Whats you opinion on Red Hall of Cages boss?

[Hai Zhu Tzen]

I really wanna know others opinions on it. Design-wise, it was disturbing as all hell, which is great for the game like that. But gameplay wise, he felt REALLY cheap. My character was light armored (dishwasher set), with two-handed kureimoa, and tachi with tier 3 pistol (shock ammo), so i rely on rolling very much. And OH BOY DID I REGRET IT THERE. It felt like its impossible to avoid damage - at least once, there was a moment, where both right flamethrowers started at once, leaving me no room to dodge, and boss attacked at the same time. Its a constant dilemma between getting hit by a boss, burned by a flamethrower, and getting knocked into "lol oneshot" abyss. Not to mention - his second phase has a weak spot, that is usually so out-of-reach, i don't think i could have make it without a kureimoa (thought, you should have seen how i ended him - without a healing items, on my lowest health, and with a LEAP OF FAITH!)

So yea... What do you think about this boss?

[gungadin22000]

I like him. He's a "puzzle boss", meaning that once you work out his particular pattern and where to hit him, it's just a matter of timing. He doesn't take much in the way of twitch skill to beat, just patience and a bit of alertness.

That's not to say he's EASY though. He's one of the instances where you definitely need to change your gear loadout for the situation. And exploiting the "no damage while climbing" trick helps a hell of a lot as well.

[Averagedog]

It is bad gameplay design to have him easily instakill. But it has good visual design.

The problem with that boss fight is that the window for safespots are too minimal. The "Safe" platforms are temporary in that if all the flamethrowers are going at once and the boss is also in the process of stomping, you literally have nowhere to go. This happens more often than you may think...

[Phelsarus'Beel]

Gotta say Tree of Man was a hard nut to crack at first but then I started doing the same thing I did for some other bosses and that was looking at what I had in terms of gear and adjust to that.

For starters you can get the ring that reduces fatigue inside the Red Hall of Cages what helps a bit. Then the Impen Crest ring and the Blacksmith set (about +2 on the entire set) allows you to easily tank the flamejets without much damage or just tank through most the firebased attacks of the tree itself.

As for weapons I used the Shrouded Bulwark at I think +3 or 4 what made the first phase rather easy since I destroyed the corpses in 2 hits each. For phase 2 I just stuck to the left side of the platforms because the right side has the crumbeling platforms on the top. Basicly all I did was stay on the platform below the top and jumping up when I saw him getting ready to swing and then hitting him in the head (since it's rather close at that point).

Really I find Tree of Man to be a rather fun boss. It's tricky at first but he heavily telegraphs a lot of his attacks and with high fire resistance it's very easy to tank a lot of damage from any firebased attack from both him and the flamejets. And even then you can just skip him early on and kill him once you get the Dartbrand what means you also got a place to easily grind materials for weapon upgrades and just a good salt grinding spot in general.

Really the only annoying part I find is his stomps that can easily knock you off but if you went to the Ziggurat first and got the Dart Brand even that becomes trivial as you never have to touch the ground at all with that.

[Maridiem | Fangride]

I like him a fair bit. He's not too insane but is always enough of a challenge to be fun. I run a light armor build too, and he's all about movement. You'll *always* have options and a way to not die as long as you move carefully and plan out your attacks.

[Tsuki Zero]

Originally posted by Averagedog:

It is bad gameplay design to have him easily instakill.

No, it is not. There are platforms left and right, you can JUMP to avoid his punch even on topmost platform. This boss encourages you to use TERRAIN AS ADVANTAGE, just as HE can use it.

[SundownKid]

I think the boss is okay. The only problem I had with it is the fact that the flamethrowers don't shut down after you beat the boss. That is really annoying.

[Gorb 2: The Gorbening]

Boss wasn't to bad - it was the falling floor upon intro that always got me

[Sinister-Sama]

The Tree of Men for me was a bit, underwhelming (Though I play a mage, so that's a given). It's the obligitory "Escape The Trap" situation, just in boss form.

The design was ingenius but the execution could have been a bit more, frantic. I kept calm and even without all of the fire resistances, it was easy to dance to the macabre of the Tree.

A cool boss, but forgetable once you reached the Dome.

[Eduardo]

The Tree of Men was, to me, so far (first playthrough, just passed the Salt Alkymancery), the hardest boss on this game. And I loved fighting him. You see, I enjoy hard bosses that can onshot you, because you gotta learn how to manage with the situation, learning the boss' moves and ajusting the timing. For example, The Untouched Inquisitor is a terrible boss, killed him on the first try, not memorable, not an intense fight, not at all a challenge. After killing the Inquisitor, I said "hum, ok", after killing the The Tree of Men, "AAAAAAAAAHHH ♥♥♥♥ YOU! YOU DIED! YEAH FOR ♥♥♥♥'S SAKE! I DID IT!". I guess that's the reason we all like Dark Souls, for instance, and why O&S in Dark Souls 1 are so loved: their are hard to kill, but doable and fair, once you undestand the patterns.

So, The Tree of Men, a hard and interesting boss.

[Kerian Halcyon]

Honestly everything in that boss fight could be perfect if there were less arena hazards. Having to juggle between two dropping floors during the second half of the boss fight only to get stun-locked by a flamethrower on my butt when I'm almost ready to hit the boss's one weak spot wasn't very fun. I was just glad I was able to finish it quickly during my second playthrough.

Visually he's a great concept - a huge torture machine given life through the pain and curses of those trapped inside. It's not something that's been done very often. I just wish his arena wasn't a clusterf*ck.

[Caaros]

Tree of Men is all about watching attack patterns, figuring out what he's about to do, and then preparing for it. For example, when it does the really big flamethrower attack, you have to run down and up to the opposite side platforms as quick as possible. The thing's a pain, sure, but all in all he's a pushover once you learn how all of the mechanics work.

Me, I just hate the Red Hall of Cages altogether. The terrain is screwy, the enemies are screwy, and the length of the place is screwy. In my NG+ runs I wish I could just fight the boss and leave without bothering with any of the awkward giant platform wheels, frequent death drops, or spam-happy enemies that litter the dreadful place.