Zhang Liang is not difficult

[Omnifas]

Almost every impression/review mention that he's the hardest boss in the game.

I don't get it... He's a pretty easy to read flowchart. Phase 1, Keep your distance and there's a 60% chance he'll do the red glowing rush in that is easy to read. Sometimes he'll do a jumping version to change the timing.

Phase 2 is the same, keep distance and deflect the red glowing arm thrust and it's a guaranteed dizzy for about 15% damage.

[Dou B Jin]

I think people are mistaking Zhang Liao for Zhang Liang since they sound so similar. Guy is basically a normal enemy in phase 1 and only half an HP bar in phase 2.

So far I've been up to Xiapi and my personal 3 is Zhang Liao, Lu Bu, and Aoyi that manage to hard stop me for a bit.

Honorable mention to the gank squad that is tiger's subject. Reminds me of DS 2 with how often you're just thrown in against multiple enemy as a form of challenge.

[Yum_Beer]

You can legit just stunlock Zhang Liang's first phase (except the charge attacks, you have to parry those) with the pole arm podao, and then it's just a matter of learning his second phase.

[Yian Yan]

Zhang Liang is definitely way harder than quite a few of the bosses that follow him. Not 'hardest in the game' but he is a rude gatekeeper for the game especially since he has two phases (1.5 on first run) and a lot of bosses that probably merit two phases just... don't.

[DontEatSmurfs]

Originally posted by Yian Yan:

Zhang Liang is definitely way harder than quite a few of the bosses that follow him. Not 'hardest in the game' but he is a rude gatekeeper for the game especially since he has two phases (1.5 on first run) and a lot of bosses that probably merit two phases just... don't.

they will later on, imo zhang liang is the first gatekeeper followed by lu bu that will teach you again how to deflect followed by the lu bu "demon" mode

[Lucifer_]

Originally posted by DontEatSmurfs:

Originally posted by Yian Yan:

Zhang Liang is definitely way harder than quite a few of the bosses that follow him. Not 'hardest in the game' but he is a rude gatekeeper for the game especially since he has two phases (1.5 on first run) and a lot of bosses that probably merit two phases just... don't.

they will later on, imo zhang liang is the first gatekeeper followed by lu bu that will teach you again how to deflect followed by the lu bu "demon" mode

lu bu demon mode is a joke. the first lu bu fight is good though

[Prismatic Lollipop]

chinese names be difficult.
but the most challenging fight for me was Lu Bu's right hand man, the guy with the massive lightning sword.
the first 10 attempts, he didn't react to getting hit, and on my 11th attempt he started to get interrupted when i attacked him (same weapon, same level, same stats every single time).

so that was confusing, but in the end he lost to me after i figured him out.

[Lucifer_]

Originally posted by Prismatic Lollipop:

chinese names be difficult.
but the most challenging fight for me was Lu Bu's right hand man, the guy with the massive lightning sword.
the first 10 attempts, he didn't react to getting hit, and on my 11th attempt he started to get interrupted when i attacked him (same weapon, same level, same stats every single time).

so that was confusing, but in the end he lost to me after i figured him out.

wait till the rematch sub mission. He gets even more crazy with souped up damage and health. Still a fun fight though. I like how you can avoid some attacks by just standing still and he'll just pass over your head lol.

[Prismatic Lollipop]

Originally posted by Lucifer_:

Originally posted by Prismatic Lollipop:

chinese names be difficult.
but the most challenging fight for me was Lu Bu's right hand man, the guy with the massive lightning sword.
the first 10 attempts, he didn't react to getting hit, and on my 11th attempt he started to get interrupted when i attacked him (same weapon, same level, same stats every single time).

so that was confusing, but in the end he lost to me after i figured him out.

wait till the rematch sub mission. He gets even more crazy with souped up damage and health. Still a fun fight though. I like how you can avoid some attacks by just standing still and he'll just pass over your head lol.

i did that sidequest with the 3 NPC Warriors coming at you at once in that small arena.
nothing so far, nothing at all, comes even remotely close to that sidequest's difficulty.
one of them throws bombs at you as the other shoots arrows at you, as the third throws barrages of attacks at you, all at the same time.
even if you try to focus on one at a time, the other two keep raining down attacks on you. design-wise it was the worst fight so far, i felt less disadvantaged fighting Nobunaga, his wife, and his Obsidian guard all at once in Nioh 2.

[Lucifer_]

Originally posted by Prismatic Lollipop:

Originally posted by Lucifer_:

wait till the rematch sub mission. He gets even more crazy with souped up damage and health. Still a fun fight though. I like how you can avoid some attacks by just standing still and he'll just pass over your head lol.

i did that sidequest with the 3 NPC Warriors coming at you at once in that small arena.
nothing so far, nothing at all, comes even remotely close to that sidequest's difficulty.
one of them throws bombs at you as the other shoots arrows at you, as the third throws barrages of attacks at you, all at the same time.
even if you try to focus on one at a time, the other two keep raining down attacks on you. design-wise it was the worst fight so far, i felt less disadvantaged fighting Nobunaga, his wife, and his Obsidian guard all at once in Nioh 2.

ahaha yeah that one's so dumb. I just kept running around while occasionally using imposing slab behind me and they kept running into it and died. I don't think there's a way to beat it "legit".

[sadness]

By your logic no action game is hard because you just damage the enemy while dodging the enemy attacks. *Mindblown*

[eontype]

Originally posted by Omnifas:

Almost every impression/review mention that he's the hardest boss in the game.

I don't get it... He's a pretty easy to read flowchart. Phase 1, Keep your distance and there's a 60% chance he'll do the red glowing rush in that is easy to read. Sometimes he'll do a jumping version to change the timing.

Phase 2 is the same, keep distance and deflect the red glowing arm thrust and it's a guaranteed dizzy for about 15% damage.

Most people don't even make it to the other bosses and he is strictly stronger than a few as he has multiple phases, you have random gear from the level, and you know non of the mechanics. However, he isn't the hardest boss he does have weaknesses. He however, is a 2 part boss that you have to beat the first part to even try to understand.
My hardest boss is mister clone spammy pants. Why should ANYONE have designed THAT is beyond me. The boss runs from you and the minions spam 9 ranged aoe spells. I spent 30 seconds pushing nothing but circle and never coming out of the parry animation.
Some bosses were clearly designed for you to abuse the "morale" and the "respec" functions of the game so hard that its not even funny. Zang Rang was a mistake.
Tho he seems to completely fall apart if you abuse summons.

[Spirit]

Have not faced a difficult boss in this game yet. Then again, I am used to the Nioh series, so the standard and spectrum is a bit different. Lu Bu would have been considered easy-average in Nioh. At least, when I remember back to Masamune and Maeda, that is my impression.

[gofgof]

The problem with the games first boss is a few things.
1: He has 2 phases which most other bosses do not have.
2: At this stage players have a limited amount of tools to help them
3: Players are stuck in what is more or less the tutorial area until they can beat the tutorial boss, they can not go anywhere else like you can later in the game.
4: Players that struggle can not get a friend to help them since coop unlock after this boss.
5: This one is for the publisher. This boss is so early in the game that those who struggle with him will refund the game.

And lastly, just because he is easy for you does not mean he is easy for everyone. Personally I beat him after having irl fallen down a stair and as a result had close to 20 cuts in my right hand since I held something that shattered in it. So thing is he is doable but I can see the devs nerfing him if they get to many refunds because of him.

[Noop]

Remember that reviewer who couldnt beat cuphead tutorial? Same thing, people should not brag about being too bad to beat the tutorial but buckel up and get good.

[[Slayer]]

Originally posted by 729:

Have not faced a difficult boss in this game yet. Then again, I am used to the Nioh series, so the standard and spectrum is a bit different. Lu Bu would have been considered easy-average in Nioh. At least, when I remember back to Masamune and Maeda, that is my impression.

Largely build dependent for a lot of people I believe. People getting one shot by the bosses tend to report they are very hard. In most dark souls like games I scale Armor and HP with weapons that maybe scale off the same thing. Elden ring was easy mode with a strong enough shield and a poking sword or spear.

Doing the same in this game with min Earth for green weight using heavy armor and scaling Wood for HP and damage with a sword. With high beast hit gain for the healing dragon along with using absorb vitality before fatal blows I sometimes never even touch my pots.