Some of the talk about Khazan has made me wonder if I might actually be good at video games.

[Talloran]

Boss name spoilers, you've been warned.

I'll keep this part short: Yes, I have played plenty of games with a reputation of being challenging, and I've done some very basic "challenge runs" of some of them. I put that in quotes because I think I've only ever attempted a level 1 run once, and didn't finish it. I'm a fan of tough roguelikes and soulslikes in general.

But I've never done anything crazy like a no-damage run in any game, and frankly I doubt I ever could. I tend to struggle against the same bosses and levels that most people seem to, hit the same roadblocks, and Khazan was no exception. Viper gave me 28 stab wounds. Maluca turned my health bar purple. Rangkus set me on fire in a drive by shooting. Bellerian taught me how Elden Ring bosses must feel when I use spirit summons. So on, so forth.

But... But five hours? On Viper? An entire day to beat Trokka? Calling bosses health sponges? Am I taking crazy pills? I know the steam forums are full of bait, but I see this stuff on Reddit too.

Like... I am the personification of the meme "Damn, I got greedy". I mash buttons like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ape even after I've memorized the moveset of a boss, no matter what, because button mashing gives me dopamine even if it gets me killed. I understand this and do it anyway, because I'm simple like that, and have no self control or discipline. I can dodge adequately, but often can't parry to save my life because my brain is square shaped and the prospect of not dodging confuses me. All of this and more, and I still cruised through this game on normal mode. My biggest roadblock was Elamein, because I'm not smart enough to understand that her shield is good at protecting her.

So... What the heck are y'all doing? Are you okay? You literally just have to dodge and deflect--you can do either based off of your mood--then hit the boss. You can hit them a lot, they tend to let you do long combos on them for free, because the game wants you to feel cool. There are abilities that let you do anime-as-heck combo chains easily for this exact purpose.

Genuinely, I'm struggling to envision what it might look like on your screen. Are you just standing there and getting hit? Do you only use light attacks? Are you waiting for permission from the boss to win? This game has "Berserker" in the title, was that not enough of a hint to play aggressive?

So either I'm better than I thought, or I'm still average and most people genuinely kinda suck. With all the complaining I've been seeing I honestly don't know which it is, and I'm not sure the boost to my ego is worth losing even more of my faith in humanity if its the former.

[Sokurah]

I'm someone who actually enjoys fighting bosses, usually. I made no hit fights for YT and even some one handed fights from bosses I really enjoy. I can wipe the floor with Isshin while listening to music on headphones and not even hearing game sounds, because i legit beat that guy over 100 times i guess. I mead glass cannon no hit fight with Geal and Midir.

So it's not that i hate boss fights but somehow i have very mixed feelings with bosses in this game so far.

But i tend to complain a lot and usually as soon i've beat the boss they don't seem as bad anymore. But at the same time there is not one boss i really would like to learn that deep to make a perfect fight.

Yes i think the HP pool sometimes is a problem, you really are chipping away at the boss HP sometimes, at least with spear. Combine that with the fact that a lot of bosses can one or two shot you, (Agility A) sometimes with long combos that are super dangerous you are in for a treat.

Combine that with multiple phases or changing movesets towards the end of the fight where a boss often gets even more dangerous it's even worse,

I just beat Trokka yesterday and she is just boring because a lot of the time you can't even reach her. Other bosses jump around a lot as well, or have a shield to block a lot of attacks.

Other human bosses have insane stamina regen. So often you are just before breaking them and then suddenly they will start another moveset and are back at full stamina.

Don't even let me start with Maculas healing, or corruption.

It's the fact that depending on playstyle, bosses can be very tiresome and tedious and at the same time can kill you very fast. That means you need to fight thru a boring beginning over and over again.

It feels like the bosses do everything to slowyou down and make fights as tedious as possible. I mean a good fight with Isshin takes 4 or 5 Minutes for 4 Phases. He is deadly but so are you.

You can be deadly and fast to some extent, but it seems so much more dangerous. You need to back of to regain staimna or let the bosses finish there moves, like flying or running around. The fights feel like a slog and that's the biggest issue for me.

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

It's the fact that depending on playstyle, bosses can be very tiresome and tedious and at the same time can kill you very fast. That means you need to fight thru a boring beginning over and over again.

Exactly. Change your playstyle if it's not working.

[Sokurah]

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

It's the fact that depending on playstyle, bosses can be very tiresome and tedious and at the same time can kill you very fast. That means you need to fight thru a boring beginning over and over again.

Exactly. Change your playstyle if it's not working.

No, why would I? Spear with low equipload is obviously an intended playstyle and i didnt like the movesets of the other weapons. Yes, mabe i'm making it worse for myself but i will finish the game this way or not finish it at all.

Dont get me wrong the spear combat itself is fun. It just takes too long to chip away at boss HP bars. Same goes for some elites.

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Exactly. Change your playstyle if it's not working.

No, why would I? Spear with low equipload is obviously an intended playstyle and i didnt like the movesets of the other weapons. Yes, mabe i'm making it worse for myself but i will finish the game this way or not finish it at all.

Dont get me wrong the spear combat itself is fun. It just takes too long to chip away at boss HP bars. Same goes for some elites.

The spear is good. Bosses take around 2-4 minutes to kill so if it's taking you longer, that's definitely something you're doing wrong and you should look into it.

[Sokurah]

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

No, why would I? Spear with low equipload is obviously an intended playstyle and i didnt like the movesets of the other weapons. Yes, mabe i'm making it worse for myself but i will finish the game this way or not finish it at all.

Dont get me wrong the spear combat itself is fun. It just takes too long to chip away at boss HP bars. Same goes for some elites.

The spear is good. Bosses take around 2-4 minutes to kill so if it's taking you longer, that's definitely something you're doing wrong and you should look into it.

Well i havent stopped the time and it's certainly not that bad for some bosses. Trokka and Elemian were the worst i guess. For others you often can get somewhat quicker fights if you play aggressive. I actually like that to some degree. But it's also very risky and can get you killed quick.

So you're stuck between a long somewhat safe fight where you still can die very quick, or a faster fight where you almost need to be perfect to not die. If you fun out of stamina before a long combo it can be over quick.

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Originally posted by 电动天使:

The spear is good. Bosses take around 2-4 minutes to kill so if it's taking you longer, that's definitely something you're doing wrong and you should look into it.

Welli havent stopped the time and it's certainly not that bad for some bosses. Trokka and Elemian were the worst i guess. For others you often can get somewhat quicker fight if you play aggressive. I actually like that to some degree. But it's also very risky and can get you killed quick.

Trokka and Elamein are definitely examples of fights you have to go super aggressive on otherwise it'll take longer than necessary. If you're struggling with anything, I could give you tips if you'd like.

[Khan]

If you have to ask, no. You're not.
If you know you are, sorry chief, still bad.

[Sokurah]

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Welli havent stopped the time and it's certainly not that bad for some bosses. Trokka and Elemian were the worst i guess. For others you often can get somewhat quicker fight if you play aggressive. I actually like that to some degree. But it's also very risky and can get you killed quick.

Trokka and Elamein are definitely examples of fights you have to go super aggressive on otherwise it'll take longer than necessary. If you're struggling with anything, I could give you tips if you'd like.

Well how are you making them quicker if they fly and run around :D

I mean brink dodge and attack interrupts many moves, in know that. Some moves or combos are better to parry. But Trokka hits like a tank with some range moves so you better evade them not too late which means you will need to endure the combo.

But Elemain sometimes will just keep blocking and Trokka has flying moves and some aoe attack that you just need to stay away from. I also thought her range moves were a bit deceptive. It took a while to get used to them.

The big Rankor boss was also very tedious. He had way too much HP for a boss that isnt really that interesting.

I think Macula was actually my fav. fight so far if it wasnt for the healing and the corruption.

[Zogtar]

I've swapped my playstyle around once so far. Have been doing mainly a deflection focused GS build up until Volbaino.

Luckily they give us items to respec if we hit walls...

I've been having fun, failing and learning ways to win as I go.. But I do struggle. 40+ tries on a few bosses.

I'm not that good. But I support you being amazing, OP.

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Trokka and Elamein are definitely examples of fights you have to go super aggressive on otherwise it'll take longer than necessary. If you're struggling with anything, I could give you tips if you'd like.

Well how are you making them quicker if they fly and run around :D

I mean brink dodge and attack interrupts many moves, in know that. Some moves or combos are better to parry. But Trokka hits like a tank with some range moves so you better evade them not too late which means you will need to endure the combo.

But Elemain sometimes will just keep blocking and Trokka has flying moves and some aoe attack that you just need to stay away from. I also thought her range moves were a bit deceptive. It took a while to get used to them.

The big Rankor boss was also very tedious. He had way too much HP for a boss that isnt really that interesting.

I think Macula was actually my fav. fight so far if it wasnt for the healing and the corruption.

Trokka and Elamein you just have to go 100% aggressive.

Trokka is easier to pull off since pretty much everything she does is interruptable and you get a nice combo off it. Whenever she goes for melee hits to defend herself (all she can do at close range besides running away and that interruptible jellyfish attack) you reflect and take off a big chunk of stamina and get a combo off. After flying she always gives you a massive opening, but that's obvious.

Elamein you just have to watch for when she retaliates and you can get combo her in the back when she's exposed. Some moves will naturally leave her back exposed and her combos are quite easy to reflect too. Shadow Strike or whatever it was called should be good in the fight too, I just didn't think to use it back then.

The big tiger dude is weak to fire and he also gives you a ton of free damage by basically just existing the entire fight. He'll frequently fall to the ground and do nothing and that's when you pile on the damage.

[Sokurah]

Well i just met the Macula ripoff side boss :D

I' just not doing that. It's not fun. This is another thing. The same bosses over and over again. The healing mid fight was not fun the first time and it isnt either now.

Game starts really to drag. Bosses and levels. I don't know if i can finish it.

And i played Nioh 2 for 150 hours or so all DLCs included. It's way more fun and does the formular way better.

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Well i just met the Macula ripoff side boss :D

I' just not doing that. It's not fun. This is another thing. The same bosses over and over again. The healing mid fight was not fun the first time and it isnt either now.

Game starts really to drag. Bosses and levels. I don't know if i can finish it.

And i played Nioh 2 for 150 hours or so all DLCs included. It's way more fun and does the formular way better.

I'm not sure how you managed to stomach Nioh 2's amount of filler side missions. I dropped it because of that. This game is much shorter.

[Sokurah]

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Well i just met the Macula ripoff side boss :D

I' just not doing that. It's not fun. This is another thing. The same bosses over and over again. The healing mid fight was not fun the first time and it isnt either now.

Game starts really to drag. Bosses and levels. I don't know if i can finish it.

And i played Nioh 2 for 150 hours or so all DLCs included. It's way more fun and does the formular way better.

I'm not sure how you managed to stomach Nioh 2's amount of filler side missions. I dropped it because of that. This game is much shorter.

No Idea. The mob fighting and level desing is way better. I value this often even more than boss fights. It was just 134 hours tho :D

[电动天使]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

Originally posted by 电动天使:

I'm not sure how you managed to stomach Nioh 2's amount of filler side missions. I dropped it because of that. This game is much shorter.

No Idea. The mob fighting and level desing is way better. I value this often even more than boss fights. It was just 134 hours tho :D

In comparison, this game is around 30 hours for all main and side missions.

[Sokurah]

Originally posted by 电动天使:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

No Idea. The mob fighting and level desing is way better. I value this often even more than boss fights. It was just 134 hours tho :D

In comparison, this game is around 30 hours for all main and side missions.

I already passed 30 hours and i'm in the 3rd region :D I got stuck on some bosses tho.

Maybe i could get a better set of armor. I'm still upgrading my hound set. But this is another thing that bores me. The whole gear and stat system. I wasnt too much into it in Nioh either but if you just pick some good gear you are fine there.

I dont even wanna look at all these sets. It bores me. It almost feels like Diablo or something with all these stats. I'm not into that either. So maybe that's another reason why my damage might be not that good.