Lady Ethereal's first phase is a waste of time - remove it.

[K41Z3RR]

This may be an unpopular opinion. They say the first phase is meant to introduce the player to the boss, but in fact it very quickly becomes a no-damage waste of time.
You can learn the attacks in the second phase in exactly the same way. She is not balanced, so the first phase should be removed. If you want to babysit the players, you can make the first phase active until the first win, or make the first phase a separate, early boss fight, after which the boss goes to heal his wounds, but comes back "stronger" with the second phase as a starting point.

[Vic]

Nah. Like you say, it can be no-damaged easily once you're familiar with her, and lasts a minute at most. It's either a good learning path to the rest of the boss, or a good warm-up.

[K41Z3RR]

Originally posted by Vic:

Nah. Like you say, it can be no-damaged easily once you're familiar with her, and lasts a minute at most. It's either a good learning path to the rest of the boss, or a good warm-up.

And how many attempts did it take you to kill the boss after the first time you passed the first phase, let's say, missing no more than one hit in that first stage?
After that, I spent at least 15 minutes total on the first phase, just to get to the second, die there, or get to the third. Some people spend more time, and I probably did too - I don't remember exactly. So the first phase certainly teaches the player some basics, but then the learning slows down dramatically.

[K41Z3RR]

There is nothing wrong with three phases if they represent a proper staircase. But in this case the first step is very small, and the second and third are very high.

[Scorpix]

First phase is to learn patterns. You are writing from position of experienced player, but what about those who encounter her for the first time. It is also waste for them?

[johannes]

I don't find it a waste of time at all - coming from someone who is still trying to beat her. You can practice your unbounded counter on her attacks and if you really want to go to the second phase directly, simply block her drop attack with unbound counter, hit her with your talisman and then shoot her with your bow. Takes no longer than 10secs

[K41Z3RR]

Originally posted by Scorpix:

First phase is to learn patterns. You are writing from position of experienced player, but what about those who encounter her for the first time. It is also waste for them?

It will become a waste of time for them over time, yes. They need to be prepared, but in a slightly different way - my comment above explains the point. The difficulty ramp for this boss is very inconsistent.

[K41Z3RR]

Originally posted by johannes:

I don't find it a waste of time at all - coming from someone who is still trying to beat her. You can practice your unbounded counter on her attacks and if you really want to go to the second phase directly, simply give unbound counter, talisman hit and then shoot her with your bow. Takes no more than 10secs

Good cut. If most players can get through the first phase in 10 seconds, then okay. But I don't think so. And it's still not a perfect design, even if it's only for 10 seconds.
I'm sorry I'm so stubborn, but that's the way it is. In fact, I have nothing more to say, I can only repeat what I've said))

[kellorkleft]

My broder, I think the real issue is you need to take a break from the fight for a little while. If you aren't enjoying the fight, music or her funny laugh, and only feel frustrated by how long it takes to get through it, then you're just not going to enjoy it at all.

[HueyLewisFan]

this fight seems to be the "wall" for people who are losing their cool. its a long fight and part of its difficulty was staying calm the whole time. the difficulty in that first phase isn't the fight itself but not losing your mind knowing that you have two more difficult phases to get through. also, you can beat her by her second attack in phase 1 and i'm sure that could be optimized further by someone better than me.

[Cumbusted]

Originally posted by HueyLewisFan:

this fight seems to be the "wall" for people who are losing their cool. its a long fight and part of its difficulty was staying calm the whole time. the difficulty in that first phase isn't the fight itself but not losing your mind knowing that you have two more difficult phases to get through. also, you can beat her by her second attack in phase 1 and i'm sure that could be optimized further by someone better than me.

The game teaches you to block red attacks just before her fight but you can't use it because of the clones. That's real ♥♥♥♥♥♥.
The rest of the fight is fine, it's honestly really easy because of the rhythm she has to her attacks. It's just that attack oneshotting people as they try to block or dodge it incorrectly because the game misleads you.

[K41Z3RR]

Originally posted by kellorkleft:

My broder, I think the real issue is you need to take a break from the fight for a little while. If you aren't enjoying the fight, music or her funny laugh, and only feel frustrated by how long it takes to get through it, then you're just not going to enjoy it at all.

In this case, the developer should throw a scroll at the feet of the main character, which will describe everything you just said.
Personally, I would be happy with a harder first phase and maybe a slight weakening of the second phase. The third seems easy once you realize that you just need to block everything without trying to attack until the last moment (until triple red attack or falling).

[Cumbusted]

Originally posted by K41Z3RR:

Originally posted by kellorkleft:

My broder, I think the real issue is you need to take a break from the fight for a little while. If you aren't enjoying the fight, music or her funny laugh, and only feel frustrated by how long it takes to get through it, then you're just not going to enjoy it at all.

In this case, the developer should throw a scroll at the feet of the main character, which will describe everything you just said.
Personally, I would be happy with a harder first phase and maybe a slight weakening of the second phase. The third seems easy once you realize that you just need to block everything without trying to attack until the last moment.

You can actually catch some other openings but it's harder because she has so many clones.
It's basically Phase 2 but faster, so one of the clones doing normal attacks is still her but the explosion one is guaranteed. If you're always charging up an attack you can get a few more chances to hit her basically.

[Ventus]

I don't understand why anyone would complain about this. Her first phase goes by SO quickly and it's by far the easiest phase of any boss. In my eyes, she's a two phase boss with a quick little intro. It's not something that warrants removal.

[proarchy]

I'm to the point I can get through the first two phases easily, but she just whips me in the third. Like, controller smashing whippings.

[Shiro]

Sorry, what this discussion is about? Lady E has two phases (plus a nearly unnoticeable warm up where you max out on qi before phase 1).