Isn't the first boss a little too much? (No spoilers)

[Myuzen]

I just beated the first boss, i struggled a little bit even having experience with sekiro.

And then i thought, for someone who doesn't have experience with parry-style games and this is the first approach of the genre maybe is too much? i'd like to hear your experience with the boss.

Maybe it was because i was supposed to go to other areas and farm items first? i know there are a lot of places i could go but the story lead me to this boss.

[Vic]

Well yeah, it's a Metroidvania.
The first time I met him, I had no life upgrades, barely any Tao fruit, and barely any skills, managed to beat the first phase and NOPE'd at the second.
Came back a couple of hours later after exploring and got him second try. That's just how this genre works.

[Kriya Takagi]

It really comes down to learning the move set once you have the attack pattern and timing down it becomes a bit easier

Iv never played sekiro never really interested me. So for this game when it comes to parrying I'm pulling from my experience in rhythm games when it comes to parry timing especially when there's a combo attack string

You be surprised with how playing rhythm game actually helps a lot with parry mechanics in games

[Kosm]

Different for everyone, I beat it first try without any upgrades

[hamstered09]

It's mostly down to just learning the attack pattern, I could beat him by just throwing Yi at him for around 20mins and just learning the phase 1 and 2. I'd say it's a great first boss as most people who come into this game will be more experienced with metroidvanias then parry style games like Sekiro, and this boss FORCES you to parry it or get completely destroyed which helps people see what the rest of the game will be like.

[MyCabbages]

It's significantly easier than the next major boss. When I beat the second Sols boss I had a bit of a 'that's it?' moment after the difficulty of the first major boss (which I enjoyed a lot).

[kellorkleft]

There's no doubt that the boss is spike in difficulty. To be fair though it's not that the boss is unnecessarily hard, it's the moment that the game takes off the training wheels. After this boss the real game begins. Some of the basic enemies you fight will require quick reflexes and familiarity to read their movements. That's the last lesson of this level, is teaching you to overcome that. Some of the first optional bosses you fight are twice as annoying as this guy.

Perfect deflections make this fight so much easier since consecutive deflects will stagger him, so I'd recommend you focus on that over offense. Sneaking in some attacks is nice, but it's not worth leaving yourself open for. Your main source of damage will come from your talismans, which you charge by deflecting.

There's jades that help with safely hitting him with talismans, but your best bet is to use them whenever he's staggered or at the end of a combo that you know you can dodge when using it. Good luck out there.

[The Comedian]

The real question is why the second boss is so much easier. I thought it'd have two phases.

[vinylanddigital]

Boss (the general) took me many tries, the moves aren't difficult to figure out and identify, but timing the parries and there is little room for error as a couple of hits will do you in, but once you get it down, I think it is great practice for the rest of the game, although some of the randomly placed mini bosses are kind of insane.

[kukukachu]

If you're gonna get through this game, you're gonna have to become very familiar with the parry system.

[Sorrow]

Since he's the same guy I defeated over and over in the demo, I defeated him first try and he hit only hit me 2 time in the second phase.
Although the boss of the level with yellow water is on a whole other level of hurt

[Narumanu]

just the difficulty that it needed, perfect boss
just did the second boss and it was piss easy unfortunately

[Myuzen]

I understand what you are all saying. For me, the difficulty was perfect too; the entire game scratched an itch I had after 100% completing Sekiro.

But my question was for people not familiar with the genre, and I think the first boss encounter is already 2 hours or more into the game, making it non-refundable.

Games like Dark Souls or Sekiro already have the reputation of being difficult, but with Nine Sols, I thought it would be fairer for people not familiar with metroidvanias.

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Myuzen:

I understand what you are all saying. For me, the difficulty was perfect too; the entire game scratched an itch I had after 100% completing Sekiro.

But my question was for people not familiar with the genre, and I think the first boss encounter is already 2 hours or more into the game, making it non-refundable.

Games like Dark Souls or Sekiro already have the reputation of being difficult, but with Nine Sols, I thought it would be fairer for people not familiar with metroidvanias.

If you can't handle the difficulty, and can't refund... you can still switch to story mode at any time. You can make it deal anywhere between 1 to 100% damage to you, and can do between 100 and 1000% damage to enemies. If you have a hard time, it's entirely by your own choice.

[Δsh]

Originally posted by Goblin:

Can you change difficulty mid-playthrough? cause i haven't figured it out and do we know for sure if it locks out any content or anything? I've had fun up until this one miniboss in agriculture district who drops bombs when they teleport and if this game is gonna be this difficult then i made a big mistake choosing "normal" mode cause to be honest i'd rather just fight orhpan of kos or nightmare king grim at this point

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Δsh:

Originally posted by Goblin:

Can you change difficulty mid-playthrough? cause i haven't figured it out and do we know for sure if it locks out any content or anything? I've had fun up until this one miniboss in agriculture district who drops bombs when they teleport and if this game is gonna be this difficult then i made a big mistake choosing "normal" mode cause to be honest i'd rather just fight orhpan of kos or nightmare king grim at this point

Options > Gameplay > Switch to Story Mode. Same place the actual settings for Story Mode go when you're on it.
I'm not sure since I obviously haven't seen everything in the game yet, but I seriously doubt it locks you out of anything content wise. Only an achievement for beating the game on Standard Mode (called Fight Through Hardship).