Thoughts on Marian's boss battle?

[KenjiN4]

In short I found the boss badly executed... If they at least shortened the barrel sections to 2 times instead of 4, it would be a lot better paced. Not to mention the VFX for the 3rd ground pound prior the sections looks broken and flashes rapidly, quite distracting. Not to mention that, premise-wise, the battle looks quite out of place compared to Provie's fight which has a fitting theme, it doesn't look much charming compared to other battles :t
Other than that... It's a decent fight, I like how she techs only on grounded attacks, making you focus on aerial attacks, and her patterns look nice. The barrel sections definitely need to be toned down however

[Canti]

I agree with everything, the barrel portion is awful.

[Billy Blaze]

Every boss, no matter the game, which goes into an untouchable phase where you need to dodge stuff till the phase ends is terrible boss design.

Remember when I had the problem with the "broken equipment" that made me one-shot stuff?
Before the solution, I never wanted to use it again, especially against bosses.
But oh boy, I destroyed her hard with it, because it was absolutely not fun.

[raven]

not fun

[Harrison]

what definitely doesn't help either is that the ground for the barrel phase is very awkwardly-spaced. It's far enough to do a pixel-perfect jump while walking, but landing zones don't seem consistent with either the on-screen art or the shadow of your character.

And if you accidentally start SPRINTING, you can kiss your health goodbye.

[KenjiN4]

Originally posted by PoyoJoe:

what definitely doesn't help either is that the ground for the barrel phase is very awkwardly-spaced. It's far enough to do a pixel-perfect jump while walking, but landing zones don't seem consistent with either the on-screen art or the shadow of your character.

And if you accidentally start SPRINTING, you can kiss your health goodbye.

I thought about mentioning how platforming through the blocks is very awkward, but I didn't know how to put that in words
If you start running you have to to it very far from the block you're aiming to, and if you want to go there walking, you need to jump from the very edge
It's not really a section that encourages experimentation at all, especially if you consider how awkward the barrels' hitboxes can also be :/

[Mahogany]

yeah the marian fight blows

she spends way too long being untouchable

[Dai Atlus]

The fight didn't bother me. By then you have access to some of the best healing items in the game by going to the Legal Drugs store to buy their goods.

Also, the jumping part works like this. One of your feet can stick out of the box and you'd still be standing on it. Jump from that position and you'll never miss. Alternatively, you can just wall jump and avoid the barrels as well.

[Loner]

Terrible boss. I died to Marian's barrel phase more than any other bosses. 1 Barrel is fine but dodging 2 is annoyingly hard unless you jump early. And if you jump late even before the barrels land, they hit you in mid jump.

[Billy Blaze]

Originally posted by Illiterate Scholar:

The fight didn't bother me. By then you have access to some of the best healing items in the game by going to the Legal Drugs store to buy their goods.

Also, the jumping part works like this. One of your feet can stick out of the box and you'd still be standing on it. Jump from that position and you'll never miss. Alternatively, you can just wall jump and avoid the barrels as well.

It's about the pacing, not the difficulty.
Did you even read the post or only the title?

[Pook and Pie]

She spends more time invulnerable than she does in a state where the player can deal damage, yeah.

She'd hop out of one of my combos, go invulnerable and chuck barrels, then come back down and instantly get combo'd again and go right back to being invulnerable. I swear she was invulnerable for 2-3 times the amount I was able to deal damage.

if the barrel tossing part was faster, or more engaging, then it'd be interesting, but it just seems like the barrel part drags on and you just want to get back to the part where you can do damage.

[Billy Blaze]

Originally posted by Pook and Pie:

She spends more time invulnerable than she does in a state where the player can deal damage, yeah.

She'd hop out of one of my combos, go invulnerable and chuck barrels, then come back down and instantly get combo'd again and go right back to being invulnerable. I swear she was invulnerable for 2-3 times the amount I was able to deal damage.

if the barrel tossing part was faster, or more engaging, then it'd be interesting, but it just seems like the barrel part drags on and you just want to get back to the part where you can do damage.

They did it right the first time in the first game where you fight "Noize".
This fight also has these moments, but they are:
- way more fun and actual kinda challenging
- they happen only once per phase and rise in difficulty each time

I mean, I guess the barrel stuff also raises in difficulty... but it's still lame.

[Raydiant]

Well I was using Riki and you can just air heavy attack on the same platform if you just jump to the side and heavy back in. Also was to busy listening to the bombass DD ost.

[Ceciliantas]

Sounds like a git gut issue.

[SKINLESSHEAD]

Originally posted by Ceciliantas:

Sounds like a git gut issue.

Why even post? You aren't adding anything to the conversation.

[Billy Blaze]

Originally posted by Ceciliantas:

Sounds like a git gut issue.

Sounds like another one can't read.