not allowing you to go into the Abyss so it won't corrupt you and grow even more
@@killionaire4097 that too
Sif's gender is never revealed. Why is everyone trying to insist they're a female all of a sudden? Did the developers confirm something or is this the usual grasping at straws?
In relation to the last giant. The lore comes to fruition later in the game, as a first playthrough you think nothing of him but after beating the giant lord you may come to realize that the last giant and giant lord are one and the same. After being beaten by you it tumbles down and get impaled, sitting there for years until setting eyes on you, the very same soul who beat it all that time ago, it lashes out and after losing it goes all out attempting to wield his arm like his sword as giant lord
I actually really like Yorhm, I used to just think "Lets get this over with" but then I did challenge runs like pyro only or class only knight etc. Etc. Where I couldn't use the storm ruler and I began to respect the boss even if it is repetitive.
Same here. I did a co-op spellcaster only run with a buddy of mine. I could only use miracles and dark magic while he was in charge of sorceries and pyromancies.
The sheer amount of precision and pressure the boss required to be defeated and the teamwork needed was so much fun. Blast his head with sorceries and dark magic, then as soon as he's down chaos storm and wrath of the gods on him
Oddly enough, it was the best fight in the entire run that way.
I didn’t know what the Storm Ruler was, meaning that I got very, very familiar with his moveset on my first playthrough. And yes, Yhorm is actually very fun to fight normally. In fact, I think I would have preferred it if he was a tad more frustrating, anything to give new players the hint that ‘there’s gotta be a better way to do this’. Because there was nothing about the fight to tip me off that it wasn’t just going to be a half-hour long endurance test.
Real men fight Yhorm head-on
Exactly what happened to me
Mods where his damage resistance is nerfed to more manageable levels rules because if you're actually fighting him, he's pretty damn fun.
I just love how the final bosses of DS3 turn the video into a “this boss is amazing beyond words”. Without question Fromsoft’s main developing team (aka when directed by Miyazaki) are always improving! I wonder how Elden Ring will beat Sekiro considering they will have to balance the bosses beyond 1 weapon.
I mean the community beta is soon and there will prolly be a boss there so we will see. I think they can do it, after all this is the company who made ludwig gherman and maria
@@beanie4882 Definitely. As long as they let their main team work on Elden Ring without having to suddenly scrap everything and redo the entire game as they were forced to do with Dark Souls 2. I genuinely hope the game will be amazing though.
@@NightmareBlade10 i think its pretty obvious that the main team is working on elden ring and not a b team like for ds2
@@beanie4882 How is it obvious? The only thing we've seen of gameplay is leaked 26 second footage of the protagonist almost jumping off of a cliff. Every thing else we've heard of the game has been so astoundingly different compared to what we're used to that it wouldn't be surprising if an entirely different team was working on it. There's far too little info about the game to come to any conclusion about its quality or how well the development cycle coped with Covid and things like that. I have faith in FromSoftware but the past three or so years of video game releases have taught me to temper my expectations.
@@cabbagedemon5944 You say that as if every publisher doesn't claim that every project their making is "their most ambitious project yet", or as if Dark Souls 2 wasn't "their most ambitious project yet" back in 2014.
Watching footage of the run back to Seath's boss door reminds me how happy I am that in Elden Ring, the grace (bonfire) is always directly in front of the boss door. Or if not a grace, a stake of Marika you respawn at.
Honestly I never understood why this wasn't done in any of the original Souls games. Would it really have been so bad to put a bonfire in front of the O&S fog door, or next to the drop to Nito?
In my most recent playthrough of DS1 I often found myself learning a micro speedrun for every boss because the boss runs are always so uninteresting and can only drain your resources (and sanity). I already proved I can get through those enemies, if I fail to beat the boss I shouldn't be forced to re-do a challenge I already overcame.
@@NinjaLobsterStudios completely agree with you
@@NinjaLobsterStudios I love you DS1, but good lord the run back to Nito gave me stage 4 cancer
@@NinjaLobsterStudios In DS1, the real boss fight was the run back.
@@shagarumedic having just beaten Nito for the first time, that run back sucked so much.
In defense of the Vendrick boss fight, I think the point of it is that you're going through the game hearing tales of this great king who built the kingdom of Drangleic, and you're assuming he's going to be the final boss of the vanilla game, but then after beating Velstadt this other dark room opens up and you retrieve the King's crown wondering why a giant man is roaming around the room not even aware of your presence. Then if you attack him,unexpectedly you learn in that very moment that that is Vendrick, or a Hollow, decrepit and broken Vendrick, just a husk of his former self and all the legends that spoke of him. Its the contrast of him now vs his legacy. Its sad. Also the fight can be hard if you don't have the Giants Souls from the memories. You need five to even really do damage to him.
i felt like it was such a rehash of the gwyn concept tbh
@@esaammirza4361because Gwyn caused the cycle to repeat Vendrick didn’t link the flame but then Manus basically got to him instead
His power is really important, this is a mad broken ancient hollow vendrick, and he will completely decimate you unless you get the pure unfiltered hate of the giants in their souls and have that do 90% of your damage
Can't believe I ended up watching the whole thing, when I thought of just watching DS1 bosses, and watch the rest later. Astounding work.
Knowing the lore of Dark Souls and looking at the final boss shows to me how hopeless the situation is concerning the world in Dark Souls. It doesn’t make you feel badass for reaching the end because you’re essentially beating up a broken old man. It just brings about sadness and depression, that’s why it’s brilliant!
Yeah sadness and depression, brilliant!? Smh.
@@ennbee2051 I don't think you get it, I'm talking about the story, not sadness and depression in general. Don't twist my words.
@@ennbee2051 ratio'ed by op
Kinda like real life
@@ennbee2051 L + Ratio + No maidens + Didn't ask + Git gud
Fingers crossed he makes a return to review Elden Ring's bosses
Margit took me 15 hours of playtime alone
@@indexaccel took me 1hr of the most cowardly gameplay in my life to kill him
@@indexaccel took two tries for me but I was probably a higher level than most people that fought him. Some just rush right at the story bosses and not take time to explore
Put these foolish ambitions to rest
One of the worst bosses
This is mostly for my own use, don't mind it. Another great guy provided timestamps down below, these timestamps are his.
Dark Souls 1
0:05:34 Asylum Demon
0:06:49 Taurus Demon & Undead Archers
0:07:53 Bell Gargoyles
0:10:24 Capra Demon
0:11:27 Gaping Dragon
0:12:35 Chaos Witch Quelaag
0:14:07 Iron Golem
0:15:21 Dragon Slayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough [Best Boss in the Base Game]
0:18:16 Moonlight Butterfly
0:18:43 Great Gray Wolf Sif
0:19:53 Four Kings
0:20:53 Seath the Scaleless Dragon
0:22:07 Stray Demon
0:22:37 Ceaseless Discharge
0:22:57 Demon Firesage
0:23:20 Centipede Demon
0:23:58 Bed of Chaos
0:25:23 Crossbreed Priscilla
0:25:54 Pinwheel [Easiest Boss in the First Game]
0:26:28 Gravelord Nito
0:27:26 (DLC) Sanctuary Guardian
0:28:15 (DLC) Knight Artorias [Best Boss in the First Game]
0:29:56 (DLC) Black Dragon Kalameet
0:31:03 (DLC) Manus Father of the Abyss [Hardest Boss in the First Game]
0:32:36 Dark Sun Gwyndolin
0:33:24 Lord of Sunlight Gwyn
Dark Souls 2
0:37:50 The Pursuer
0:38:57 The Last Giant
0:39:43 Dragonrider
0:40:18 Old Dragonslayer
0:40:48 Flexile Sentry
0:41:43 Ruin Sentinels
0:43:01 Belfry Gargoyles
0:44:13 Lost Sinner
0:44:48 Executioner's Chariot
0:45:34 Skeleton Lords
0:46:42 Covetous Demon
0:47:12 Mytha the Baneful Queen
0:48:09 Royal Rat Vanguard
0:48:45 The Rotten
0:49:36 Scorpioness Najka
0:50:36 Royal Rat Authority [Worst Boss in the Second Game]
0:51:45 Prowling Magus & Congregation of Hollows
0:52:46 The Duke's Dear Freja
0:54:02 Iron Keep's Smelter Demon
0:55:37 Old Iron King
0:56:03 Archer Dragonrider & Previous Dragonrider
0:56:28 Looking Glass Knight
0:57:51 Demon of Song
0:58:32 Royal Aegis Velstadt [Best Boss in the Base Game]
1:00:21 Guardian Dragon
1:01:40 Ancient Dragon [Worst Dragon Boss in the Series]
1:04:17 Darklurker(s)
1:06:05 Giant Lord
1:06:20 King Vendrick
1:07:38 (DLC 1) Squalid Queen Elana & Summoned Velstadt
1:08:43 (DLC 1) Afflicted Graverobber & Ancient Soldier Varg & Old Explorer Cerah
1:10:48 (DLC 1) Sinh the Slumbering Dragon
1:12:48 (DLC 2) Fume Knight
1:14:35 (DLC 2) Sir Alonne [Best Boss in the Second Game, Best Music in the Series]
1:18:24 (DLC 2) Iron Passage's Smelter Demon [Most Unfairly Fight in the Game]
1:20:06 (DLC 3) King's Pet Aava
1:21:16 (DLC 3) King's Pet Lud & King's Pet Zallen [Worst Boss Run in the Series and Worst Bosses in the Series]
1:23:17 (DLC 3) Burnt Ivory King & Charred Loyce Knights [Best Boss in the Second Game]
1:27:38 Throne Watcher & Throne Defender
1:28:57 Nashandra
1:29:40 Scholar of the First Sin Aldia
Dark Souls 3
1:33:10 Iudex Gundyr
1:34:55 Vordt of the Boreal Valley
1:35:58 Curse-Rotted Greatwood
1:37:04 Crystal Sage
1:38:00 Deacons of the Deep
1:39:16 Abyss Watchers
1:41:17 Old Demon King
1:43:10 High Lord Wolnir
1:44:25 Pontiff Sulyvahn
1:46:19 Aldritch the Devourer of Gods
1:49:08 Yhorm the Giant
1:50:31 Dancer of the Boreal Valley
1:51:57 Oceiros the Consumed King
1:52:51 Dragonslayer Armour & Pilgrim Butterflies
1:55:22 Champion Gundyr [Most Aggressive Boss in the Series]
1:56:57 Ancient Wyvern & Man Serpents
1:58:06 Nameless King
2:00:22 Elder Prince Lorian & Younger Prince Lothric [Best Boss in the Base Game, Best Music in the Third Game]
2:03:53 (DLC 1) Champion's Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf
2:05:30 (DLC 1) Sister Friede & Father Ariandel / Blackflame Friede [Fastest Boss in the Series]
2:10:40 (DLC 2) Demon in Pain & Demon from Below / Demon Prince [Best Multi Boss and Demon Boss in the Series]
2:14:12 (DLC 2) Spear of the Church Halflight & Church Guardians
2:16:48 (DLC 2) Darkeater Midir [Best Dragon Boss in the Series]
2:19:20 (DLC 2) Slave Knight Gael [Best Warrior Boss in the Series, Best Boss in the Series]
2:28:24 Soul of Cinder
I think you're selling the taurus demon encounter short. It is largely a re-do of the asylum demon in most ways but the arena is what makes it more interesting. For one the way the archers force your attention on the top of the tower if you haven't noticed that you could access it is a nice bit of design. They start firing before the demon appears so it's unlikely a new player wouldn't be baited into killing them immediately after noticing them. Once up there, it's up to the player to understand that this spot offers some tactical advantage, either the ability to drop attack the demon for massive damage or waiting for the demon there to fight in a wider space.
I compltely agree with the lock on, it's one of the reasons that I just don't ever feel like replaying DS1 all that much compared to the other 2.
I think it's just one of those bosses that I've done so many times that important first impressions kind of become less valued over time. Honestly very much appreciate the criticism though. I haven't gotten many comments with this amount of thought put into them yet. I am still very new at this and I want good feedback like this so that I can improve.
I also have to disagree on O&S. To me it's such a boring fight, mostly for one reason : the second phase grants the remaining boss full health. It means half of your (already rare) opportunities to deal damage safely are moot, a waste of time. If you see a weakness in the boss you've not much damaged yet, it's pointless. You're better off waiting than capitalizing on that.
Which makes the fight sooooooo loooooooong and boring...
@@VonBoche That's a fair point but it's one of the reasons why I appreciate it so much. So many of the bosses in DS are over so fast. You can exploit them so heavily and deal so much DPS that you rarely have to learn their movesets and patterns. Ornstein and Smough force you to slow down, they force you to learn proper attack timing and counters. And the 2nd stage, while less challenging than the first I appreciate because it challenges endurance. You have to conserve your estus very carefully because of how many opportunities there are to screw up.
I agree with Seath being rather bad, worse than that tho I think it's a wasted opportunity to do something more interesting with the area and the boss as a whole. The lore behind Seath is indeed pretty neat and I wish it had been put to good use. I wish players had to do some detective work to figure out the secret to Seath's immortality (which would fit in with the archive theme of the level), leading to an active hunt for the crystal that makes him unkillable instead of just stumbling upon it by merely following the path forward to its dead-end.
The worse part about the big trash ratdog in DS2 is that with some simple tweaks, this boss would go from tedious garbage to a less scathing rating : when big ratdog hits the smaller ratdog, they should take a little more damage from the attack itself AND be vulnerable to yours while being stunned (instead of being invincible for no reason... The devs thought about adding friendly fire to these dogs so that it doesn't look like big ratdog's attack goes through them but it actually works AGAINST you since if stunned then YOUR attack go through them, my god is it dumb...).
That would make the first part of the fight much more tolerable.
One of my favorite sound things with dark souls ,aside from the boss themes, was the music that starts in ds2 when you see Vendrick for the first time. Good ambience
Bc you walk in expecting some sort of confrontation, even if not a fight. You expect to at least speak to him. When you walk in and he’s just a shambling hollow, you’re surprised and confused and the music adequately reflects that. It’s such a great moment of expectations being subverted that the Game of Thrones producers must be watching it and shitting their pants.
i genuinely had no idea that wolnir could reach the "end" of the platform, i always thought it was an infinite area similar to gwyndolin. Honestly that sounds like a really cool concept if it had been executed well.
I hate to say it I struggled with Wolnir my first playthrew because I didn't understand the fight and was constantly pushed to the end of the arena its really not that big
gwyndolins boss arena isnt infinite. After doing it for like 30mins youll reach a wall and he/she cant teleport anymore
@@gandalfdercyanfarbene6216 woah I thought nobody had that much time on their hands. Good to know... It would have been funny if he started teleporting the other way 🤣
@@fallenchaos4476 It's also somewhat based on RNG. On my first try, when I had no clue on what to do, he spawned skeletons very soon that I focused on too much while also spewing his aoe cloud, pushing me away from him. I realized too late that the arena is running out.
@@littlerave86 lol glad I was not the only person to have some trouble first time
A review of every dark souls boss, with commentary provided by Chris Griffin. I love it!
Oh shit yea I just realised that now XD
sounds like chris griffin had a child with the burger king foot lettuce guy
hahahaa actually fax
Dark Souls difficulty drinking game: Take a shot every time he says, "in the series"
I ran out of bottles .
Don't do it for 'unique' either. Christ.
Or "In seconds"
I was seriously sad, almost teary eyed when I realized Gael was the final boss. I didn't do the DLCs until NG+ and by Sister Friede I was too bad to do them myself so I summoned for the first time (didn't know what summons were before my first time watching a guide on Friede) and grew so bizarrely attached to him throughout my insane struggles with Friede and the Demon Prince that realizing what he went through and became made me really sad.
I never beat him or Midir, then I bought a new PC and didn't transfer the save files... so now I'm restarting on NG and I can't wait to reach him this time
Did u do it
I am in the same boat, after ng5 I noticed that bonfire before Cinder and while the mechanics are the same the demons have crazy health and I haven't been able to get them. I went back to pre NG and one shot them easily but NG5 not so much. I can afford many mistakes in the pre NG but NG5 If I get hit 2 or 3 times I will run out of health pots and hes phase 3 (?) at 15% and summons are long dead.
@@proximity5771 Actually I went through the entire game just waiting for the Gael fight, and I was so excited when I reached him after beating Midir. Then I literally killed him first time. On my playthrough where I never beat him I didn’t even reach phase 2, but now I just beat him first try. I was actually so disappointed lol because I had been anticipating trying to beat this boss for hours. Guess after 100+ hours I was bound to “git gud” eventually lol. Midir took 5 attempts, but I never liked dragon fights anyway so that was more of a relief than a disappointment
@@noamias4897 there's definitely something poetic about you coming back and finishing the job in one go years later
Use the Abyss watchers great sword for Friede fight it makes the first and third phase a joke
You didn't mention that for Sif, having played in the artorias of the abyss DLC will change the cutscene. She'll actually recognize you, will let out a much sadder howl than in the regular cutscene then will reluctantly pick up her sword. It's also speculated that in this case she's not protecting the grave but is actually trying to stop you from meeting the same fate Artorias did
To this day, the moment that Gwyn's theme begins during the soul of cinder fight gives me chills. I've heard it a hundred times and beaten the boss a dozen, but it will never stop amazing me how so much was shown through a simple 3 notes and a moveset
I died when I first heard it because I just put down my controller and started crying when I realized this was the end of it all.
bro i remember when i got to his phase 2 and saw he was doing gwyns moveset i was flippin out
Makes me tear up every time I do it, knowing it's the end of the Dark Souls series combined with the nostalgia
Found this through the algorithm. I have to say I really appreciate your approach of being honest, clear, passionate, and unapologetic. Too often I find individuals in this community who are haughty and have upturned noses for certain boss fights saying "oh it was easy." "that boss was a joke." and the iconic "git gud".
It is heartening to hear someone passionate about the series admit to things being bad or difficult or enjoyable in their own way without making it feel demeaning for others who enjoy it differently.
So thank you. Really enjoyed watching this and your perspective, especially the gushing about Slave Knight Gael and the other masterpiece fights of these series.
I suspect the Bell Gargoyles were also designed to encourage players to try out the summoning mechanics. Solaire teaches you about summoning at the beginning of the Undead Parish, and his sign is right outside the boss arena. While not an *easy* fight for newcomers, it's much more manageable when it's a 2 v. 2 instead of you being outnumbered.
Highly likely, especially when you consider its the first boss sunbros encounter after getting their sign and the sunlight altar, so while you can get player help on the taurus demon this area leading up to the boss naturally encourages the other players to be summoned as well.
Hell depending on rng Solaire can literally solo the gargoyles
I am in the agreement with the opinion that everything up to the first bell is actually a tutorial for the rest of the game.
Firelink Shrine: Tutorial on how there are different paths around the game but you are not always ready for it
First actual enemies: teaches patience (as you can take them one at a time) and how not to just run into battle.
First rat: There's beasts in the game as well (also, check all sides when entering a place cause I'm sure it is suppose to surprise you if you don't notice it)
First Bonefire: How to deal with archers, bombers, and melee in the same area (as well as to explore more)
Towel before the demon: Master key is good but you might not want to run into the room blindly
Demon: Use the area to your advantage
After demon boss: Some paths open up to circle back to a previous point
The dragon bridge: Dragons are scary but you can learn their timings to your advantage
Under the dragon bridge: Tales give you weapons. Also, rats give you poison
Inside the church: Dealing with strong but slow enemies as well as magic attacks
Gargoyles: Summon an ally and dealing with two bosses at once.
Every boss seems to have one of the most devistating attacks in the game😭
Did... Did you just say The Prowling Magus is a good fight? I mean, you're entitled to your opinions, of course. But it's just a bunch of regular enemies thrown into a room with a aoe attack. That's it. If the enemies didn't have a boss health bar, it wouldn't even be a boss. It'd just be a room with a bunch of random enemies.
Mostly just because it's different but I totally understand those who don't enjoy it. Not saying it's great but it's decently fun.
@@EldritchAugur that's fine. I would also like to note your descriptions can sometimes get a bit repetitive (most notably in the sanctuary guardians where you describe their moveset as can x you in seconds three times in a row). Just something I noticed.
@@James.Stark.Ben.Edition Yep I had a really hard time writing the script for this video. Trying to write a paragraph or two about every boss in the game is extremely tricky and I ended up repeating myself more than I wanted.
That boss in particular I just got completely stumped on. I had no idea what to say about it other than "It looks cool."
Ultimately if I did this video again I probably wouldn't have structured it the way I did. I thought it would be unique and fun to do but a lot of it ended up being really tedious and repetitive to make. There are still parts of it I'm really proud of and think the structure allowed me to go more in depth on the bosses that really demanded it. But I figured out really quickly how many bosses are just mediocre or not all that interesting which made it a very difficult script to write.
The prowling magius imo was thematically great , it shows how relegion can be manipulated for darker purposes
Dragonslayer armor is probably my second favourite fight in the whole series. Is it the most difficult? Well, it depends on the mood of the player I suppose. One time, I just walked in killed it on my first attempt and it was literally the most satisfying boss fight I have ever done. Everything just fit together perfectly.
Another time, I got stuck there for an hour, god knows why, I just did.
The best boss in the series, IMO, is dancer. Everything about that fight is spot on. the airy movement of the boss, the eerie (lol) music. The sound of her steps. everything just blends into the perfect boss fight.
Don't forget the as- I mean arena
@@RattlebonesTheThird what as- arena?????????
Just a little tip for the Artorias fight: if you use throwing knives (bought for 50 souls from Chester just outside of the arena), you can instantly interrupt his power up AOE attack. Wait for him to crouch down (the aura around him will get more intense) and as long as he is facing you, which he most likely is, your throwing knife will hit him in the head and knock him out of it basically instantly, allowing you to punish.
The fight becomes a lot easier when he isn't two shotting you.
sekiro moment lmfao
2:06:07 You can know where Friede jumps if you watch for the direction that the snow particles go after she turns invisible.
Yeah, and if you run close enough you can see her jump as she fades for a split second
The Soldering Iron debuff also remains visible while she's invisible, but you'd have to use the Soldering Iron so...
To this day I cry at the soul of cinder theme the memories the feels the nostalgia just overwhelms me
Best pfp in the comments
As someone who has never played Dark Souls, I would just like to say:
This wasn't a review. This was an experience. Thank you.
Bro, you seriously just spoiled 3 whole games worth of bosses for yourself? Jesus
@@logman5evr It's not like I didn't see them pop up all over the place before.
Dark Souls is a franchise I always knew about but didn't have particular interest in, until fairly recently that is. I might play the games, I might not. Either way I'll still enjoy them.
Oh yeah and there's Bloodborne too.
@@logman5evr I would like to explain my own case. I'm what many call a filthy casual. I'm not skilled enough to play Dark Souls.
Most of my Dark Souls experience came from VaatiVidya. I treat the series as an audiobook series.
Maybe I'll never be good enough to call myself a Dark Souls enjoyer because I have never played the series. But that's okay, because it's a life experience learning about the stories of these games.
Dragonslayer Armor is such an underrated boss. It's one of my favorites, really fun. And has a banger track, thank you for mentioning it.
Something I always enjoy from these lists is hearing what bosses different people struggle with and find easier. Really goes to show how well designed most of the series is.
Absolutely. The biggest point he makes when addressing subjective difficulty is he seems to point to people's playstyles, which makes a LOT of sense and most people just don't do. A lot of the bosses the greater community find punishing ARE because they're designed to punish some of the most common playstyles (e.g. people that overly rely on shields).
What would have been absolutely awesome and kind of hilarious is if Champion Gundyr had a third phase where he just lawn-darts his halberd into the ground and starts attacking you exclusively with punches and kicks. Then the ring you can get from his soul could have given you his unarmed moveset, and maybe even being upgradable like a boss weapon and scaling primarily with strength and a healthy bit of dex.
That would genuinely be awsome and terrifying. Just thinking you beat him then he slowly gets back up sticks his halberd into the ground and gets into a fighting stance before pounding you into dirt with his bare hands. Also that would make unarmed a viable playstyle
@@LotteLattes lol, Champion Andre
2:25:19 Yup, I have had a problem with Gael on my most recent run. I want to fight him and beat him in this glorious battle... but at the same time I don't want the fight to be over because it's so epic and enjoyable D:
Yep, the biggest thing missing in DS3 is the ability to simply rebattle bosses. So glad they added that to Sekiro
@@BlazeStorm then they removed it again in elden ring...
why?
One thing i am grateful for is the godhome dlc for hollow knighty. All these amazing boss fights for me to do over and over again
With my first game being eldenring i am shocked to see this man take hits and not go flying from the most minor bumps
There can never be enough critical analysis video essays on Dark Souls.
Mate when I first started this watching this video I thought it was ganna be a kind of the mill talk about the bosses moves but I really could feel your passion for these games, the story, mechanics, presentation and the emotions that they bring. Your video is great man, sad to hear that you won’t be making videos for the foreseeable future. Just want you to know that your voice isn’t annoying and that you’re really great at this!
Essay, over! ✌️
Yeah, Bed of Chaos really is just perfect!
Also, I mostly have these types of videos on passively, listening not watching. But I watched this all the way through. Very engaging content, so you're getting a sub.
I unironically think that conceptually BoC is one of the coolest bosses in the game, but in execution it is by far the worst
"You made me summon are you happy now?"
"Uh.. sure..?"
The amount of people who flip over summoning others will always astonish me
Yeah I don’t get it, I personally have never had a problem using a summon on certain fights. Like gank fights? Fuck that, I’ll gank back.
If you want to summon then more power to you. I don't have a problem with it and I'm not gonna tell anyone else how they should have fun with the game. It's just a personal rule of mine. Whenever I do summon I feel absolutely cheated, because the boss gets instantly melted.
It's why I keep it in my back pocket as a "break glass in case of obnoxiously unfun boss" button but don't like to rely on them.
@@EldritchAugur how do you feel about elden ring then? They made summons even stronger and basically pushed them as an easy mode in everything but name. It feels like they reversed ds2 in bosses too. They are overly aggressive instead of too passive, and attack nonstop and erratically a lot of the time without consistent openings... Unless you have a summon distracting them that can even completely solo them.
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Haven't played it.
I've never had a problem with other ppl summoning but when I do it to me it feels like quitting
One of my favorite things about dark souls is how much the builds change things. Some of the bosses he said were hard using a dex build are trivial in a str build and vice versa.
Was looking for someone to point this out. It was a sort-of "biased" opinion in his ranking the bosses.
@@Why_Do_I_Need_A_Handle_Name But, that's sort of the point, isn't it? His judgement is, for example, fairly different from mine, and possibly yours.
Everyone has their own standards, and opinions. But, that's what makes the discussion interesting.
@@makse10 Trouble is he used the phrase "critical review" at the beginning of the video
That means putting your bias and experience aside, and considering it from as many points of view as possible.
I appreciate the effort in the list, but he reviewed a lot of them as an experienced player aware of tried and true strategies and someone who only uses DEX builds
@@skilletborne I agree that the intent of a critical review is what you described.
The issue is that not everyone can be aware of everything. He may be an experienced player, but there are some things we sometimes can't avoid doing/saying when it comes to this stuff.
No doubt, that if he *had* put more effort into exploring as many builds he could, this video could possibly be multiple hours longer.
To summarize, I agree with what you said, but it's possible that he just didn't consider a few things, or he could have seen that as too much of an undertaking to take on in full. He is human, after all.
Overall he describes very well the bosses gameplay-wise and lore-wise. However something that bugs me is that sometimes a boss will get a good or bad review focused on what he personnaly liked or disliked. A few examples that I still have in mind after watching the entire video and from my experience :
I have in mind the Mirror Knight and Halflight. Both are similar but they are fundamentaly very different. The first one spawns a player as an optional threat when the boss itself is potentially low-life already. The second is spawning a player as the boss hence not skippable. Both fights will definitely vary in difficulty due to the human factor. The Mirror Knight can still be rated as the better one gameplay-wise since it uses a true unique boss with a dedicated move set and a unique shield that auto blocks any attack that touches it while the Halflight battle stays very similar to a 2 NPCs fight.
Ceaseless Discharge got tossed away because of the cool cheese the devs integrated in the game to insta kill it with no difficulty. Fine. But you can legitimately fight it too, and it was not covered at all. NGL, I never tried to face this boss in a "normal" battle and that was something I expected to learn more about.
During the Centipede's fight, you can cut the demon in multiple parts. The tail loots the ring that allow the player to walk into lava, removing the big problem of the arena.
Most bosses are taken in isolation without taking their environment in consideration. There were no words about the chore it is to get to the Demon of Song through the Amana Shrine but Lud and Zallen can go fuck themselves because the boss run is too long. If it's a matter of distance, then take the Smelter Demon and it's trillion knights aggroing you on the run, making it extra hard to run by. Finally the Smelter Demon in the Fire DLC has an alternate path to it that allows you to deal with the pesky mages that slow you, giving you the choice between a fast path with lots of risk and a slower path that lets you deal with these pesky mages.
I didn't do a lot of runs (at least 5 NG and since I platined I rushed up to NG+3 for each). I think the great majority of his work is well done but some bosses were poorly explored which is sad.
A very simple way to avoid the ancient dragons hovering fire breath, is to just run into the direction of its tail as soon as it takes off; works 100% of the time
Idk if anyone has said it but Gwyn's theme is composed in the key of C major which only uses the white keys of the piano which alludes to the fact he is scared of the dark (age of Dark) so the composer doesn't use black keys on the piano, which I think is amazing attention to detail. Also the fact that almost the entire score of dark souls is composed in a minor key makes the fact that this composition is in a major key even more special feeling
1:51:02 the dancer is so weird because her attacks are timed with her boss music, which is written in 6/8 time. most boss fights are in standard 4/4 time so you probably didn't notice the change up to her music, but your brain does.
I always play listening music
that's probably why I never had a hard time with this boss.
No it's not, stop spreading these lies. Bosses are an AI and they adapt to what the player is doing. No boss has timed attacks to music, that would be heavily exploitable if so. Again, bosses are an AI that adapt to a players actions.
@@Miguel-lu4ry bro I didn’t mean that she attacks with a script to specific beats of the music. I meant her flowing attacks match the tempo and rhythm of 6/8 time which is a double-waltz so the movement will be different from a 4/4 four on the floor type rhythm or something. You know, how dances are different depending on the music??? Think a little bit before you flip out
@@christiankettlewell if that's what you meant to say then you should've said it, dumbass.
And you're still incorrect.
@@Miguel-lu4ry that is what I said. You just didn’t read it correctly and now you’re doubling-down like a jackass
The Taurus Demon is one of the bosses that Fromsoft didn't design correctly to have their intended fight. If you stay in the area where you can do a plunging attack, the boss will jump up and you can have an actual fight in an arena, which is what I always assumed was the intended way to fight it.
I like to think that during the Soul of Cinder, Gwyn's phase is started as his soul fights against all the others for control. As if his very soul realizes that the Ashen One can and will undo evreything he has worked for. As if the soul of cinder realizes that now, this ashen one, has the power to undo the age of fire, gwyn's own soul makes one last effort to defend it's legacy...
There was one thing you forgot to mention for the Fume Knight boss in DS2 and that's the 4 healing things in the corners of the room that can quickly heal the boss if not taken care of prior to fighting him. I remember playing this back in the day and there were LOADS of players I was summoned to help and they would either not get any of them or miss 1 or 2 of them and make the fight 10 times harder for them. I would message them after many deaths telling them they need to go back and find what they need to make the boss fight easier
17:16
I've always disagreed with the idea that Smough 2 is easier because Smough 2 has such an easy time of oneshotting you, and the butt lightning is so much stronger.
Ornstein is fast and has a few powerful moves but if you just hug his left leg and roll with him as he backsteps you can pretty easily do it without taking hits.
Smough 2 has stupid Ai. You can stand behind a pillar and hit him and retreat over and over again. While ornstien 2 will shoot lightning at you at a distance.
I found Smough 2 to be easier cause I got the Zweihander early, and every single heavy attack from it will always stagger smough
Friede is one of my favorite bosses. She's really cool.
Puns aside, the fact that she kept dodging you on the last hit is hilarious.
it wasn't hilarious for me, I know that feeling oh to well in that fight
for real friede is probably my fav boss ill never get tired of helping others beat her
Friede is fight that isn't over until it's over
i know i’m super late but i feel the need to mention this anyways: Crystal Sage becomes significantly harder when you’re color blind. the main gimmick for finding the real sage becomes impossible for me and i often just die because i guessed wrong. i dread fighting him every time because i almost never get it first try
Super late myself, but in the case you replay DS3, I’ve heard a tip that will help. I’m on good faith that in the second phase, the boss will often be the farthest one away from you. I wish I could test it myself to 100% confirm, but sadly I can’t access my copy of DS3 to verify.
@@ravenscar6348 oh damn i’ll have to check that out next time i’m playing!
sister friede made me the most mad because I remember on so many different occasions I got her down to a one hit, but ended up dying because I had no estuses and got hasty.
The best description of Sister Friede herself that I have heard, especially her blackflame phase is that she is something that belongs right into Bloodbourne, being too fast for even Dark Souls III which is a lot more fast paced than the first two
The twin princes theme is an amazing thematic melody as the first phase only has instruments due to Lorian being mute, and the choir vocals only come in once Lothric joins the fight. Someone made this observation in the past but I can’t find the comment, but it is such an amazing feat of how Yuka Kitamura used the music to reflect the situation of the bosses
Dude, thank you for the nostalgia trip. What an incredible watch and added bonus is the built in synopsis and review of the series and its individual games. Your love for these games is clear and bolsters mine.
The entirety of dark souls is great, from gwyn to gael what an amazing series also here's a list of personal favorites
Ds1: kalameet, artorias, o&s, manus, gwyn.
Ds2: fume knight, sir alonne(hardest one in ds2 imo) sinh, burnt ivory king.
Ds3: champion gundyr, twin princes, nameless king, pontiff sulyvahn, friede, midir, gael, and finally
soul of cinder
The issue with 2 is that most of the good bosses are DLC.
@@Budd631 I don't think there is any notable boss in main game. None that makes you go "wow"
@@benireges DarkLurker but it's a pain to get to the boss fight
Man I hate Sinh so goddam hard. I know, he's a proper dragon boss fight, he looks amazing, you get to interact with him throughout Shulva to build up the tension, he has great music and so on...
But the mechanics of this fight are so, so frustrating. First of all, he drains weapon durability super hard for some reason, in a game where weapon durability is already weaker than the others, he inflicts toxic, THE bullshit status effect though you have to get hit twice in a row by his toxic attacks to proc it so it's kind of on you if you get toxiced. But still, that status effect SUCKS. And the fight is super RNG based, like way too much. Is he in a good mood? Wack away and melt half of his healthbar in less than a minute. He started spamming flying attacks? Well tough luck get ready to suffer non-interactive gameplay for a minute.
Also why do his tiny swipes deal like 700dmg? I swear to god most enemies in DS2 hit way too hard compared to the attacks they perform and this is certainly one of them.
I just can't enjoy fighting this boss.
Honestly thank you so much for intercutting a good 20 seconds of the senator armstrong fight into this. That brought me immense joy.
soul of cinder is dark souls of nostalgia
Whole dark souls 3 is cheap nostalgia
@@faraam7111 ridiculous
@@jackrodriguez3404 Trying to say that to someone called Faraam, lmao.
@@ambralemon xd
@@faraam7111 rude smh, all DS games awesome
I know this is an old video, but it's off to say DS2 bosses lack health when your using the rapier, being along with twiblades the meta-damage weapon, also bonfire ascetics exist, so you can replay bosses you like but tougher WITHOUT restarting the whole game.
I know, right? Especially with something like Najka, who is *extremely* vulnerable to piercing damage. I was thinking "no, their health is okay, you're just using the easiest weapon option available for this boss." With so many enemies having lingering attack frames, the rapier class' rapid attacks and high counter damage is strong even when you're not fighting something vulnerable to piercing damage such as najka. The same thing goes for "it works because of the huge health pool" that he sometimes runs into, like for Darklurker, when, really, it's just that he's not really looking at his damage numbers to notice that he's dealing a third less damage to that boss since rapier isn't as effective against it. All of the bosses are kind of like that. Melee darklurker? Kinda rough. Pyromancer? You'll torch him before he gets to mitosis and be shocked at how simple they were to beat.
I think he's using ricard's rapier, but they're still overall one of the highest DPS weapon classes. There's also some neat aspects of some of the fights that he missed out on, especially with Chariot like how much more satisfying chariot gets when you read where the skeleton moves his weapon and dodge through the chariot scythe blades instead of doing the alcove method, and the fact that, if you damage it prior to reaching the gate either through ranged or through poking weapons out at it while you're in the alcoves, the horse will eventually fail its jump and get stuck scrambling to get back up from the death-pit for you to knock him down.
That this is possible is not good boss design.
@@vyor8837 I guess? It's easy mode, DS doesn't have sliders so magic/certain weapons are "easy mode" while things like battle axe are "hard mode."
@@vyor8837 Point being it's a feature, they cold just strip all boss weaknesses if they didn't want it to work that way.
@@IrvineTheHunter but you need data mining to actually find the actual weaknesses and resistances.
Try not to refer to every duo boss in DS2 and 3 as an homage to Orenstein and Smough
Challenge level: Impossible
This is a great video. Simply great. I absolutely agree with you about how good of a boss Gael is. Slave Knight Gael has been my favourite boss in any video game ever since I played the Ringed City. You not only explained your own opinion about him wonderfully, but you were able to further cement mine. Good job.
Gael is fantastic. Imo, the only boss who is better than Gael is Isshin The Sword Saint.
@@Jungbeck Also Owl
Darkeater Midir is my favorite boss of all time. I love dragons and fromsoft showcased the reason so perfectly with beautiful raw power.
I understand this is a video about bosses, but not necessarily all their lore, however I do wish Aldia’s dialogue had been mentioned more. He has some of the most impactful lines in the series, at least for me personally, it’s so well written and amazingly voiced, a perfect example of this is his speech containing the quote “A lie will remain a lie.” And quite a bit of this dialogue especially including the aforementioned line clearly states very important parts of the overarching lore especially in relation to humanity, gwin, and the dark soul, much of which can be known without being stated but is perfectly worded for the character and narrative.
listening to the way you describe gael just makes me so happy i experienced this game in my lifetime. i still remember the first time i got to his third phase and saw him do his sword smash, front flip, cross bow arial attack. my jaw dropped to the floor man. every time i fight gael i get him down to the last few hits and just let him kill me so i can fight him over and over again.
i don't know why i hate to say this, maybe it's because everyone in my family is a workaholic... they spend no time with themselves and have no hobbies and it bums me out... but this game truly is the greatest experience i've had with any media.
every time i stand in firelink shrine and hear the haunting score... it just gets to me. the atmosphere is astounding in this game... and if i had one wish... i would wish to be able to wipe these games (especially ds3) from my memory so i can experience them for the first time once more.
This was a phenomenal video and a great deep dive into not only the dark souls franchise but also the topic of game design, story and art.
11/10 video
Ah man, I'm so glad someone shares my love for the Slave Knight Gael Bossfight. I feel like for some people it gets overshadowed by the, at best, average or, at worst, terrible experience with Halflight and the perfection of a dragon fight that is Midir. But Gael is such a perfectly designed, both narratively and mechanically, bossfight. It's, like i imagine you'll probably say, a battle of endurance that never gets boring. It keeps your attention with his varied and beautifully designed set of attacks
Halflight was definitely a terrible fight on every level.
I have never heard anyone underrate Gael. The only thing I hear for him is a massive dicksucking over how good and amazing and peak game design he is.
(I mean he is great, but I doubt he's underrated)
What are you even on about? Gael is universally the most praised and sucked off boss in these games
Yhorm's fight without the Ruler is so fun, and I've done it like 3 or 4 times, never gets old
Hitting his right arm opens a window for a riposte, same with 2nd phase, and is such a good fight
Ahhh finally someone understands the glory that is raid boss Yhorm! Doing it with friends is even more enjoyable as well.
That’s how the fight should have been imo. It would make the Siegward quest more special if only he could use the Ruler.
Dark souls was the epitome of "you miss every shot you don't take" and honestly I think they just had a decent amount of capitol and wanted to just kinda try out a bunch of stuff while they had the chance
I think this especially goes for DS2 since it is such a long game with such a variety of attempts at different boss concepts.
Just a side note, Gwyndolin isn’t that small, compared to Gwyn he is simply skinnier, Gwinevere( being an illusion) might have been a normal sized person normally and maybe her brother is simply making her look like a giant to amplify her status as a goddess, Priscilla is a crossbreed between a dragon so that’s why she’s bigger, and the nameless king is similar to gwyn in stature.
This actually makes a ton of sense. That's so cool to think about.
Gwyndolin is cute
as someone who's red-green colorblind, the crystal sage was way, way, worse. Purple is dark blue, and blue is light purple, so fuck him and his shadow clones
I love the Abyss Watchers boss fight. The fact that it goes from 2v1 to a sort of half truce with the two secondary abyss watchers fighting eachother and you fighting the red eyed one perfectly shows the divide between them after having been a united legion of legends. The fire of the Abyss Watcher's attacks in the second phase not only looks amazing but is also an amazing climax and shows how awesome the Abyss Watcher's moveset looks when highlighted. It feels less like a fantasy fight and rather like a fight amongst soldiers that feels mostly grounded in reality, it looks gritty, it has amazing music, and it has great lore implications, and the second phase is amazing, more of a duel rather than an odds-stacked-against-you fight against some big hulking demon. It is my favorite boss fight in dark souls, period.
The most unique one in ds2 for me was looking glass knight loved the concept for him the ability to summon a invader to assist him battle is cool
I’ve played through DS3 twice and the first time I fought the spears, no one was summoned. The second time, the guy I summoned seemed mechanically skilled but he wasn’t using meta stuff. I won in the end because I took down the NPCs and he just couldn’t heal. The fight against halflight is well done but if you’re able to get a good player the fight is ridiculously fun
Funny thing, I beat the Spear boss because the summoned player was AFK. I didn't actually attack. I had Patches summoned and he murdered the dude while I waited for them to possibly show up. It was funny, but kinda sad that that's my experience with it.
Congratulations on making this video, long ago though you did. You have succeeded in putting forth your unique view on the bosses of this fantastic trilogy, and the games overall, in a relatively succinct manner. I wish you well in your further endeavors.
"Using the same boss three times it's when it starts to get annoying"
*Laughs in Elden Ring*
5 bosses minimum
Cries in tree sentinel
I have played through Dark Souls 1 at least 10 times, but Smough's hammer charge attack still gets me everytime.
Same. Smough's charge is easily the most annoying move in the fight.
the hitbox is straight up broken on the front part of it, you can dodge to the side and still get hit
Love how high lord wolnir is so passive to everyone else but for me I get the fast red eyed skeletons spawning in making it a lot harder to focus on killing the boss.
Sinh's theme is almost bloodborne esque, interesting to see how the production of the two games aligned in their music as well
for me abyss watchers and artorias were two best fights in entire series. not too hard, not too easy, well balanced, well designed and overall just amazingly well done
Abyss Watchers doesn’t age too well once you can parry or backstab lock him
@@Clarity_Control you can choose to just not do that
OnS is just too legendary, it takes #1 for me
@@jooot_6850
Shiiiit, you got a point
Chad Ivory King, lived as a selfless badass and came out of the portal like a badass too
Pro tip if you every wanna just skip the Ancient Dragon fight
If you stand between his toes on one of his rear feet, when he does an attack, it'll always be that foot's stomp
And then you can do it to the other rear foot
"Trap of Shield Reliance"
The worst part is that 99% of the shields are pretty garbage but the moment you get the Dragon Knight Shield, Black Iron Greatshield or Artorias' Greatshield, they suddenly become extremely good again.
Best shield that grass shield. Is it only me or shield in ds2 not only dont increase but lower stamina? Maybe its bc of its weight but i akways feel like its worse
@@jakub0641 your stamina regeneration is affected by your equipment load ratio. Unless you really need a shield with minimal stamina regen speed loss, you're better off having no shield equipped.
@@Sharkamfss shouldnt it increase stamina regen speed?? This is what this shield isfor in ds1 and ds3.
@@jakub0641 it does increase stamina regen, but it's extra weight also reduces it. You'll get more net positive stamina regen without the grass shield than with it equipped. That shield and the 2 other shields that increase stamina regen are in the game if you want a decent shield that has minimal effects on your stamina regen.
You sound like Chris Griffin if he was addicted to video games instead of choking the chicken
1:50:38 now this is some old memory I have, but *allegedly* the reason for why the Dancer's moveset seems so different and hard to categorize, according to my brother, is the rhythm or sequence length. The way he put it, if almost all other bosses (and their themes) follow a 4/4 pace (as in, for example, if you'd sing "DAA-AA-AA-AA") then the dancer follows a 3/3 pace (DAA-AA-AA). Or it could be the other way around, this is years-old info. Now if that's true it would explain a lot, since if she's the only boss in DS3 (or all Souls games) to move at this pacing then it's potential for a major throw-off to anyone who at that point has their reactions and timings tied to the "standard" pacing.
Tiss from a Game Theory video:
th-cam.com/video/9ZmAiyPRGqE/w-d-xo.html
as someone who uses multiple playstyles in the souls series, its quite educational to see someone who hard focuses only one
I love seeing people review dark souls no matter how many people do it. I love seeing people say how much the like or dislike and it and their reasons why. Just it’s such a fun game to talk about with people and watch people talk about it
Everytime you said some DS3 boss was "super easy" I had flashbacks of my sorcerer playthrough, which went so wrong. The crystal sage was probably the most surprising difficulty spike I had to overcome
And Wolnir... My god, Wolnir
You can actually Kill Wolnir with Pestilent Mist before he wakes up. Just stay in front of the hands and cast the spell.
@@mikal9904 But I have to admit, I stopped my run because of Sister Friede, she just dodges half of the spells, its terrible.
@@daverku Friede is extremely resistant to magic, even if you hit her with a CSS, you probably would've done more damage by going for a backstab.
Have a backup weapon that you meet the requirements for and infuse it with whatever gives you the most physical damage (usually heavy with high STR and two-handed) and enchant it with CMW. Won't be effective against Friede or Ocerios but it's excellent against most bosses if you're almost out of spell juice. An alternative will be MLGS or any naturally magical weapon. Crystal infusions might be effective too.
So here I am, a few days from 2022, and my favorite covenant to be in is the Spears of the Church.
I am not a meta, glitch, or healing invader. I just rock the gear and play style I enjoy and have fun with it.
I lose more battles than I win (currently) but these battles have taught me more about how to deal with gankers than any other area or forum discussion ever could.
I’ve only ever fought one “duel” during my run, otherwise everyone brings a squad with them. I always wondered why I get the most respect here than in any other pvp situation, win or lose... I highly recommend anyone who’s reading this to give it another go, because for me, at least right now, it’s totally worth it. ;)
I have had so many people in gank squads rage quit because of sunlight talisman poise healing, and I love toying with hosts that don't give up after killing their phantoms. I've made a build that is almost unkillable, and it feels great to watch people come in thinking I'll be an easy target, only to send them back to the bonfire. The trick to winning a gank is to poise, hunt the phantoms, and heal right in front of them to tell them they made a mistake. (I hate plugging my own channel, but it does have many relevant videos of my evolution with SotC summons.)
I feel the same way. My current character is the Nameless Knight from DS1. Old and traveled, using a Blessed Kite Shield, Refined Broadsword +10, Nameless Set, with Filianore's Chime. With Way of White Circlet, Lightning Blade, and healing miracles, he has made it to the end of the world, only to serve the church to protect the daughter of the Lord of Cinder he had slain so long ago. It is quite fun to roleplay and I honestly have so much fun with it even if I dont win much.
Getting people like you makes this fight fun
Than you
@@silenceundying and maybe switch to a less meta setup if you duel a non-ganker? else you might come off as an ass
@@barkerbarks2537 That's the idea. I either start off killing the phantoms before becoming more passive, or I start off passive. If they bring Lapp, I just poison him and chip him to death while mostly ignoring the host. I usually let the host heal as much as they want, and I usually let them fight the painting guardians without my interference. Usually.
Sif is the hardest boss because you cant see the screen through your tears