@fredb375 this game is made by the same people who made a horror game called "devotion" that was pulled off of stores because of a winnie the pooh reference that offended the CCP. There was a whole big drama about it.
For me, mechanically, Eigong is the best boss. But Lady Ethereal wins me by all her build up, soundtrack and, of course, the battle itself. Still, hard agree with your tier list. This game is absolute fire and it deserves way more attention and praise.
Dude, when you go to the factory the first time and you go through her boss room, that glitching, looping through the room and then the jumpscare. I will never forget it.
Jiequan is the boss where things really began to click for me, and I started to feel like an actual master or martial arts. There was a particular moment where I started to react almost instinctively, batting away his attacks and automatically punishing with a talisman during openings. For a moment, I wasn't even thinking, I was just flowing through the fight like water, and it felt great.
General Yingzhao is way better in my opinion. Pretty much S tier for me. I can't think of a better first boss in a game (maybe Sekiro's first boss). He teaches you several lessons you'll never forget: - Bosses are tough. - Prepare mentally for more than one phase. - You must parry. Dodging is not enough! It is big, scary, strong and fast. And also soooo satisfactory to beat. Mostly, because you will pretty much beat him hitless after several tries.
Eigong is arguably one of the best final bosses in a metroidvania EVER. It doesn't feel unfair or insanely long but just the right amount of difficulty and mechanics put together. It really makes you use everything at your disposal.
I immediately knew Eigong was gonna be number 1. She's by far the most fun boss I've ever fought in any metroidvania. I'm glad to see her at the deserving spot of number 1.
At last boss now, my only problem with the game really is that exploration doesnt feel that engaging to me. The world feels small, and i never got the sense "i wonder what lays beyond". Otherwise the game hits on all notes.
To be honest eigong was one of the best bosses Ive ever seen. Its so fun to fight agaist her and the mechanics are impecable. To be honest perhaps the difficulty jump was way too hard. I spent almost 4 hours on her, when no other boss took me more than half an hour or 45 min. But since I had fun the whole time, i dont mind. The only issue the fight has is that sometimes the talisman attack can grab you from stupid distances or affect you even if you dodge.
Agreed, she's so much more difficult than any of the other bosses. I hated Twins due to the randomness; some sequences were really difficult to deal with as Phil mentioned, but Eigong was so so punishing. And I also call bullsh*t on her talisman range, didn't feel fair.
It was a hard spike, but once I sat in phase 1 and learned the timings for her basic sword strings, it was amazing, especially with the hedgehog jade and water flow. It was a sharp increase, but I loved every minute of it
I agree. The only gripe i have with her fight is indeed her talisman attack. Even if you dash 1 meter behind her it still stuck which shouldn't really be possible. But you learn to not dash it anymore and just jump block.
Final boss took me two and a half hours this morning. I thought I had no chance at the start and then slowly learned everything til I had the first two phases down. That third phase crazy shit I never got great at air parrying, but good enough to win
I just beat her. Took me at least 2 hours. Probably closer to 3. Just an awesome boss. Zero room for error, but somehow completely fair. But by the end, I was parrying every single one of her attacks and using unbounded counter perfectly. I had barely used it the entire game up to that point. Occasionally I'd mess up and get hit, but for the most part I could get through the first two phases just getting hit once or twice. And the only times I got hit were from losing focus for a second or getting greedy. When I got greedy, I immediately knew I f'd up before Eigong gave me a good smack. Air parrying is a piece of cake. Timing is no different, just protects you from all sides. Surprised you beat Lady Ethereal without it; unless you're just talking about Eigong's third phase attack, which I never got the hang of either. It's probably the only complaint I have with the boss. Every attack in the game is pretty clear on when you should parry. Those attacks aren't clear at all. I was hitting the parry button, but I don't know if it was working or not. At some point I stopped immediately dying from it, so I suppose I was doing something. I'm sure I could get it down. I got the first two phases down, after all. The problem is it just takes so long to get to phase 3 that you get very little time to practice. By the time you start to get the hang of it, you're so damn good as phase 1-2 that you go in with full/nearly full pots/health and you're JUST good enough to squeak by and win. It does seem like she has a little less health in that phase as well. But Ethereal and Eigong are just far, far above every other boss in the game. It's not remotely close. I'd even say they're two of the best bosses ever. They're just THAT good. I know people love Hollow Knight and I love it, too. I completed 100% of the map and beat every boss. But I honestly don't remember any bosses from it. Even if I forget the rest of Nine Sols, I'll remember those two.
I barely beat Eigong last night, and the second I learned she had a third phase with a better ending, I was immediately gunning it for whatever it took to get it. I’ve already got the relationship achievement with Shuanshuan, and just finished getting my health maxed out, I just need to find all of the jades and max out my level, and that lady is as good as gone
While you can use dodge to get out of certain unfavorable situations. From some of the fights I've seen in this video I feel like you would have an easier time using the unbound counter (the charge up parry against red attacks) towards the end of the game where everyone has heavy hitting, red fire dropping, aoe attacks its worth its weight in gold.
Yeah, for all bosses in the game I'd argue the dash is a context-sensitive defensive option rather than the bread-and-butter defense you'd expect. A lot of bosses have serious reach and can very easily catch you after a dash, especially with those endgame AoEs. There are certainly times I prefer dashing through attacks rather than unbounded countering them (Lady Ethereal's death ball, for example), but the game really knows how to tell players what they should and shouldn't unbounded counter.
When I defeated Jiequan I was praying for a third phase, I loved the fight so much, it was a real highlight for me. The only frustrating encounter I had was the Fengs, not so much because the fight was badly designed but because I felt the hitboxes of the big guy were unpredictable: sometimes you'd be behind him and not get hit, other times you would get hit. In the end I felt I was battling a bit too much with the hitboxes rather than the enemy.
I just defeated Fengs and now I only have eigong in front of me but fengs was by far the most frustrating and infuriating boss, the only one I felt like quitting the game and actually made me want to throw my controller on the tv, I got to a poing where I was ending the first phase without even getting hit and with all my arrows available and STILL wouldn't even have room to use cure on the second phase. So far it was the biggest let down on this game, while all the others bosses were really great with lady ethereal and jiequan taking the cake for me as my favorites.
@renanmarcondess Damn, the Fengs were by far the easiest main boss for me. The only bosses where I remember how many tries it took me: 4. I think it's because I had a really good build to counter them. Qi blade, the jade that increases attack speed, and the jade the heals you for landing slash attacks. Absolutely shreds HP when you spam slash attacks. I think I also had revival jade but I'm not sure how many slots I had by then.
@@popquaser that's exactly my build too, but for some reason the ganks felt really unfair with projectiles sometimes coming form outside the screen and broken hit boxes for fuxi made this boss quite annoying for me..
@@yeshuamusic5102 just finished eigong(2 phases only) and omg, while I died so much more than to fuxi, it was such a great fight, nothing felt unfair and what felt at first(the beginning of the 2nd phase), after a few deaths it became pretty avoidable. Amazing fight.
7:40 although maybe its not that clear when you first get it, this parry is actually the best tool in the game and what elevates the combat to GOATed status. At first it seems like you should only use them for red attacks, but it is so incredible and satisfying to use literally all the time, and extremely rewarding. The boss you are fighting when you said that is where this clicked for me, as i would parry the first attack then hold l1 to unbounded parry the second. Honestly it might be the best move in the game. The final fight in particular is so amazing if you use the unbounded counter correctly.
I honestly feel like the game doesn't do a good enough job of encouraging/forcing you to use it. That's why many people including myself completely ignored it until reaching Eigong, it just ends with you getting hit most of the time and dodge always felt like the safer option.
I agree. The only parts in which (at first) I thought it was a bit unfair was during the 3rd phases of Lady Ethereal and Eigong (Lady E's big floor-breaking explosion and Eigong's screen-wide slashes). But in hindsight it was just me being momentarily overwhelmed by the sudden change of pace and not fully understanding the mechanics. Differently then most other bosses, they have a rhythm you have to understand and follow, and it's so satisfying when finally muscle memory kicks in and you start hearing those gongs. For me the most satisfying parry in the whole game was Eigong's delayed triple slash when she dashes through you.
That last part is incredibly real. Especially if you use divine hand jade and unbounded counter it. I feel like Dante using Royal Guard against Judgement Cut
Solid list. No real disagreement. Eigong was definitely an insane fight. It took me many hours, but that only made the eventual victory all the more satisfying.
I couldn't watch the very last section of the video since I haven't fought Eigong yet. But I agree 100% with your takes. Lady Ethereal was definitely S tier and my favorite fight so far, involving the story element and her clones adding a lot of intensity and satisfaction to the final kill. Great video, great choice of game, great analysis. New subscriber here brother. rock on
well, I have a question: does the author know that cloud piercer arrow staggers? that makes Fuxi and Ji a piece of cake, because Fuxi has no stagger resistance and no combo breaker like Eigong does after being staggered twice in a short window, and ji can't cast blackholes at all if u shoot him with arrows. also Ji can summon azure sand vial instead of healing one
This game was absolutely amazing and is now one of my all time favorites, also yeah, while i was fighting eigong i truly felt like the first time i fought isshin... truly incredible
Something that helps with Lady Ethereal and Eigong: The talisman isnt the only thing that stuns Ethereal, a charged attack also works to make her go crazy (I fought her by doing Charge, the four hit arial combo, then finish with the Qi blast talisman) and for Eigong, the basic arrows actually stun her out of any attack (So by using Qi blast at max level in the skill tree and finding a perfect opening, Usually after a certain combo or after parrying a Crimson (Red) Attack you can essentially have infinite arrows at your disposal to stun her)
8:07 i used to have the same problem with the horizontal snake. As soon as i figured out that i just had to double jump over the snake, the Fengs were doomed. the fight ended then and there
@@БогданРука By the way, both of 2 words are meant as Butterfly, but 蚨蝶 has been a rare word in nowadays. I first looked this word up in the dictionary after I played the 九日.
Red Candle Games' first 2 games were both horror games, and Nine Sols definitely brings that aspect back in quite a few areas, one of which being a very stress-inducing (but not unfair) stealth section somewhere in the middle of the game and another being Lady Ethereal's Mindscape and boss fight. They are really creepy, but that only adds to the appeal imo.
I will say this as a gamer from the days of the ps2: The gaming industry nowadays... Are big fat Cowards because they think persuing every trend and agenda in the world including forcing themes in games and the Oversaturated live service model or the stupid "Make every game AAA and open world" is making them look like idiots. Games are supposed to be Fun hobby NOT A WAY TO GOUGE PEOPLE FOR MONEY! That is why when i see games made by indie devs nowadays it warms my 25 old heart and while though i only played hades so far (Yes im having a blast and cant wait for No.2) and now Nine Sols shot through my entire backlog
Same, dude lol I have a backlog with more than 30 games that I was cleaning and Nine Sols zapped trough all of them and became one of the few games I've 100%
I haven't put much thought into how I would rank them, but I think my list would be kinda different. I find a solid dancelike rhythm more appealing than chaos, so the bosses/phases that were praised in this video for being chaotic (like the Fengs, Ji, and maybe Eigong's third phase) would probably be lower on my list.
imo ji and eigong third phase have a good rhythm too though. I agree that the fengs appeal is positioning and learning pattern, but eigong third phase (if you perfect parry her screen wide attacks) is very rhythmic too!
@@gigashill Yeah, I'd probably agree about Eigong 3 having a rhythm if I'd gotten it a bit more down to rote memory before finishing the game. For Ji though, although I think the knife spam attack has a good rhythm, his other attacks are something I'd label as having a consistent timing, but not a strong rhythm.
100% agree. I really didn't like the Fengs due to how random it seemed. Even if she consistently cast the same spells in the same order it would be easier to learn.
@@CyfrikI feel like Eigong's third phase simply needs more HP. By the time you get to it, You're literally so cracked at phase 1 and 2 that you can scrape out a win despite not mastering the fight. I was so locked in and focused that I didn't touch my bow once. Then realized I had five shots still and mowed her down.
To me the only problem with eigong is the sudden difficulty spike, I beat every other boss in less than 5 trys but Eigong is taking dozens. She's undeniably a fun fight and I can basically do first 2 phases perfectly now but I wish they'd gone further with other bosses if this is what they had planned for last. Especially the disappointing twins that felt too simple After Ji and Lady ethereal
Playing Eigong for the first time: "She's broken." Beat Eigong and get normal ending: "She's not that bad." Replay for the true ending and get to her 3rd phase: "She's broken."
Lady Ethereal (if youre still struggling to pronounce it, its Eth uh real) has to be my personal favorite for this game in terms of buildup, combat, and just the lore behind her. I didnt want to kill her either. And Eigong, simply a skill issue on my end, but shes still a VERY good boss.
Working on eigong. Holy cow! I can’t seem to get the parry timing down very well. In an hour of working in it, I’ve only gotten to stage two once. Nightmare king grim and pure vessel were the hardest bosses in my ranking before this one. She’s brutal, but I guess I feel like she’s getting into the annoying tier with some of her mechanics. So I’m not loving her as a boss. To me, pure vessel was a thing of beauty where the fight felt like a dance. Maybe I’ll get there with eigong, but right now she just makes me mad 😂.
lady butterfly was the reason I started incorporating talismans in the game this also caused me to change by key-binds like instead of the interact key being the 6th mouse button i changed it to the scroll wheel and replaced it with the talismans attach
I'd put Yanlao a couple places higher (he's a personal favorite of mine for the music and feel of the fight), switching him and Jiequan, but otherwise I also agree with the rankings.
Lady Ethereal is easily the best fight in the game for me, or at least the most fun. Not once did I lose to her and feel frustrated. It was fun from start to finish. Fuxi and Eigong on the other hand....
Totally agree with you, fuxi made me want to throw my controller on the tv and quit the game, while all the other ones prior to this, while tough, I never felt frustrated.
As much as i love this game, the bosses were pretty easy to me. For the most part it only took 1-3 times to beat them. But Lady Ethereal and Eigong REALLY made me earn those wins.
Nine Sols is my favorite game of the year, hands down. Sorry Black Myth Wukong, you're very good, but Nine Sols is better. This game has the best boss fights I've seen in a long time.
The hack thing is glitched this whole game when it says to go up it doesnt work sometimes i can use the d pad and the joystick doesnt matter it is glitched i have ti do it a few times and then i csn click up but other times it doesnt work.. anyone else?
Bro I didnt think Id get a goated recommendation like afterimage from watching this video so thanks for that btw if you havent already play blashemous 2 which has my favorite metroidvania boss eviterno who slighlt edges of out king darrius
Excellent tier list. For me Fengs are better than Jiequan. I don’t like normally gang bosses but that one was really enjoyable. (I died at least 20 times until master it)
I think Lady Ethereal is about a C+. It's very very close to being S but a few things bother me about it. First phase is so easy it's throwaway- even on first try. By literally the second or third try it's just an annoyance. Second phase is too long, and indication is poor. I think clones should be indicated. You get hit here just because it's boring and the RNG is a bit frustrating. Third phase is the actual action. She apparently has 6600 total health. 1100/2750/2750. Give phase 1 a single clone and 1400 health. Clone should be indicated but it can be very subtle. Phase 2 with multiple clones, but more obviously indicated. 2000 life. Considering the indication, maybe this phase takes 1/2 as long. Keep phase 3 the same but give it 3200-3600 health since this is the fun part anyway.
Great video! Would have to point out that the audio should be a little bit more quiet compared to your voice since it's kind of hard to hear you above the other noise.
I don't really like how you're not humbling Eigong fight at all, when it isn't all that perfect. There obvious problems that followed the player from the mid of the game. Unpredictable hitboxes - sometimes you can dodge, move away, but still get hit even though visually you weren't right under attack. Talisman grab - that I hated personally. Sometimes you can dodge through it perfectly, sometimes you dodge through it and then you get teleported to her hand from 3m away. I like to move away and just charge attack at the edge of her grab and I still get into her hands sometimes when I'm too close, but I'm nowhere near the actual visual representation of attack. But that are my only complaints, everything else is okay. And, of course, as long as you do it perfectly as developers want you to, you won't encounter those problems but it just takes away fun from various approaches. Like Yi is often punished by Talisman's long animation, but you can't punish Eigong just because her grab is junky. You can go through her with your own talisman, but it'll just teleport you into her hand and deal damage.
@@superexplosion12 I'm just not turning blind eye on issues like consumers do. I know what developing takes and I know that those are mistakes. Fight is easy. Also story mode sucks, noone needs those damage modifiers, they don't fix game issues in any way.
I think it is because your playstyle is different or even the unintended way to beat the boss(not that it excuses lack of polish in the dodge mechanic). I guess its intended that players parry these attacks(and if they are red attacks, they mostly have a fire spread/splash damage afterwards, which negates the issue). The parrying in the game is good, works just as intended and if you are parrying almost all attacks it isnt noticeable. For ex, I didn't even notice the talisman attack as an issue because I always tried to parry it. (and I am pretty sure you are not intended to dodge through the talisman, it just works sometimes unintended by the devs). And I havent actually noticed any bad hitboxes in my playthrough, Though there is probably truth to the fact that the devs didnt perfect the dodge mechanics and focused on parrying.
@@nothing0x4D2 my comment aged like milk, devs fixed Talisman and Crimson sphere hitboxes since then. Literally went pog when I tried it again and how easy it was to counterattack now and be much more aggressive. It's impossible to prove that it *was* bad to people with *Perfect Game 10/10* glasses on, though Nothing is perfect, and can only get better if you admit the problem. Also I played and in community for long now, but I still diss story mode, I'm sure if it was removed people would just get over themselves and learn bosses, instead of calling it hard and unfair game. Existence of easy mode is what's shakes players belief in themselves.
@@XDrotkon I think I appreciate the lens that nothing is perfect and improvements can be made, thats how games improve. About story mode, it is just damage and health modifiers right? If thats the case, this approach is looked down upon in the gaming community already. I think there should be a accessibility mode, only for people who may have trouble with motor skills or disabled in some other way. Other than that for a game like nine sols, they should go with difficulty like Hollow knight where you have the option to play more difficult bosses for a better ending. Still Nine Sols devs are still working on the game, like adding Boss Rush, so I hope they will work on other features too.
*Me after reacting to lady etheral* Me:Poor lady *After a intense parkour* (oh nooo) *Lady etheral has a meltdown* Me:Ahhh sh here we go again oh well time to put her down Those who know what lady etheral feel must know what it means
Lady Ethereal is the WORST in the first half of the game, stupidly spamming with three attacks, which in themselves are VERY easy to counter, and the whole difficulty lies only in increasing the tempo of these attacks with each phase. This is not a fight of skill, this is a fight of attrition, it's disgusting! Rank D or maximum C
It’s a long fight barring on tedious but the buildup, visuals and lore are absolutely top tier. Also love how many approaches there are to tackling the fight
The moveset was made to mesh together. Its not hard to manage the multiple clones. Each phase steps up the tempo and combos by a small amount, allowing the player to adapt. Sounds like someone is just a little salty.
Respectfully. Sounds like you got crushed and just defaulted to blaming the design. The only thing i can agree on is that the boss is a huge difficulty spike.
I couldn't disagree more I think Eigong is the worst boss on the list after the dog spawner thing. Jin was the best I reckon crazy he got put so low when he was so much more unique, interesting as a character and could be beaten in more ways. Same with lady etheral and jiqueong, there were muliples aproaches you could take. And better in literally every way story music, etc. Eigong is just a spam fest I just opted to find cheeses for. Her changing her moves and having similar indicators with her attacks was the first time the game felt unfair and gimmicky. (I understand I'm in the minority but I literally disagree with every single point for the Eigong segment, even 'thematically' the boss sucked honestly the actual 'stakes' weren't clear. She was just crazy, she had less impactful build up than some and there was hardly anything left worth fighting for.)
bro there is not a single attack you can't predict or react to beating her again and again for hours, enjoying the fact I now can now predict or see red spheres coming by just a few frames and differ it from the talisman attack in just enough time to stagger her with an arrow (mastering beating her with no unbounded counter was really funny) there are lots of opening to heal or deal damage her attack patterns and the vast majority of follow-ups are easily learnable and dodgeable/parriable, and almost every one who beat her says that it's the most fair boss that exists in the game, against whom you win only if you become skilled enough. talking about approaches: there are also plenty of them, if not more than against any of other bosses yeah, at first sight Eigong may look like a spam fest, but that's only like that for 30mins - 1 hour. after that milestone a lot of people stop panic spamming buttons trying to react and start noticing and learning the attacks, patterns and follow-ups the only thing I could call unfair is that you have to deal with two first phases to die in a few seconds against the third phase cause she starts doing a looooot of new punishing attack patterns. I beat her for the first time after like a dozen of third phase tries and fighting her for hours and hours, you always can find some new stuff: memorize different patterns, notice she has more follow-ups, try new builds, try having more aggressive and rewarding playstyles, making the fight a literal dance. it is the most pleasurable fight being master after you beat her once. and beating her once is also a great pleasure, given that the first dozen attempts make her look like an impossible and really unfair boss. if you always think of any difficult boss in way "wtf, this is a scam, how do I cheese it", why wouldn't you play on a story mode? in the story mode there are lots of sliders to adjust something damage received freely during your playthrough, so you don't have to cheese anything you find annoying or unfair. and there is always an option to change your mode from normal to story as well.
@ fair enough: jiqueong, or whatever the big red cat guy was that for me(felt fair from the beginning.) But half an hour of bs was too much for me. I couldn’t be bothered I enjoyed the other bosses then just skipped that one and watched the ending cutscene. I can’t really confirm If Eigong feels fair eventually. Because I can’t be bothered to beat it. Is what it is.
Man if this game doesn't get game of the year because of the winnie po stuff I am going to be so mad.
That's exactly why, and it pisses me off too! Every major reviewer is avoiding this game like the plague.. Sell outs! 😒
@@Smokinduckz ive not heard about this, could you explain?
@fredb375 this game is made by the same people who made a horror game called "devotion" that was pulled off of stores because of a winnie the pooh reference that offended the CCP. There was a whole big drama about it.
@@Smokinduckz
That is why people should keep politics out of games instead of trying to sneak in their propaganda.
@raywing00 I agree, but in this case, it was literally just a joke that they got offended over.
For me, mechanically, Eigong is the best boss. But Lady Ethereal wins me by all her build up, soundtrack and, of course, the battle itself. Still, hard agree with your tier list. This game is absolute fire and it deserves way more attention and praise.
Dude, when you go to the factory the first time and you go through her boss room, that glitching, looping through the room and then the jumpscare. I will never forget it.
My favorite boss by far. The patterns are so clear and diverse, the fight just flows perfectly
For Sky Rending Claw, it isn’t actually one of your attacks that ends the charge phase. It is shooting the machine with the shots that chase you!
Jiequan is the boss where things really began to click for me, and I started to feel like an actual master or martial arts. There was a particular moment where I started to react almost instinctively, batting away his attacks and automatically punishing with a talisman during openings. For a moment, I wasn't even thinking, I was just flowing through the fight like water, and it felt great.
General Yingzhao is way better in my opinion. Pretty much S tier for me. I can't think of a better first boss in a game (maybe Sekiro's first boss). He teaches you several lessons you'll never forget:
- Bosses are tough.
- Prepare mentally for more than one phase.
- You must parry. Dodging is not enough!
It is big, scary, strong and fast. And also soooo satisfactory to beat. Mostly, because you will pretty much beat him hitless after several tries.
Eigong is arguably one of the best final bosses in a metroidvania EVER. It doesn't feel unfair or insanely long but just the right amount of difficulty and mechanics put together. It really makes you use everything at your disposal.
Doing all three phases over and over is not fun.
I immediately knew Eigong was gonna be number 1. She's by far the most fun boss I've ever fought in any metroidvania. I'm glad to see her at the deserving spot of number 1.
At last boss now, my only problem with the game really is that exploration doesnt feel that engaging to me. The world feels small, and i never got the sense "i wonder what lays beyond". Otherwise the game hits on all notes.
Well yeah, the game takes place in an island in outer space. There is nothing beyond.
Fully agree.
Yes I agree, that's the games only major flaw. Too short and too small.
To be honest eigong was one of the best bosses Ive ever seen. Its so fun to fight agaist her and the mechanics are impecable.
To be honest perhaps the difficulty jump was way too hard. I spent almost 4 hours on her, when no other boss took me more than half an hour or 45 min. But since I had fun the whole time, i dont mind.
The only issue the fight has is that sometimes the talisman attack can grab you from stupid distances or affect you even if you dodge.
Agreed, she's so much more difficult than any of the other bosses. I hated Twins due to the randomness; some sequences were really difficult to deal with as Phil mentioned, but Eigong was so so punishing. And I also call bullsh*t on her talisman range, didn't feel fair.
It was a hard spike, but once I sat in phase 1 and learned the timings for her basic sword strings, it was amazing, especially with the hedgehog jade and water flow. It was a sharp increase, but I loved every minute of it
I agree. The only gripe i have with her fight is indeed her talisman attack. Even if you dash 1 meter behind her it still stuck which shouldn't really be possible. But you learn to not dash it anymore and just jump block.
Her talisman grab distance is ridiculous.
@@dannystaten5701 it’s really not that bad, it *really* sketchy at the start, but I got used to it pretty quickly
Final boss took me two and a half hours this morning. I thought I had no chance at the start and then slowly learned everything til I had the first two phases down. That third phase crazy shit I never got great at air parrying, but good enough to win
Took me like 6 hours 😅 totally worth it though
I just beat her. Took me at least 2 hours. Probably closer to 3. Just an awesome boss. Zero room for error, but somehow completely fair. But by the end, I was parrying every single one of her attacks and using unbounded counter perfectly. I had barely used it the entire game up to that point. Occasionally I'd mess up and get hit, but for the most part I could get through the first two phases just getting hit once or twice. And the only times I got hit were from losing focus for a second or getting greedy. When I got greedy, I immediately knew I f'd up before Eigong gave me a good smack.
Air parrying is a piece of cake. Timing is no different, just protects you from all sides. Surprised you beat Lady Ethereal without it; unless you're just talking about Eigong's third phase attack, which I never got the hang of either. It's probably the only complaint I have with the boss. Every attack in the game is pretty clear on when you should parry. Those attacks aren't clear at all. I was hitting the parry button, but I don't know if it was working or not. At some point I stopped immediately dying from it, so I suppose I was doing something.
I'm sure I could get it down. I got the first two phases down, after all. The problem is it just takes so long to get to phase 3 that you get very little time to practice. By the time you start to get the hang of it, you're so damn good as phase 1-2 that you go in with full/nearly full pots/health and you're JUST good enough to squeak by and win. It does seem like she has a little less health in that phase as well.
But Ethereal and Eigong are just far, far above every other boss in the game. It's not remotely close. I'd even say they're two of the best bosses ever. They're just THAT good. I know people love Hollow Knight and I love it, too. I completed 100% of the map and beat every boss. But I honestly don't remember any bosses from it. Even if I forget the rest of Nine Sols, I'll remember those two.
@ yeah I just meant third phase for the final boss that I couldn’t get the timing of. Congrats on beating it
I barely beat Eigong last night, and the second I learned she had a third phase with a better ending, I was immediately gunning it for whatever it took to get it. I’ve already got the relationship achievement with Shuanshuan, and just finished getting my health maxed out, I just need to find all of the jades and max out my level, and that lady is as good as gone
While you can use dodge to get out of certain unfavorable situations. From some of the fights I've seen in this video I feel like you would have an easier time using the unbound counter (the charge up parry against red attacks) towards the end of the game where everyone has heavy hitting, red fire dropping, aoe attacks its worth its weight in gold.
Yeah, for all bosses in the game I'd argue the dash is a context-sensitive defensive option rather than the bread-and-butter defense you'd expect. A lot of bosses have serious reach and can very easily catch you after a dash, especially with those endgame AoEs. There are certainly times I prefer dashing through attacks rather than unbounded countering them (Lady Ethereal's death ball, for example), but the game really knows how to tell players what they should and shouldn't unbounded counter.
A hard agree, almost ALL the time, I prefer to use the unbounded counter than rather to dodge more often
I got it much later in the game, maybe because I followed a "wrong route", so I ended up dodging many attacks that I could have countered
I kept trying to dodge Eigong’s bomb attack until I realized an unbounded counter would work perfectly, and guess what, it did.
8:09 "What the hell was I supposed to do there?" The 5 charges of Azure Bow in question:
When I defeated Jiequan I was praying for a third phase, I loved the fight so much, it was a real highlight for me. The only frustrating encounter I had was the Fengs, not so much because the fight was badly designed but because I felt the hitboxes of the big guy were unpredictable: sometimes you'd be behind him and not get hit, other times you would get hit. In the end I felt I was battling a bit too much with the hitboxes rather than the enemy.
I just defeated Fengs and now I only have eigong in front of me but fengs was by far the most frustrating and infuriating boss, the only one I felt like quitting the game and actually made me want to throw my controller on the tv, I got to a poing where I was ending the first phase without even getting hit and with all my arrows available and STILL wouldn't even have room to use cure on the second phase. So far it was the biggest let down on this game, while all the others bosses were really great with lady ethereal and jiequan taking the cake for me as my favorites.
@renanmarcondess Damn, the Fengs were by far the easiest main boss for me. The only bosses where I remember how many tries it took me: 4. I think it's because I had a really good build to counter them. Qi blade, the jade that increases attack speed, and the jade the heals you for landing slash attacks. Absolutely shreds HP when you spam slash attacks. I think I also had revival jade but I'm not sure how many slots I had by then.
@@popquaser that's exactly my build too, but for some reason the ganks felt really unfair with projectiles sometimes coming form outside the screen and broken hit boxes for fuxi made this boss quite annoying for me..
@@yeshuamusic5102 just finished eigong(2 phases only) and omg, while I died so much more than to fuxi, it was such a great fight, nothing felt unfair and what felt at first(the beginning of the 2nd phase), after a few deaths it became pretty avoidable. Amazing fight.
Both Eigong and Eviterno should take the throne as best metroidvania sword duels
You made excellent decision of playing Nine Souls before Elden Ring dlc :>
Masterpiece Metrodvania after Hollow Knight.
7:40 although maybe its not that clear when you first get it, this parry is actually the best tool in the game and what elevates the combat to GOATed status. At first it seems like you should only use them for red attacks, but it is so incredible and satisfying to use literally all the time, and extremely rewarding. The boss you are fighting when you said that is where this clicked for me, as i would parry the first attack then hold l1 to unbounded parry the second. Honestly it might be the best move in the game. The final fight in particular is so amazing if you use the unbounded counter correctly.
I honestly feel like the game doesn't do a good enough job of encouraging/forcing you to use it. That's why many people including myself completely ignored it until reaching Eigong, it just ends with you getting hit most of the time and dodge always felt like the safer option.
I agree. The only parts in which (at first) I thought it was a bit unfair was during the 3rd phases of Lady Ethereal and Eigong (Lady E's big floor-breaking explosion and Eigong's screen-wide slashes). But in hindsight it was just me being momentarily overwhelmed by the sudden change of pace and not fully understanding the mechanics. Differently then most other bosses, they have a rhythm you have to understand and follow, and it's so satisfying when finally muscle memory kicks in and you start hearing those gongs.
For me the most satisfying parry in the whole game was Eigong's delayed triple slash when she dashes through you.
That last part is incredibly real. Especially if you use divine hand jade and unbounded counter it. I feel like Dante using Royal Guard against Judgement Cut
Solid list. No real disagreement. Eigong was definitely an insane fight. It took me many hours, but that only made the eventual victory all the more satisfying.
Bro says every name except the one which is an english word 💀
Fr 💀
I couldn't watch the very last section of the video since I haven't fought Eigong yet. But I agree 100% with your takes. Lady Ethereal was definitely S tier and my favorite fight so far, involving the story element and her clones adding a lot of intensity and satisfaction to the final kill. Great video, great choice of game, great analysis. New subscriber here brother. rock on
well, I have a question: does the author know that cloud piercer arrow staggers?
that makes Fuxi and Ji a piece of cake, because Fuxi has no stagger resistance and no combo breaker like Eigong does after being staggered twice in a short window, and ji can't cast blackholes at all if u shoot him with arrows.
also Ji can summon azure sand vial instead of healing one
I literally said the same thing lmfao. Azure bow trivializes that fight, I beat it in 4 tries
This game was absolutely amazing and is now one of my all time favorites, also yeah, while i was fighting eigong i truly felt like the first time i fought isshin... truly incredible
Ishin was way easier, way way way easier.
Something that helps with Lady Ethereal and Eigong: The talisman isnt the only thing that stuns Ethereal, a charged attack also works to make her go crazy (I fought her by doing Charge, the four hit arial combo, then finish with the Qi blast talisman) and for Eigong, the basic arrows actually stun her out of any attack (So by using Qi blast at max level in the skill tree and finding a perfect opening, Usually after a certain combo or after parrying a Crimson (Red) Attack you can essentially have infinite arrows at your disposal to stun her)
8:07 i used to have the same problem with the horizontal snake. As soon as i figured out that i just had to double jump over the snake, the Fengs were doomed. the fight ended then and there
Lady Ethereal is literally called Butterfly （蝴蝶）in the Chinese version, so you were right👍
Actually, Lady Ethereal's name in Chinese is 蚨(fu^)蝶，its pronounced just similar with 蝴(hu^)蝶（Butterfly)
@@超高中級的民俗學家 got it, thanks for clarifying
@@БогданРука By the way, both of 2 words are meant as Butterfly, but 蚨蝶 has been a rare word in nowadays. I first looked this word up in the dictionary after I played the 九日.
I cried at the true ending of nine sols
Red Candle Games' first 2 games were both horror games, and Nine Sols definitely brings that aspect back in quite a few areas, one of which being a very stress-inducing (but not unfair) stealth section somewhere in the middle of the game and another being Lady Ethereal's Mindscape and boss fight. They are really creepy, but that only adds to the appeal imo.
I will say this as a gamer from the days of the ps2: The gaming industry nowadays...
Are big fat Cowards because they think persuing every trend and agenda in the world including forcing themes in games and the Oversaturated live service model or the stupid "Make every game AAA and open world" is making them look like idiots.
Games are supposed to be Fun hobby NOT A WAY TO GOUGE PEOPLE FOR MONEY!
That is why when i see games made by indie devs nowadays it warms my 25 old heart and while though i only played hades so far (Yes im having a blast and cant wait for No.2) and now Nine Sols shot through my entire backlog
Same, dude lol I have a backlog with more than 30 games that I was cleaning and Nine Sols zapped trough all of them and became one of the few games I've 100%
I haven't put much thought into how I would rank them, but I think my list would be kinda different. I find a solid dancelike rhythm more appealing than chaos, so the bosses/phases that were praised in this video for being chaotic (like the Fengs, Ji, and maybe Eigong's third phase) would probably be lower on my list.
imo ji and eigong third phase have a good rhythm too though. I agree that the fengs appeal is positioning and learning pattern, but eigong third phase (if you perfect parry her screen wide attacks) is very rhythmic too!
@@gigashill Yeah, I'd probably agree about Eigong 3 having a rhythm if I'd gotten it a bit more down to rote memory before finishing the game.
For Ji though, although I think the knife spam attack has a good rhythm, his other attacks are something I'd label as having a consistent timing, but not a strong rhythm.
100% agree. I really didn't like the Fengs due to how random it seemed. Even if she consistently cast the same spells in the same order it would be easier to learn.
@@CyfrikI feel like Eigong's third phase simply needs more HP. By the time you get to it, You're literally so cracked at phase 1 and 2 that you can scrape out a win despite not mastering the fight. I was so locked in and focused that I didn't touch my bow once. Then realized I had five shots still and mowed her down.
To me the only problem with eigong is the sudden difficulty spike, I beat every other boss in less than 5 trys but Eigong is taking dozens. She's undeniably a fun fight and I can basically do first 2 phases perfectly now but I wish they'd gone further with other bosses if this is what they had planned for last. Especially the disappointing twins that felt too simple After Ji and Lady ethereal
Playing Eigong for the first time: "She's broken."
Beat Eigong and get normal ending: "She's not that bad."
Replay for the true ending and get to her 3rd phase: "She's broken."
Lady Ethereal (if youre still struggling to pronounce it, its Eth uh real) has to be my personal favorite for this game in terms of buildup, combat, and just the lore behind her. I didnt want to kill her either. And Eigong, simply a skill issue on my end, but shes still a VERY good boss.
Working on eigong. Holy cow! I can’t seem to get the parry timing down very well. In an hour of working in it, I’ve only gotten to stage two once. Nightmare king grim and pure vessel were the hardest bosses in my ranking before this one. She’s brutal, but I guess I feel like she’s getting into the annoying tier with some of her mechanics. So I’m not loving her as a boss. To me, pure vessel was a thing of beauty where the fight felt like a dance. Maybe I’ll get there with eigong, but right now she just makes me mad 😂.
lady butterfly was the reason I started incorporating talismans in the game this also caused me to change by key-binds like instead of the interact key being the 6th mouse button i changed it to the scroll wheel and replaced it with the talismans attach
Bros glazing Eigong like hell fr 😅
She deserves it😅
Finally I can watch it! Just finished with normal ending, sure hope there won't be extra secret boss in true ending.
Defeated Eigong 2 phases 😄, 3rd phase stuck 😭
You have to perfect 1 and 2 phase then only you will win in 3rd
我覺得康回的設計的確對只習慣格擋的玩家不友好，我也是第一次玩九日這種類銀河惡魔城才知道怎麼清怪，(我的第一款全完成動作遊戲是Sekiro，還沒玩過Elden Ring)
我私心比較喜歡對付截全、風氏、易公，打起來比較有緊湊的爽快感，勾芒、蝴蝶夫人、姬打起來比較迂迴，英招和開天爪打起來還算過癮，有格擋的手感。
而全遊戲花我最久時間的排序是：易公>勾芒>蚨蝶>英招，因為不習慣使用格擋外的手段，打起來會有不適應問題，習慣射箭跟符咒就好多了！
nice content . you got a sub
My tierlist would be almost same, although… Jiequan would switch places with the lady for me for some reason lol
I'd put Yanlao a couple places higher (he's a personal favorite of mine for the music and feel of the fight), switching him and Jiequan, but otherwise I also agree with the rankings.
absolute facts brother💯
I agree 100%. Jiequan is what sold the game for me and showed me that I was playing peak
Lady Ethereal is easily the best fight in the game for me, or at least the most fun. Not once did I lose to her and feel frustrated. It was fun from start to finish. Fuxi and Eigong on the other hand....
Totally agree with you, fuxi made me want to throw my controller on the tv and quit the game, while all the other ones prior to this, while tough, I never felt frustrated.
As much as i love this game, the bosses were pretty easy to me. For the most part it only took 1-3 times to beat them. But Lady Ethereal and Eigong REALLY made me earn those wins.
Ji isn’t that hard but it’s an absolute experience
Only thing I didn’t like with eigong is that 1 and 2nd phase were really long like i am doing same thing over and over for so long .
Nine Sols is my favorite game of the year, hands down. Sorry Black Myth Wukong, you're very good, but Nine Sols is better. This game has the best boss fights I've seen in a long time.
Man ur so underrated
The hack thing is glitched this whole game when it says to go up it doesnt work sometimes i can use the d pad and the joystick doesnt matter it is glitched i have ti do it a few times and then i csn click up but other times it doesnt work.. anyone else?
11:12 lady butterfly💀
Bro I didnt think Id get a goated recommendation like afterimage from watching this video so thanks for that btw if you havent already play blashemous 2 which has my favorite metroidvania boss eviterno who slighlt edges of out king darrius
@@completelyaccurate already have, Eviterno is great
Excellent tier list. For me Fengs are better than Jiequan. I don’t like normally gang bosses but that one was really enjoyable. (I died at least 20 times until master it)
I only enjoy the centaur and the glaive dude, all other fights were annoying
GRIME MENTIONED LETS GOOOOOOOOO
I think Lady Ethereal is about a C+.
It's very very close to being S but a few things bother me about it.
First phase is so easy it's throwaway- even on first try. By literally the second or third try it's just an annoyance.
Second phase is too long, and indication is poor. I think clones should be indicated. You get hit here just because it's boring and the RNG is a bit frustrating.
Third phase is the actual action.
She apparently has 6600 total health. 1100/2750/2750.
Give phase 1 a single clone and 1400 health. Clone should be indicated but it can be very subtle.
Phase 2 with multiple clones, but more obviously indicated. 2000 life. Considering the indication, maybe this phase takes 1/2 as long.
Keep phase 3 the same but give it 3200-3600 health since this is the fun part anyway.
Great video! Would have to point out that the audio should be a little bit more quiet compared to your voice since it's kind of hard to hear you above the other noise.
Lady Ethereal was a real pain in ass 😣😵
this dudes a masochist (same)
Dirty politics this game didn’t even got one nomination on game awards 😢😢
youre 100% right
My ranking is pretty much the same. Lady E and Eigong at the top.
I don't really like how you're not humbling Eigong fight at all, when it isn't all that perfect.
There obvious problems that followed the player from the mid of the game. Unpredictable hitboxes - sometimes you can dodge, move away, but still get hit even though visually you weren't right under attack.
Talisman grab - that I hated personally. Sometimes you can dodge through it perfectly, sometimes you dodge through it and then you get teleported to her hand from 3m away. I like to move away and just charge attack at the edge of her grab and I still get into her hands sometimes when I'm too close, but I'm nowhere near the actual visual representation of attack.
But that are my only complaints, everything else is okay. And, of course, as long as you do it perfectly as developers want you to, you won't encounter those problems but it just takes away fun from various approaches.
Like Yi is often punished by Talisman's long animation, but you can't punish Eigong just because her grab is junky. You can go through her with your own talisman, but it'll just teleport you into her hand and deal damage.
should've played on story mode bud. the fight is perfect
@@superexplosion12 I'm just not turning blind eye on issues like consumers do. I know what developing takes and I know that those are mistakes.
Fight is easy. Also story mode sucks, noone needs those damage modifiers, they don't fix game issues in any way.
I think it is because your playstyle is different or even the unintended way to beat the boss(not that it excuses lack of polish in the dodge mechanic). I guess its intended that players parry these attacks(and if they are red attacks, they mostly have a fire spread/splash damage afterwards, which negates the issue). The parrying in the game is good, works just as intended and if you are parrying almost all attacks it isnt noticeable.
For ex, I didn't even notice the talisman attack as an issue because I always tried to parry it. (and I am pretty sure you are not intended to dodge through the talisman, it just works sometimes unintended by the devs). And I havent actually noticed any bad hitboxes in my playthrough,
Though there is probably truth to the fact that the devs didnt perfect the dodge mechanics and focused on parrying.
@@nothing0x4D2 my comment aged like milk, devs fixed Talisman and Crimson sphere hitboxes since then.
Literally went pog when I tried it again and how easy it was to counterattack now and be much more aggressive.
It's impossible to prove that it *was* bad to people with *Perfect Game 10/10* glasses on, though
Nothing is perfect, and can only get better if you admit the problem.
Also I played and in community for long now, but I still diss story mode, I'm sure if it was removed people would just get over themselves and learn bosses, instead of calling it hard and unfair game. Existence of easy mode is what's shakes players belief in themselves.
@@XDrotkon I think I appreciate the lens that nothing is perfect and improvements can be made, thats how games improve.
About story mode, it is just damage and health modifiers right? If thats the case, this approach is looked down upon in the gaming community already.
I think there should be a accessibility mode, only for people who may have trouble with motor skills or disabled in some other way.
Other than that for a game like nine sols, they should go with difficulty like Hollow knight where you have the option to play more difficult bosses for a better ending.
Still Nine Sols devs are still working on the game, like adding Boss Rush, so I hope they will work on other features too.
*Me after reacting to lady etheral*
Me:Poor lady
*After a intense parkour*
(oh nooo)
*Lady etheral has a meltdown*
Me:Ahhh sh here we go again oh well time to put her down
Those who know what lady etheral feel must know what it means
Yanlao is definitely the worst...
Lady ethereal sucks!!
Wait till you reach Eigong, that Witch.
Lady Ethereal is the WORST in the first half of the game, stupidly spamming with three attacks, which in themselves are VERY easy to counter, and the whole difficulty lies only in increasing the tempo of these attacks with each phase. This is not a fight of skill, this is a fight of attrition, it's disgusting! Rank D or maximum C
It’s a long fight barring on tedious but the buildup, visuals and lore are absolutely top tier. Also love how many approaches there are to tackling the fight
The moveset was made to mesh together. Its not hard to manage the multiple clones. Each phase steps up the tempo and combos by a small amount, allowing the player to adapt. Sounds like someone is just a little salty.
I aprove
Final boss is the worst, easily... It seems to me they tried to copy Ishin from Sekiro but completely missed the mark by a fucking continent...
Is this a joke that went over my head or do your bones suffer from skillthritus? Were there moves and patterns that felt unfair to you?
Respectfully. Sounds like you got crushed and just defaulted to blaming the design. The only thing i can agree on is that the boss is a huge difficulty spike.
I couldn't disagree more I think Eigong is the worst boss on the list after the dog spawner thing.
Jin was the best I reckon crazy he got put so low when he was so much more unique, interesting as a character and could be beaten in more ways. Same with lady etheral and jiqueong, there were muliples aproaches you could take. And better in literally every way story music, etc.
Eigong is just a spam fest I just opted to find cheeses for. Her changing her moves and having similar indicators with her attacks was the first time the game felt unfair and gimmicky.
(I understand I'm in the minority but I literally disagree with every single point for the Eigong segment, even 'thematically' the boss sucked honestly the actual 'stakes' weren't clear. She was just crazy, she had less impactful build up than some and there was hardly anything left worth fighting for.)
bro there is not a single attack you can't predict or react to
beating her again and again for hours, enjoying the fact I now can now predict or see red spheres coming by just a few frames and differ it from the talisman attack in just enough time to stagger her with an arrow (mastering beating her with no unbounded counter was really funny)
there are lots of opening to heal or deal damage
her attack patterns and the vast majority of follow-ups are easily learnable and dodgeable/parriable, and almost every one who beat her says that it's the most fair boss that exists in the game, against whom you win only if you become skilled enough.
talking about approaches: there are also plenty of them, if not more than against any of other bosses
yeah, at first sight Eigong may look like a spam fest, but that's only like that for 30mins - 1 hour. after that milestone a lot of people stop panic spamming buttons trying to react and start noticing and learning the attacks, patterns and follow-ups
the only thing I could call unfair is that you have to deal with two first phases to die in a few seconds against the third phase cause she starts doing a looooot of new punishing attack patterns. I beat her for the first time after like a dozen of third phase tries
and fighting her for hours and hours, you always can find some new stuff: memorize different patterns, notice she has more follow-ups, try new builds, try having more aggressive and rewarding playstyles, making the fight a literal dance. it is the most pleasurable fight being master after you beat her once. and beating her once is also a great pleasure, given that the first dozen attempts make her look like an impossible and really unfair boss.
if you always think of any difficult boss in way "wtf, this is a scam, how do I cheese it", why wouldn't you play on a story mode? in the story mode there are lots of sliders to adjust something damage received freely during your playthrough, so you don't have to cheese anything you find annoying or unfair. and there is always an option to change your mode from normal to story as well.
@ fair enough: jiqueong, or whatever the big red cat guy was that for me(felt fair from the beginning.) But half an hour of bs was too much for me. I couldn’t be bothered I enjoyed the other bosses then just skipped that one and watched the ending cutscene. I can’t really confirm If Eigong feels fair eventually. Because I can’t be bothered to beat it. Is what it is.
Eigong is lazy designed trash