Detailed thoughts on foes, minibosses, and bosses

[The Sojourner]

Erebus and Oceanus

• Whisper/Wet-whisper: Decent foe, well-tuned.
  
• Spindle/Sop-Spindle: Maybe a touch too punishing when you get hit, but since these guys are easy to avoid (and kinda entertaining to listen to), this complaint is very minor.
  
• Wastrel: Decent foe, maybe a touch overtuned?
  
• Wailer: The DOT is a little much, and compounded with the visual effect when being damaged by one, it makes for an unpleasant foe in any Encounter.
  
• Casket: Another foe without much issue.
  
• Thorn-weeper: Kind of a fun foe — reminds me of the Soul Catchers from the original game. Well-tuned, too.
  
• Shadow-spiller: Not a bad foe actually, once you get past the Darkness effect (reminiscent of the bonus Hades boss battle phase seen in Extremer Measures). I wouldn't change much, if anything, about this foe since it's also well-tuned (I think).
  
• Root-stalker: Tough as a miniboss to not get hit, but otherwise a well-done miniboss.

• Pinhead: Is there really only one size for a Pinhead? It always feels like there are two. Regardless, the small ones are fine, though the larger ones may be a touch overtuned.
  
• Lurker and Hippo: More decent foes, well-tuned for where they are.
  
• Shellback: A sort of exotic foe, tricky to slay due to its hard shell. Its attacks are actually rather easy to avoid, even in combination with other foes' attacks.
  
• Sea-serpent: Decent foe, though it can get mildly annoying to have to track it down when it relocates.
  
• Deep Serpent: Really reminiscent of the Hydra boss battle from the original game. Some else compared it to the Snakestone battle from the original game in that it's an armor-heavy miniboss that gets stunned too easily once the Armor is gone. As for me, I say that this miniboss may need some retuning, but that's about it.
  
• King Vermin: Can at some point we stop seeing the title "uh-oh"? Many of us know who this miniboss is, and there's no hiding it, so the charm from seeing that every time is impermanent, and turns to something that makes my eyes roll instead, especially as I grow in strength. Anyway, the miniboss itself is about as crazy as ever — maybe slightly overtuned, but otherwise about as charming as in the first game. It's also interesting that instead of summoning Gigantic Vermin, he instead summons Wretched Pests, which areactually kinda weak (Bothers, on the other hand...).

• Hecate: Well-tuned, though needs harder attacks the more you succeed at her little tests.
  
• Scylla: Same as with Hecate. Needs more music actually... or a way to get a music player from her at least (I predict this will happen: Scylla will give Melinoe an incantation...). I sometimes delay my slaying of her so that the song can finish! Even when I'm not playing the game, I can still hear her tunes — they're that catchy! Also, I know of at least one request to see a fan in the cocktail bars (not entirely sure how much narrative sense that would make though...).

Fields of Mourning

• Blight-shade, Bloat-shade, Blood-shade: These foes are tuned just fine damage-wise, though the move speed of the blood-shade is a bit much perhaps, and the bloat shade can suck a little hard (though the Phantom is worse...)
  
• Sorrow-spiller: See Shadow-spiller. This foe makes it amusingly tricky to slay other foes due to the surrounding Darkness.
  
• Reed-stalker: See Root-stalker, except that since this foe is in a larger space it's not as bad to evade its attacks.
  
• Bawlder: I almost feel these are too strong to be seen rolling around in the open, as opposed to summoned in an Encounter. Otherwise, they're fine as a foe.
  
• Smacker: Perhaps their role should be swapped out with the Bawlders, seeing as they're easier foes to deal with. Otherwise, they're also fine as a foe.
  
• Holeheart: The heart-stuff they leave around gets to be a little tough to dodge (cf. the mines a Wretched Pest leaves around), and it should all auto-expire once the Encounter is over.
  
• Mourner: Overtuned and too easy to get stunlocked by — perhaps 4 base damage per hit is better instead of 6? Remember, there is always the Oath of the Unseen.
  
• Canine: An easy foe to deal with, as expected. Well-tuned.
  
• Lycaon: A tricky foe to deal with. Maybe a bit overtuned in terms of their Life and/or Armor more than anything, but may need retuning elsewhere as well.
  
• Lamia: Kind of a fun new foe to deal with. Needs very little change, if any.
  
• Queen Lamia: See Lamia. It's an interesting miniboss battle, and arguably one of the easier ones.
  
• Phantom: This miniboss sucks the hardest, and I don't entirely mean that literally. The visual effect for the "suck" is the exact same as for the Bloat-shade, which is confusing every time. On top of that, this attack is not exactly well-telegraphed, so it's difficult to dodge. Also, this miniboss is overtuned.

• Cerberus: Powerful attacks that are perhaps slightly overtuned, but more importantly, get to be a bit too spammy, to the point where it becomes difficult or psychologically uncomfortable to dodge.

Tartarus

Overall note: the damage in this area is likely overtuned on purpose. I hope then that it gets scaled back as we approach v1.0.

• Numbskull: I love the new rework on the Numbskulls — they remind me of the old ones, but stuck as Shifters. Damage is a bit much though.
  Wretched Thug: I also love the new rework on these guys — faster and harder-hitting.
  
• Crawler: Another new-from-old foe, except I don't like the redesign: the move speed is too high, making these foes a little too difficult to target. The Armor may also be out of character for these guys... maybe...
  
• Tempus: Their spiral attacks are unique, but difficult to dodge due to how spammy they are, especially if there are more than a few of these foes.
  
• Goldwraith: Actually decent enough and fair to deal with, even in larger numbers. As long as their beam attack doesn't track Melinoe too much, it's fine.
  
• Satyrs: Also fine to deal with. Some of their attacks are rather easy to avoid, though the Satyr Supplicant's fiery attack lingers for maybe a bit too long.
  
• Goldwrath: One of the easier minibosses to deal with, ngl. That said, if you do get hit, like with the Spindles, the damage can be cruel, and so a retuning may be needed.
  The Verminancer: Decent miniboss. The main issue is actually more with the Crawlers than the miniboss.

...and then there's Chronos: In general, he has too much damage and attack speed! Also confusing telegraphing. Factor that out and the first phase is more or less fine. The second phase however is too puninshing in a few parts: first, the art for the death/damage zone is confusing, moreso than the Scylla Encounter. Second, when you have to stand on an hour circle, there should be no other attacks, whether from Chronos or one of his other reinforcements. Therefore, maybe not have him do these attacks whenever there are any foes near you (or even in the area). This second phase is already as chaotic as it is.

Actually, of note: seeing that "stand on the hour or get hit for 999 damage" attack is not only waaaaaaaaaaay too punishing right now, but seeing it so early in the Encounter kinda spoils its gravitas, so even the second and third Encounters you see it, it doesn't feel quite as interesting (cf. Hades' Fire blast attack from Gigaros from the original game — it started off easy and then went full blast, so if the player dies halfway through this phase, they still have a surprise left for them). In fact, it can feel too intimidating to players who don't regularly play these kinds of games, even as it is a change of expectations.

(Also, I know several other threads mentioned it, but I'll repeat it here: please allow us to pause the game during this boss without the need for any Incantations or the like — it's actually something of an accessibility issue.)

Ephyra

• Bronzebeak: An alright foe, little to no retuning needed here.
  
• Shambler/Sea-shambler: Easy to deal with... almost too easy.
  
• Tombstone: Also easy to deal with, seeing as they have no real attacks of their own and only spawn Shamblers.
  
• Cutthroat: About as perfect as is. Fun to micro-duel them with the Sister Blades! Would be fun to see something like this as a miniboss in Ephyra!
  
• Lubber: The fire from their barrel-throwing attack either lingers too long and/or does too much DOT. Perhaps the fires from their attacks (and from traps too!) should be immediately gone post-battle; and then any fiery traps set off post-battle should linger with significantly less time, or it should be impossible to trigger them.
  
• Eidolon: I sometimes forget that this foe does not attack purely on its own, but releases several micro-foes (who I swear should be documented, but aren't). Anyway, they're fine as they are.
  
• Satyr Champion: A little easy as far as miniboss battles go: his attacks are a bit too easy to dodge, and the summoned Bronzebeaks don't help with the difficulty (still easy).

For the boss, Polyphemus is strange as a character, kinda like Asterius from the original game (same VA too, I know, coincidence...). As a boss, I don't like that his shockwave attacks are unblockable (actually, I don't like that ANY attack in unblockable!), but at least it's clear what to dodge. There is an imbalance in the speed of some of the attacks he does though: there are the lingering slow shockwaves, but then also the fast shockwaves from when he stomps toward you or "spots" you, which makes dodging feel weird, especially for the first few Encounters.

It's also not entirely clear that the sheep have different powers, narratively or otherwise.

Rift of Thessaly

Overall note: the damage in this area is likely overtuned on purpose. I hope then that it gets scaled back as we approach the release of the next Region.

• Blasket: See Casket, except that the damage is overtuned.
  
• Droplet: I suppose these are supposed to be like the Numbskulls, except on the surface. However, they suffer the problem of being difficult to target (idk whether it's the move speed or not tho).
  
• Seesword: Fun foe, like the reworked Numbskulls.
  Stickler and Boozer: Relatively inoffensive foes whose attacks are relatively easy to dodge (but not too easy, especially with Sticklers, who could perhaps use a slight increase in attack speed).
  
• Anchor: Visually their attack is confusing: do they attack twice or once? Also they hit a little too hard, even for this Region.
  
• Harpy Talon: The spinning attacks deal too much damage (and/or DOT), and last for way too long, making them difficult to dodge, especially with other foes present.
  
• Charybdis: Is this the only miniboss right now? It's a fun one, though a little easy.

Now let's address the b*tch on the beach, that trash goddess Eris: It was fun to see the ol' Rail of Adamant that we used when playing as Zagreus wielded by Eris! It was also a little terrifying, ngl — righteously so, I should add, given that Eris is one of the more disliked daughters of Nyx (whether in history or this game). Her attacks aren't too bad, though they are imbalanced: the bomb attacks are too easy to dodge, but the shotgun attack leaves the player stunlocked (and the rapid fire attack where she dashes is also tricky to avoid at first). I've heard complaints about the Empowering Blast, but it's actually in line with the first game, as well as Eris' character. It will need tuning as time goes on though (fun idea: make the Empowering Blast gentle at first, but then make the final Hazard Bomb Empowering Blast ramp up to something like +200% damage).

A major suggestion for incentivizing better attacking

Make bonus damage from backstabbing a possibility via the Arcana! Yes, this could also be done with a keepsake and/or weapon aspect, and yes, I know it's already a thing via a Boon or two, but having it doable via the Arcana (like with the Mirror of Night's Shadow Presence) better trains players that backstabbing foes is the best way to go, even when there's no bonus damage to be gained. After all, Melinoe is supposed to attack like an Unseen...

Overall...

• Less damage from certain foes is needed. We have the Oath and Chaos banes to make this more difficult if desired.
  
• Less move and attack speed from certain foes is also needed. We have the Oath to make this more difficult if desired.
  
• I'm excited to see what twists there will be in the Miniboss encounters!
  
• Same with the regular foes (the original game had Slashed Benefits from the Pact of Punishment).
  
• Same with the bosses (Extreme Measures, anyone?).

[The Sojourner]

Update: I just remembered through some more playtime that there was a foe from the Mourning Fields that I missed. It's not in the Book of Shadows, but it should be! I'd love to know its canonical name!

Anyway, it's like a Wailer, except larger and has an AOE suck attack, similar to the Bloat-shade. Thus, the comments for Wailer and Bloat-shade completely apply to this foe.