Thanks to the developers for a bad game. You don't know how to make balanced bosses.

[Legion_Pheonix]

It's sad to see how developers from metroidvania are trying to make Dark Souls, without realizing that they are doing something wrong.
Valo the First Knight is a clear proof of this. Making a fat boss with heaps of HP is a disgusting decision. In addition, he has a lot of AOE attacks throughout almost the entire area of the arena. I don’t understand what kind of place, but the developers definitely didn’t think with their heads. this boss definitely needs to be nerfed in terms of damage and AOE attacks, because it's just clowning.
You feel like nothing every time you fight a stronger boss. The feeling that pumping does not help at all, that is, the balance in places is very bad.
In addition, there are balanced bosses that are really passable, because they do not hit the entire field and have a normal HP bar.
I can immediately say that this is far from being a metroidvania in terms of the combat system, this is some kind of perversion.
I don't play Souls Like games well, but you expect interesting solutions and real adventures from metroidvania.
Here we observe a monotonous movement across the map in search of new weapons in order to somehow return the necessary damage at the location where they kill you with two hits, and you poke the enemy’s toothpick for a very long time, because the level and your damage do not correspond to the current weapons. And you need to do this every time in a new location. An ingenious solution to a terrible level design.
It is very sad that the developers made such a bad game in terms of gameplay, but with good visuals and beautiful art.

[FriedRice]

Originally posted by Legion_Pheonix:

Valo the First Knight is a clear proof of this. Making a fat boss with heaps of HP is a disgusting decision. In addition, he has a lot of AOE attacks throughout almost the entire area of the arena. I don’t understand what kind of place, but the developers definitely didn’t think with their heads.

What are you talking about? Valo was a great fight and wasn't that tanky. It's just during the second phase she'll burn herself to death so focus on dodging... So why don't you try your own advice and think with your head. Listening to a boss' tells and responding appropriately, learning from your mistakes in combat. YES... YOU ARE GOING TO DIE A LOT, what part of that did you not get from the opening sequence about Renee being unable to die.

Originally posted by Legion_Pheonix:

Here we observe a monotonous movement across the map in search of new weapons in order to somehow return the necessary damage at the location where they kill you with two hits,

But Hollow Knight is the same way. Castlevania is the same way. Megaman is the same way, Dark souls is the same way. In all of them you're literally running jumping and dashing across the same terrain over and over and over again, killing the same enemies. Moving around the map is a skill you learn from game to game. Learning Bosses is something you do when you want to progress.

Originally posted by Legion_Pheonix:

It is very sad that the developers made such a bad game in terms of gameplay, but with good visuals and beautiful art.

This game by all means isn't perfect, but I do think it's got a strong foundation for other installments. I agree that bosses could be polished up a bit. Give them a half second extra wind-up so players can read them and better tells, like a flash before executing, and they'll be good. Though outside of that, they are pretty much following every play by the book.

[SuperBearCat]

literally git gud

Valo the First Knight is one of the more difficult bosses because of her high level, HP and damage, but her attack pattern is really easy and straightforward once you've learned it. Melania, the secret boss from Elden Ring was definitely 100 times harder than Valo.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by FriedRice:

This game by all means isn't perfect, but I do think it's got a strong foundation for other installments. I agree that bosses could be polished up a bit. Give them a half second extra wind-up so players can read them and better tells, like a flash before executing, and they'll be good. Though outside of that, they are pretty much following every play by the book.

You yourself admit that the game has problems. So let's judge the developer on the merits, the bosses are not polished and this is already a big joint. Let them fix obvious problems.
Hollow Knigh leveling is completely different, there is no concept of leveling up for the character, it is there that you improve your main weapon and gain skills not only to access new locations, but also to solve boss battles.
Here it is pumping the level in its entirety. You can’t use your favorite weapon and upgrade it many times, only three times and then the damage will be quite low anyway.
So you're not correct in comparing games at all. In addition, Hollow Knight has great responsive controls.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Beruang Fighter:

literally git gud

Valo the First Knight is one of the more difficult bosses because of her high level, HP and damage, but her attack pattern is really easy and straightforward once you've learned it. Melania, the secret boss from Elden Ring was definitely 100 times harder than Valo.

addition, a heavenly attack from the sky that hits you everywhere and leaves only a small safe area on the other side of the arena. This is poorly and disgustingly implemented.
We play primarily Metroidvania, not Dark Souls. This is what the players cannot understand, what exactly I am dissatisfied with.
Play the latest Metroid Dread, where the developers really worked on the balance. Can't beat the boss? Then look in the back streets and hidden places, thereby you will find the treasured improvement that will help you get through the boss and even defeat enemies more quickly. That's really where you feel the pumping and that you become more powerful due to the correct study of the world.
It doesn't work that way in this game, unfortunately. You don't understand it. Here, most of the places are inaccessible and you cannot get the coveted improvement for jumping on walls and hitting the ground elsewhere, these improvements only drop from the bosses. And here it is a vicious circle. That's why I say that this is not a full-fledged metroidvania, artificially over-sweetened.

[Broso]

I thought so too at first but you're simply trying to beat him too early. Just keep exploring and come back later, it will be so much easier then.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Broso:

I thought so too at first but you're simply trying to beat him too early. Just keep exploring and come back later, it will be so much easier then.

So the rest of the locations are not available to me now.
I don't have wall jumping and ground slamming to get access to new locations.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Beruang Fighter:

Sounds like you need to git gud at exploration too. this game is very open you can get to almost every area in the world early on.
FYI that Valo boss is a level 60 late game boss.

Naturally, I went through all the areas that I could get to with my current skills. I'm level 57 and I still poke the boss with a toothpick. The damage is negligible, although the sword costs 131 damage.
I have 100500 to write to you again that I don't have wall jumping and ground slamming skills to expand the search for items and leveling talents. It feels like I'm talking to a wall.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Beruang Fighter:

Sounds like you need to git gud at exploration too. this game is very open you can get to almost every area in the world early on.
FYI that Valo boss is a level 60 late game boss.

Or you offer me to play Diablo mechanics, where it takes a long and tedious pumping of a character to level 60 and above in order to defeat everyone with one or two blows.
This is not a metroidvania mechanic. Are you sure we're talking about the same game?
Otherwise, I have a feeling that we are discussing looter mechanics from the action-RPG genre like Diablo.

[Asakura Shinichi]

I dont even know what this guy is about, Valo was laughable. I did not even dodge and still was able to beat him easy, heal up between phases and do same in second phase without healing and much dodging. Not to mention you can easily get overleveled by heaps and steamroll bosses which you would never be able in some of the really difficult metroidvanias.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

You have, but you have to understand one thing, the era of handholding and babysitting games is coming to a close and we are going back to games being actually challenging. If you are beating a boss at first try without any knowledge of it or getting ready, than this is when the developers actually make a mistake.
Also this is a rant not an opinion, you can dislike this game, this games difficulty and boss designs, but harrasing the devs with your ranting and calling it bad design is going overboard of a simple subjective opinion.

So the game has a number of obvious problems.
Why should I, as a buyer, forgive all this?
You just obviously don't understand that this boss has a very small hit window and his attacks are very fast and rare.
Moreover, the arena is large enough that you can not see the boss and his adopted position.
Moreover, he has a lot of the same type of poses, according to which it is not always clear how exactly he will hit.
And after your comment, am I supposed to silently swallow the developers' cant and praise them for their own cant?
Or maybe the developer will listen and start correcting the game's errors in the gameplay.

There is also the Souldiers metroidvania, which has also been overhauled by the bosses. I especially remember the scorpion in the Pyramid. where a fix for the second phase of the boss was also needed. And many wrote about it and complained. There, the leveling of hero classes was also broken, which was the easiest to play as an archer. This is also a clear indicator that the developers themselves do not fully understand how to balance the opponents and the character. In addition, after a week of the release of the game, there was a daredevil and modified the game files, correcting the balance of it, and it became really pleasant to play.
So I’m essentially saying that there are jambs in aftefimage, and while the fattest ones are the bosses themselves, it’s clearly visible that the game was poorly tested by different people. It seems that one team made enemies and bosses normal, the other made them too strong and naughty.

[Asakura Shinichi]

His attacks are not fast, there are bosses with faster attacks, in this game and in other games like Hollow Knight which is universally praised and hailed as a masterpiece of metroidvania and you cant overlevel yourself, there is no easy way out there. The boss has some really easy telegraphed attacks, he is not even needed for main strory progression, nor to beat him at that point as well, there is even a video on youtube of a guy on level 65 beating him wihtout even dodging most of his attacks and jumping straight into them, or not doging pass him to stay behind him when he lifts his sword up which is the sign he will do his giant aoe attack which does not reach far behind him. Unlike Souldiers no one complains about bad bosses or the difficulty of Valo, cause there is none.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

What proof? Am is supposed to replay 30 hours of the game from start to this boss just to prove im right? See this is what discards your opinion. What level are you? What gear do you use? You have iframe dash? I was level 78 way past the level of this zone, i had iframe dash, and a lot of very strong gear. If you cant take even into account that i was overleveled from my statement, than your opinion is not an opinion but a rant by someone getting rekt by a boss.

Please see my equipment
https://i.imgur.com/WwaLmKs.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/dGkTonI.jpeg

[Asakura Shinichi]

Wait why arent you using any of the additional afterimages at the bottom, you have 2 divine seeds and you use none. Also Anemogrim? Thats literally a drop from this area. If you did what you are supposed to do in a metroidvania game, which is explore, you would have much better weapons at this point as you pass through some areas that much better ones in chests. Considering all this i can already guess you might be below level 50 or slightly over level 50.
Seriously look at this guy
https://youtu.be/4LuVfZErg0g
he makes a ton of mistakes and even jumps into the attacks and gets damaged and he still beats this boss. The game lets you pause the game and move through the menu and even heal from it or use food.

[Legion_Pheonix]

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

Wait why arent you using any of the additional afterimages at the bottom, you have 2 divine seeds and you use none. Also Anemogrim? Thats literally a drop from this area. If you did what you are supposed to do in a metroidvania game, which is explore, you would have much better weapons at this point as you pass through some areas that much better ones in chests. Considering all this i can already guess you might be below level 50 or slightly over level 50.
Seriously look at this guy
https://youtu.be/4LuVfZErg0g
he makes a ton of mistakes and even jumps into the attacks and gets damaged and he still beats this boss. The game lets you pause the game and move through the menu and even heal from it or use food.

Where exactly should divine seed be used?
I don't have the "iframe dash" ability. And where to take it?

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by Legion_Pheonix:

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

Wait why arent you using any of the additional afterimages at the bottom, you have 2 divine seeds and you use none. Also Anemogrim? Thats literally a drop from this area. If you did what you are supposed to do in a metroidvania game, which is explore, you would have much better weapons at this point as you pass through some areas that much better ones in chests. Considering all this i can already guess you might be below level 50 or slightly over level 50.
Seriously look at this guy
https://youtu.be/4LuVfZErg0g
he makes a ton of mistakes and even jumps into the attacks and gets damaged and he still beats this boss. The game lets you pause the game and move through the menu and even heal from it or use food.

Where exactly should divine seed be used?
I don't have the "iframe dash" ability. And where to take it?

Well if you have trouble with Valo, you are not ready for iframe dash ability since that boss is around level 70 and is very hard if you are anything lower than level 70, and even than he will be challenging, only till you notice how to easy abuse his moveset. Also since you use dual blades, their attack where you press up and attack button is one of the most overpowered move in the game shredding through a lot of the bosses HP.
I said this in a different topic, in fact in several, i did challenge myself quite a lot cause i tried to beat the boss that drops the upgraded dash on level 55 or something around this, i was heavily underleveled and managed to beat it anyway (took me around 1 hour or so to learn his weakness is his moveset), but in turn killed a lot of the challenges of other bosses cause of being hugely overleveled for them with the iframe dash faster than i should have.