When you feel like your perception of difficulty is askew

[Ravinoff]

Playing through Dark Souls 2 and 3 has taught me that I am absolutely terrible at Souls games... Which makes it all the more mystifying when I was actually able to bring down Champion Gundyr, one of the bosses whose reputation preceded him, on the very first try. Conversely, everyone said the Deacons of the Deep were easy, yet killing the leader in time to stop the unavoidable area curse, even with a ring to resist it, demands risky charges into the bulk of the infinite swarm that got me gang-raped/gang fireblasted several times even with a wide-sweeping weapon. My all-time nightmare is the Pursuer though. It's always difficult when a boss attacks so quickly and relentlessly that you can't heal, and unlike Pontiff Sulyvahn or Gundyr there's no room to escape.

The trick with Gundyr and Sulyvahn is learn their patterns and parry the hell out of them. Dodge until they let swing with an attack you know the timing for, then nail them with the counter and a few good hits after. That, and use a summon on Sulyvahn at least (the NPC one at Champion Gundyr isn't much use, being a naked guy with a katana), always helps to have something to split focus.

Deacons is just a matter of abusing iframes to slap around the active one and roll out before anyone can retaliate. The candle guys in particular are terrible. Curse fog and homing Deep Soul spam will absolutely fuck you up if you follow your instincts and play cautiously. Get out your Hollowslayer Greatsword and just wade in swinging and things tend to work out.

Pursuer (and the entirety of Lost Bastille) can just get fucked, though. I'll take Smelter Demon over that entire shitshow any day. And as for other DS2 bosses...The Duke's Dear Freyja. Eeeeugh. I'm not particularly arachnophobic, and spiders/insects in games basically never bother me, but the sheer amount of big fucking spiders in that whole area just makes my skin crawl. And of course there's no bonfire near the fog door, so you have to go down the creepy-ass web pit every time you die.

 

[bluegate]

I remember Nameless King being called a hard boss. I finished it in my second go.

The Dancer though.... I have never beaten her solo. Without summons, I would have been stuck there

The Dancer is one of those bosses that I personally never had trouble with, I always managed to defeat him on my "first" try in New Game (+) cycles.

Nameless King, however... at times I'll be able to expertly dodge through his combos and wreck him, other times I find myself getting pummeled by anything and everything he throws at me.

 

[Dalisclock]

I've beaten three of these games so far(though not every boss because some of them can clearly fuck off) so I guess I've been doing SOMETHING right though I don't consider myself terribly good and I'm not that lucky to just bumble through it. Like some of you guys, I never managed to get good at parrying in the other games, though got somewhat decent at timing my shots in BB for a Visceral because I had to.

Strangely I went back and took another stab at granny(Phrasing? Is that Phrasing? Are we still doing Phrasing?). I guess I just hadn't been pressing the attack enough or something because this time I got her in one try. Appreciate the help. Maybe stepping back was the right thing to do. I knew about spamming L1(The Parry Dance) and apparently just needed to get the timing down.

Maybe I was just too embarrassed by getting repeatedly owned by a 90 year old grandma to fight the right way. Or maybe it was her fucking ghosts and butterflies that did it. Anyway, time to move on to Genichiro, who apparently is an exam boss. I tried him once and he was a bit of a challenge. The "Shoot an arrow" when you try to heal was a nice trick for sure.

if you think a game is hard then git gud or keep failing until you do.

There's a message on the ground. It says "Try Jumping".

I found Amelia and ROM to be just as you described though. The chalice Ebriettas would be my bane in Bloodborne. Runner up would probably be the hellfire cleric beast in NG+ (or was it in Old Hunters, which I did in NG+ like a masochist), ironically in Amelia?s arena.

Yeah, I fucking hated Laurence in the Old Hunter Cathedral/Amelia's room. He felt like just a giant firey damage sponge with no real way to do any decent damage(since fire doesn't work on a fire beast). Ludwig was much more interesting. Hell, Maria, despite being hard as fuck, was quite fun even when she was murdering me all the time.

This thread prompted me to boot up Sekiro again, and I realized after some exploring that I overlooked Genichiro. I tried him a few times and got the first deathblow once, so think I know what to do now. The arrows can be avoided thankfully if you?re far enough away and time the dodge.

The Elite dude before him was surprisingly irksome because he?s quick and literally can one-shot you, not to mention kill your posture if you try to slop it too much. I spent easily a dozen or so tries but eventually the one that mattered only took like 20 seconds. I think when you get that rhythm in Sekiro the victories are more satisfying than in SoulsBorne, because it literally feels like you?re outplaying the opponent vs just depleting their health bar.

The Yamauchi Seven Spears fight seems to also top a lot of lists as far as mini bosses go, but considering you can easily stealth one bar and use the environment to your advantage the rest of it he wasn?t too bad. The worst part was dealing with the cronies first or avoiding them.

 

[Dalisclock]

The Elite dude before him was surprisingly irksome because he?s quick and literally can one-shot you, not to mention kill your posture if you try to slop it too much. I spent easily a dozen or so tries but eventually the one that mattered only took like 20 seconds. I think when you get that rhythm in Sekiro the victories are more satisfying than in SoulsBorne, because it literally feels like you?re outplaying the opponent vs just depleting their health bar.

The Yamauchi Seven Spears fight seems to also top a lot of lists as far as mini bosses go, but considering you can easily stealth one bar and use the environment to your advantage the rest of it he wasn?t too bad. The worst part was dealing with the cronies first or avoiding them.

I think it took me like 4 or 5 tries to take down the elite guy in the dojo guarding access to Genichiro. It was getting used to his attacks. It helps a bit if you notice his sword will glint just before he begins attacking(since he's doing that style where he pulls it straight from the scabbard into a strike).

I almost always that first stealth deathblow on seven spears. It's knocking him down on the 2nd that hurts so much because that spear has a LONG reach and he's really good at smacking you with it. And then there's that overhead twirl thing which just sucks. I'm gonna hold off on him till later but his day is coming. It's not even about the prayer bead anymore. He deserves to die for all the trouble he's caused.

 

[Dalisclock]

The Elite dude before him was surprisingly irksome because he?s quick and literally can one-shot you, not to mention kill your posture if you try to slop it too much. I spent easily a dozen or so tries but eventually the one that mattered only took like 20 seconds. I think when you get that rhythm in Sekiro the victories are more satisfying than in SoulsBorne, because it literally feels like you?re outplaying the opponent vs just depleting their health bar.

The Yamauchi Seven Spears fight seems to also top a lot of lists as far as mini bosses go, but considering you can easily stealth one bar and use the environment to your advantage the rest of it he wasn?t too bad. The worst part was dealing with the cronies first or avoiding them.

I think it took me like 4 or 5 tries to take down the elite guy in the dojo guarding access to Genichiro. It was getting used to his attacks. It helps a bit if you notice his sword will glint just before he begins attacking(since he's doing that style where he pulls it straight from the scabbard into a strike).

I almost always that first stealth deathblow on seven spears. It's knocking him down on the 2nd that hurts so much because that spear has a LONG reach and he's really good at smacking you with it. And then there's that overhead twirl thing which just sucks. I'm gonna hold off on him till later but his day is coming. It's not even about the prayer bead anymore. He deserves to die for all the trouble he's caused.

I?ve read the Elite was is optional because you can break down the wall to get to Genichiro. Oh well he was worth the bead at least.

Ol? Gen though has been causing me more problems than Lady Butterfly I think. At least with her there were more vulnerable states like anti air. Him? It seems to be just a straight up duel to the death and he has the advantage of quick arrows to play keep away when you?re trying to regain some posture. I should be able to beat him now going back in fresh, but he?s been the most attritional fight yet with the level of patience he seems to require.

 

[Dalisclock]

The Elite dude before him was surprisingly irksome because he?s quick and literally can one-shot you, not to mention kill your posture if you try to slop it too much. I spent easily a dozen or so tries but eventually the one that mattered only took like 20 seconds. I think when you get that rhythm in Sekiro the victories are more satisfying than in SoulsBorne, because it literally feels like you?re outplaying the opponent vs just depleting their health bar.

The Yamauchi Seven Spears fight seems to also top a lot of lists as far as mini bosses go, but considering you can easily stealth one bar and use the environment to your advantage the rest of it he wasn?t too bad. The worst part was dealing with the cronies first or avoiding them.

I think it took me like 4 or 5 tries to take down the elite guy in the dojo guarding access to Genichiro. It was getting used to his attacks. It helps a bit if you notice his sword will glint just before he begins attacking(since he's doing that style where he pulls it straight from the scabbard into a strike).

I almost always that first stealth deathblow on seven spears. It's knocking him down on the 2nd that hurts so much because that spear has a LONG reach and he's really good at smacking you with it. And then there's that overhead twirl thing which just sucks. I'm gonna hold off on him till later but his day is coming. It's not even about the prayer bead anymore. He deserves to die for all the trouble he's caused.

I?ve read the Elite was is optional because you can break down the wall to get to Genichiro. Oh well he was worth the bead at least.

He is. The wall behind the two fencers just below the dojo idol is breakable, which leads you to a long hallway and a couple nightjars you also have to get past. THen you go out the window, back out onto the roof and back across to fight gen.

Which is fine if you can't beat the elite fencer but it's a pain in the ass and if you can't beat the fencer(granted, theres a way to cheese him but some skill is still required), you're probably not ready for gen. I guess I can see why they put the bypass in there but I'd honestly rather just kill the elite who doesn't respawn, prove I'm ready for Gen and open up the very short route to gen rather then fight or try to blitz five not trivial enemies on the the alternate route during the no doubt many time I'll have to re-challenge gen.

Which is how these games should handle their difficultly/shortcuts, IMHO. Place a bonfire/shortcut, have a challenging but non-respawnable mini-boss that acts as a skill check to the boss you're likely gonna make numerous runs guarding it or have a longer route with respawnable enemies otherwise.

I feel like there's a perfect anti-thesis in the souls games where the shortcut is actually more annoying then the longer route but other then the bridge to the bed of chaos in DS1 I'm having a hard time thinking of one off the top of my head. I'm sure Dark Souls 2 has a great example somewhere due to the number of poor design designs you can find through that game alongside some of the good stuff(I'm not saying Ds2 is bad, but it's very uneven in quality).

It does make DS2 perhaps the most interesting game in the main souls series to discuss just because of how much it feels like they were trying to make something different and yet didn't seem to know what they were trying to accomplish. Thus you get this incredibly weird mix of things that do and don't work, difficulty that's all over the place and things that look like they were held over from an earlier development phase(the magical whirlpool in the intro was apparently supposed to be part of a time travel plot, which makes as much sense as any other theory I've heard).

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Pursuer.

The trick with Gundyr and Sulyvahn is learn their patterns and parry the hell out of them. Dodge until they let swing with an attack you know the timing for, then nail them with the counter and a few good hits after. That, and use a summon on Sulyvahn at least (the NPC one at Champion Gundyr isn't much use, being a naked guy with a katana), always helps to have something to split focus.

Deacons is just a matter of abusing iframes to slap around the active one and roll out before anyone can retaliate. The candle guys in particular are terrible. Curse fog and homing Deep Soul spam will absolutely fuck you up if you follow your instincts and play cautiously. Get out your Hollowslayer Greatsword and just wade in swinging and things tend to work out.

Pursuer (and the entirety of Lost Bastille) can just get fucked, though. I'll take Smelter Demon over that entire shitshow any day. And as for other DS2 bosses...The Duke's Dear Freyja. Eeeeugh. I'm not particularly arachnophobic, and spiders/insects in games basically never bother me, but the sheer amount of big fucking spiders in that whole area just makes my skin crawl. And of course there's no bonfire near the fog door, so you have to go down the creepy-ass web pit every time you die.

Spiders x Facehuggers = Fun times in Tseldora

Freyja was another of those 'askew difficulty' bosses I'm surprised doesn't get more hate/reputation for the amount of obstacles in the way of your victory. You can only damage it when it's not shooting the laser or attacking directly in front of it, it constantly turns so it's difficult to get many hits in on the face, and if you try doing that when there's lots of baby spiders around (read: 90% of the time) you'll likely end up trapped while it does a stomp or laser. Probably killed me about 10 times or more.

Damn it, why isn't it a mechanic that you can put a permanent summon sign at the boss you loathe the most? If that isn't feasible, make it summon a decently competent AI copy of your build. I'd certainly give up regular summon signs to be able to do that. The satisfaction of killing them again and again, while making sure fewer players have to suffer the way you do, as well as training for your next run.

Thing about parry-focused bosses is... I can't do it. I've tried over and over and over, and every time the game just treats it like a regular hit where I stopped blocking. That's why I love the Twin Dragon Shield XD

 

[Dalisclock]

Damn it, why isn't it a mechanic that you can put a permanent summon sign at the boss you loathe the most? If that isn't feasible, make it summon a decently competent AI copy of your build. I'd certainly give up regular summon signs to be able to do that. The satisfaction of killing them again and again, while making sure fewer players have to suffer the way you do, as well as training for your next run.

Thing about parry-focused bosses is... I can't do it. I've tried over and over and over, and every time the game just treats it like a regular hit where I stopped blocking. That's why I love the Twin Dragon Shield XD

I've never managed to figure out how to effectively parry in the Souls games so I got through DS1/DS2 pretty much without ever doing it. Hell, I found shields ineffective for most of the bosses because it felt like most of them just eat through your stamina like a hot knife through butter(if they didn't stagger you outright) so I just got really, really good at dodging boss attacks and somehow that worked.

Other times I won through tactical use of summoning, because that edge of having someone else distract the boss even if only for a moment sometimes was just enough(Fuck you, Fume Knight). This felt almost mandatory in what I call Gank Bosses, where you face more then one of them and again, it feels like having someone else there to help draw the heat off you or at least keep one of the bosses occupied while you deal with the others can a ton of difference(Fuck you Shadows of Yharnam). Even the NPC summons have their use here, assuming they don't die immediately if you look at them. In a game where facing more then one trash mob at a time can become a losing proposition very quickly, trying to track and deal with more then one boss at a time feels overwhelming, especially if there's no way to seperate them in the arena. "Haha, while you were trying to get hits on one boss, the other one was coming up behind you to smack you down and now you're sandwiched between them. Enjoy that run from the bonfire again"

 

[meiam]

Shield sometime works for boss, but not all. Essentially shield works when boss attack isn't crazy on the tracking, so that you can stop shielding mid attack (ie you block one attack while positioning yourself so that the next attack miss you so you can recover some stamina). The problem is has the series as evolved, they really cranked up the tracking to ridiculous level and unless you know exactly what the attack are it's really hard to position yourself correctly. So you end up having to rely more and more on i-frame since it just get easier to line up.

But demon's soul shield playstyle was great because the tracking was very limited in it.

 

[Dalisclock]

Shield sometime works for boss, but not all. Essentially shield works when boss attack isn't crazy on the tracking, so that you can stop shielding mid attack (ie you block one attack while positioning yourself so that the next attack miss you so you can recover some stamina). The problem is has the series as evolved, they really cranked up the tracking to ridiculous level and unless you know exactly what the attack are it's really hard to position yourself correctly. So you end up having to rely more and more on i-frame since it just get easier to line up.

But demon's soul shield playstyle was great because the tracking was very limited in it.

It also depends on attack type, but I?m pretty sure DS2 is the ultimate offender. I?m over 50 hours into DS3 and haven?t noticed any tracking problems enough that I?d remember, whether melee or projectiles, locked or unlocked.

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

 

[Dalisclock]

Shield sometime works for boss, but not all. Essentially shield works when boss attack isn't crazy on the tracking, so that you can stop shielding mid attack (ie you block one attack while positioning yourself so that the next attack miss you so you can recover some stamina). The problem is has the series as evolved, they really cranked up the tracking to ridiculous level and unless you know exactly what the attack are it's really hard to position yourself correctly. So you end up having to rely more and more on i-frame since it just get easier to line up.

But demon's soul shield playstyle was great because the tracking was very limited in it.

It also depends on attack type, but I?m pretty sure DS2 is the ultimate offender. I?m over 50 hours into DS3 and haven?t noticed any tracking problems enough that I?d remember, whether melee or projectiles, locked or unlocked.

Yeah, I remember early in DS2 when you met those huge guys on the path to the tower of flame and I noticed they'd track even after they'd begin swinging, making it incredibly hard to dodge them. I think it was about that time I starting feeling that DS2 wasn't as well put together as the first Dark Souls. There's the Level design too but that's a whole separate argument I could go on about for days if given the chance.

 

[EvilRoy]

Shield sometime works for boss, but not all. Essentially shield works when boss attack isn't crazy on the tracking, so that you can stop shielding mid attack (ie you block one attack while positioning yourself so that the next attack miss you so you can recover some stamina). The problem is has the series as evolved, they really cranked up the tracking to ridiculous level and unless you know exactly what the attack are it's really hard to position yourself correctly. So you end up having to rely more and more on i-frame since it just get easier to line up.

But demon's soul shield playstyle was great because the tracking was very limited in it.

It also depends on attack type, but I?m pretty sure DS2 is the ultimate offender. I?m over 50 hours into DS3 and haven?t noticed any tracking problems enough that I?d remember, whether melee or projectiles, locked or unlocked.

Yeah, I remember early in DS2 when you met those huge guys on the path to the tower of flame and I noticed they'd track even after they'd begin swinging, making it incredibly hard to dodge them. I think it was about that time I starting feeling that DS2 wasn't as well put together as the first Dark Souls. There's the Level design too but that's a whole separate argument I could go on about for days if given the chance.

The thing I found most perplexing about DS2 is that is had weirdly good polish for some small specific things and obvious bullshit bandaids for others. The big armors in Dragon Shrine had hammers where if the haft hit you it did way less health or stamina damage than the head. I did it often enough that I'm sure it wasn't a bug - somebody actually just gave an enemy a weapon with area specific damage and knockback. I know that's not a mindblowing thing, but they could have easily made the weapon full damage everywhere or just have the haft phase through you but for some reason a programmer went the extra mile on that one in a game full of "whoops, well fudge it so the difficulty is right".

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

I'm still working on his 2nd lifebar. He's easier to handle once his lifebar is down to half because then his posture actually depletes at a decent rate but until them you're chipping aware at him.

Haven't made it to the lightening round yet. I feel like I've got a decent handle on his moves but I mess up enough that it's not helping me much. I've found I accidentally try to do the overhead chop(ichimonji?) when I'm not trying to and he smacks me for it so I disabled that for the fight.

Apparently once Gen takes off his armor his posture breaks a lot faster....assuming you can survive his attacks.

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

I'm still working on his 2nd lifebar. He's easier to handle once his lifebar is down to half because then his posture actually depletes at a decent rate but until them you're chipping aware at him.

Haven't made it to the lightening round yet. I feel like I've got a decent handle on his moves but I mess up enough that it's not helping me much. I've found I accidentally try to do the overhead chop(ichimonji?) when I'm not trying to and he smacks me for it so I disabled that for the fight.

Apparently once Gen takes off his armor his posture breaks a lot faster....assuming you can survive his attacks.

For bosses I like Ichimonji over Whirlwind, which is the only other slot-able art I have so far. Either can be easily unintentional though since often youre guarding to regain posture. I like using it airborne as a counter sometimes.

Apparently you can also retaliate for big damage if he hits you with lightning while you?re airborne, provided you time the jump/attack right. I?ve only gotten to the third round twice before going back to do some more exploring. I know I?m not quite ready for Sunken Valley as the Snake Eye dude wrecks me pretty quickly, with that cannon as a ?fuck you? attack following any posture meter I managed to build him. I might be able to cheese him a bit on a nearby rock ledge but for a straight up posture battle I?m no match yet. I need perfect blocks or my meter fills about triple his going hit by hit.

If you haven?t yet, it?s well worth dropping down the atrium inside Ashina Castle too. Locking on to death blow an elite on the way down is a nice bonus.

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

I'm still working on his 2nd lifebar. He's easier to handle once his lifebar is down to half because then his posture actually depletes at a decent rate but until them you're chipping aware at him.

Haven't made it to the lightening round yet. I feel like I've got a decent handle on his moves but I mess up enough that it's not helping me much. I've found I accidentally try to do the overhead chop(ichimonji?) when I'm not trying to and he smacks me for it so I disabled that for the fight.

Apparently once Gen takes off his armor his posture breaks a lot faster....assuming you can survive his attacks.

For bosses I like Ichimonji over Whirlwind, which is the only other slot-able art I have so far. Either can be easily unintentional though since often youre guarding to regain posture. I like using it airborne as a counter sometimes.

Apparently you can also retaliate for big damage if he hits you with lightning while you?re airborne, provided you time the jump/attack right. I?ve only gotten to the third round twice before going back to do some more exploring. I know I?m not quite ready for Sunken Valley as the Snake Eye dude wrecks me pretty quickly, with that cannon as a ?fuck you? attack following any posture meter I managed to build him. I might be able to cheese him a bit on a nearby rock ledge but for a straight up posture battle I?m no match yet. I need perfect blocks or my meter fills about triple his going hit by hit.

If you haven?t yet, it?s well worth dropping down the atrium inside Ashina Castle too. Locking on to death blow an elite on the way down is a nice bonus.

Oh, I did some exploring already before this. I've been putting off gen partially due to being intimidated and hoping to get stronger. I've cleared Senpou temple as much as I can at this point in the story(including the caterpillar mini-boss who is surprisingly weak to deflects because of how hyper aggressive he is). I've reached the sunken valley but not proceeded beyond the first idol because of the snipers and made it down the ashina depths to the point I hit a snake eyes in a poison swamp(because of course there's a poison swamp. THERE'S ALWAYS A POISON SWAMP). I guess I could try to go on but I want to try to take down gen tonight if I can.

But yeah, I've pretty much cleared out Ashina castle, other then that one seven spears mini-boss who I don't feel like I'm ready for yet.

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

I'm still working on his 2nd lifebar. He's easier to handle once his lifebar is down to half because then his posture actually depletes at a decent rate but until them you're chipping aware at him.

Haven't made it to the lightening round yet. I feel like I've got a decent handle on his moves but I mess up enough that it's not helping me much. I've found I accidentally try to do the overhead chop(ichimonji?) when I'm not trying to and he smacks me for it so I disabled that for the fight.

Apparently once Gen takes off his armor his posture breaks a lot faster....assuming you can survive his attacks.

For bosses I like Ichimonji over Whirlwind, which is the only other slot-able art I have so far. Either can be easily unintentional though since often youre guarding to regain posture. I like using it airborne as a counter sometimes.

Apparently you can also retaliate for big damage if he hits you with lightning while you?re airborne, provided you time the jump/attack right. I?ve only gotten to the third round twice before going back to do some more exploring. I know I?m not quite ready for Sunken Valley as the Snake Eye dude wrecks me pretty quickly, with that cannon as a ?fuck you? attack following any posture meter I managed to build him. I might be able to cheese him a bit on a nearby rock ledge but for a straight up posture battle I?m no match yet. I need perfect blocks or my meter fills about triple his going hit by hit.

If you haven?t yet, it?s well worth dropping down the atrium inside Ashina Castle too. Locking on to death blow an elite on the way down is a nice bonus.

Oh, I did some exploring already before this. I've been putting off gen partially due to being intimidated and hoping to get stronger. I've cleared Senpou temple as much as I can at this point in the story(including the caterpillar mini-boss who is surprisingly weak to deflects because of how hyper aggressive he is). I've reached the sunken valley but not proceeded beyond the first idol because of the snipers and made it down the ashina depths to the point I hit a snake eyes in a poison swamp(because of course there's a poison swamp. THERE'S ALWAYS A POISON SWAMP). I guess I could try to go on but I want to try to take down gen tonight if I can.

But yeah, I've pretty much cleared out Ashina castle, other then that one seven spears mini-boss who I don't feel like I'm ready for yet.

By some miracle and an embarrassing amount of tries over the last couple nights I finally took down Gen. I?ve gotten pretty good with the first two bars but by the third my nerves would wear thin, and I wasn?t familiar with his new perilous attacks. I made it to his third phase a half dozen or so times before getting somewhat in tune with how to handle it; that along with probably some unseen aid of sorts.

From what I gathered, the first two phases I always stayed towards the right (his left), including dodging everything that needed to be. We?d trade blows and parry until he got ready to do a perilous and Id only Mikiri the one he does after his own Ichimonji(?), which I?d dodge to the right of first. Also do an Ichimonji after landing a Mikiri counter or heal. I never went for more than three hits at a time and always kept my posture in the pale section when on offense, putting as much pressure as I could get away with.

Avoid getting stuck near walls because I think he?s more comfortable there knowing you can?t strafe around him to the side. I was eventually able to finish the first two phases pretty well, only healing once or twice. It can go pretty quick if you keep control of the fight and don?t give him any real openings. I?d only back far off if I needed to heal, and the charged arrow he almost always does is easy enough to dodge after a slight delay.

The third phase was pretty much the same except avoiding the new perilous attacks where he runs at you, and jumping slightly after he goes airborne for the lightning. It?s kinda tough to retaliate with R1 much; only managed a couple times overall. The key for me was using firecrackers to keep him off guard and whittle down his posture. I almost missed my chance at a deathblow when he staggered me right at the end because I was trapped in a corner. I?d probably still be there trying if it was a split second longer getting to him, and then there?s that extra deathblow prompt to watch for.

It was pretty exhilarating to say the least. What?s more is I?ve gotten used to doing boss fights without using consumables. Mostly because it seems I?d just end up wasting them anyways being too inexperienced with the fight at first.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I've reached the sunken valley but not proceeded beyond the first idol because of the snipers and made it down the ashina depths to the point I hit a snake eyes in a poison swamp(because of course there's a poison swamp. THERE'S ALWAYS A POISON SWAMP).

You can have her kill herself by poison.

 

[Dalisclock]

I thought I beat Genichiro only to be met by his lightning form. It got me wondering if I have an added, self-imposed layer of difficulty by playing this game on a projector with 67ms of input lag (best case). I mean on one hand I beat Lady Butterfly pretty handedly with lesser stats, but this guy requires far more parrying with 3 life bars to get through, and a slow building posture meter. I also have the game on PC with a DS4 usb-connected, so I should try to match progress and see how much of a difference there is. Might even make a quick video for reference and fun.

I'm still working on his 2nd lifebar. He's easier to handle once his lifebar is down to half because then his posture actually depletes at a decent rate but until them you're chipping aware at him.

Haven't made it to the lightening round yet. I feel like I've got a decent handle on his moves but I mess up enough that it's not helping me much. I've found I accidentally try to do the overhead chop(ichimonji?) when I'm not trying to and he smacks me for it so I disabled that for the fight.

Apparently once Gen takes off his armor his posture breaks a lot faster....assuming you can survive his attacks.

For bosses I like Ichimonji over Whirlwind, which is the only other slot-able art I have so far. Either can be easily unintentional though since often youre guarding to regain posture. I like using it airborne as a counter sometimes.

Apparently you can also retaliate for big damage if he hits you with lightning while you?re airborne, provided you time the jump/attack right. I?ve only gotten to the third round twice before going back to do some more exploring. I know I?m not quite ready for Sunken Valley as the Snake Eye dude wrecks me pretty quickly, with that cannon as a ?fuck you? attack following any posture meter I managed to build him. I might be able to cheese him a bit on a nearby rock ledge but for a straight up posture battle I?m no match yet. I need perfect blocks or my meter fills about triple his going hit by hit.

If you haven?t yet, it?s well worth dropping down the atrium inside Ashina Castle too. Locking on to death blow an elite on the way down is a nice bonus.

Oh, I did some exploring already before this. I've been putting off gen partially due to being intimidated and hoping to get stronger. I've cleared Senpou temple as much as I can at this point in the story(including the caterpillar mini-boss who is surprisingly weak to deflects because of how hyper aggressive he is). I've reached the sunken valley but not proceeded beyond the first idol because of the snipers and made it down the ashina depths to the point I hit a snake eyes in a poison swamp(because of course there's a poison swamp. THERE'S ALWAYS A POISON SWAMP). I guess I could try to go on but I want to try to take down gen tonight if I can.

But yeah, I've pretty much cleared out Ashina castle, other then that one seven spears mini-boss who I don't feel like I'm ready for yet.

By some miracle and an embarrassing amount of tries over the last couple nights I finally took down Gen. I?ve gotten pretty good with the first two bars but by the third my nerves would wear thin, and I wasn?t familiar with his new perilous attacks. I made it to his third phase a half dozen or so times before getting somewhat in tune with how to handle it; that along with probably some unseen aid of sorts.

From what I gathered, the first two phases I always stayed towards the right (his left), including dodging everything that needed to be. We?d trade blows and parry until he got ready to do a perilous and Id only Mikiri the one he does after his own Ichimonji(?), which I?d dodge to the right of first. Also do an Ichimonji after landing a Mikiri counter or heal. I never went for more than three hits at a time and always kept my posture in the pale section when on offense, putting as much pressure as I could get away with.

Avoid getting stuck near walls because I think he?s more comfortable there knowing you can?t strafe around him to the side. I was eventually able to finish the first two phases pretty well, only healing once or twice. It can go pretty quick if you keep control of the fight and don?t give him any real openings. I?d only back far off if I needed to heal, and the charged arrow he almost always does is easy enough to dodge after a slight delay.

The third phase was pretty much the same except avoiding the new perilous attacks where he runs at you, and jumping slightly after he goes airborne for the lightning. It?s kinda tough to retaliate with R1 much; only managed a couple times overall. The key for me was using firecrackers to keep him off guard and whittle down his posture. I almost missed my chance at a deathblow when he staggered me right at the end because I was trapped in a corner. I?d probably still be there trying if it was a split second longer getting to him, and then there?s that extra deathblow prompt to watch for.

It was pretty exhilarating to say the least. What?s more is I?ve gotten used to doing boss fights without using consumables. Mostly because it seems I?d just end up wasting them anyways being too inexperienced with the fight at first.

I got a bit better over the past few days. I can get him to 2nd healthbar reliably and have gotten him to phase 2 a couple of times. I just need to get better at getting to that point because normally I've used my first revive by then and most of my estus goards. Not that gen allows you much time to heal regardless. I've even managed to dodge the lightening a few times, it's just not enough so far. I think I just need to get better at reading his perilous attacks so I can counter better.


Update: Gen is defeated. Admittedly a great fight, especially for essentially being the equivalent of O+S and Vicar Amelia as far as baring access to the 2nd part of the game. I keep thinking I should feel his lightening phase 2 is more bullshit then I do but I got to the point where I was able to reach it with every attempt and it was just avoiding getting murdered by lightening bolts. So yeah, somehow I got a great run in there where somehow I got all the right breaks and just managed to squeeze in a victory with like one hit left before he killed me for reals.

See you later gen. I'm sure you'll pop up again eventually.

Time to get the rest of the game going now that I've got a key and I know what the temple is hiding now.

I've reached the sunken valley but not proceeded beyond the first idol because of the snipers and made it down the ashina depths to the point I hit a snake eyes in a poison swamp(because of course there's a poison swamp. THERE'S ALWAYS A POISON SWAMP).

You can have her kill herself by poison.

I've heard that. I need to try that next time I fight her again.