Dark Souls III

[Jawehawk]

Slaying pontiff sulyvahn is a Bronze trophy? A 🤬 Bronze?!?! Well, 🤬 you too game
He probably killed me 30 times, if not more, before I finally killed him. His parry window is so obscenely small with the Katana, and several of his attacks would kill me in one hit. Really cool boss, but the parry window could stand to be a tad bigger. So far, he, and The Abyss Watchers, are the only bosses that has really stood out to me.

 

[PletdeKoe]

Yeah he was quite the challenge. There is one boss I thought was thougher, but I don't want to spoil it for you. Keep trying, till you die!!

 

[Jawehawk]

Dancer of the Boreal Valley can go to the deepest pits of hell for all I care...

You'd think that me putting the vast majority of my souls into dex. and str. would enable me to do quite a lot of damage, but no. Most of the bosses remain absolute damage sponges, and because I haven't put a single point into my vigor (start with 12), they can all kill me in 1-2 hits. I wanted to be a glass cannon that dodges around and do great damage, but the reality is that I do mediocre damage, and can't take any in return. It gets especially ridiculous in PVP, where everyone kills me in 2 hits, where as I have to hit them 12-20 times. But that's just another example of how abysmal the PVP is...

I'm so tired of running from bonfires to the boss room. It's not like you're going to waste time fighting the trash in between, so you're just having to constantly waste time running and dodging from A to B, until you finally master the boss. I've never understood the logic in these games not having a bonfire right outside the boss room.

 

[PletdeKoe]

Use some pine resin, that'll boost your attack with lightning doing more damage.

 

[Luminis]

Glass cannons are very unforgiving to play. Running shieldless, sure, but I would not opt for a glass cannon build unless you're a properly experienced player. I only opted for a dual wielding build once I was positive I could dodge 95% of what the game was going to throw at me - and made sure I had the HP to remain standing after getting struck by the 5% I couldn't.

Damage wise, there is nothing in New Game a Raw Astoria Straight Sword can't handle. The majority of damage progression comes from weapon upgrades anyway - your scaling stats don't do too much unless your weapon is properly upgraded and infused - Refined, in your case.

Past the 40/40 soft cap, you won't see much of an increase in damage by raising either start - at which point luck/bleed really is the only way to amp up your damage output as a true meele character.

If push comes to shove, you can always reset your stats at the Cathedral of the Deep, at Rosaria's Bed Chamber. The easy way out is getting sufficient Str and Dex to wield the Astora Straight Sword (found in the area before the first winged Knight on the High Wall of Lothric) and a shield of your choice (100% physical block preferably), get 12 int and Fth so you can cast Carthus Flame Arc (pyromancy from the Ruins of Carthus) and dump your levels into Endurance (up to 40) and Vigor (up to 50).

Most people don't venture into PvP with much less than 50 Vigor and most players bolster that with Rings of Favour and sometimes Life Rings, too. Long story short, it's easy enough to nearly max out your damage as is thanks to diminishing returns on high stat investments into Str and Dex, so survivability becomes a bigger focus.

Also, glass cannon typically means skimping out on shields and armour so you can dedicate more of your equip load to dealing damage (by using a big honkin' Fume Ultra Great Sword, for example) - not so much forgoing defensive stats altogether.

 

[Jawehawk]

Thing is, I've come this far without buffing my vigor, that it has become somewhat of a personal challenge thing. I didn't intend for that, but now it's a matter of pride

I'm using a +7 Uchi (don't remember full name) katana that has been infused with a gem that buffs its dex benefits, but have not found anywhere to farm chunks to further upgrade it. I can dodge the Dancer of Boreal Valley quite well. The problem comes when it looks like she's giving me room for 1-2 attacks, and then starts another combo. She's extremely irregular in her behavior, sometimes being somewhat dormant, and sometimes spamming combos to no end.

I used to use the ring that increases attack according to how low your equip load is, but I couldn't figure out just how much I was getting out of it, and eventually gave up on it in favor of rings that enhance my dodging and stamina.

This is the first boss where I've tried to summon help, and frankly, I hate how it is handled in the game. The entire ember system annoys me to no end. I can't go anywhere after using embers, as any invader kills me with no problems, and few people seem to be offering help at the Dancer. I hate this boss...

 

[Jawehawk]

🤬 the idiot that designed this cheap and woefully unfair Boss. I've used up all my embers (another awful aspect to this game), I've gotten her down to a fraction of health numerous times, but every single time, it ends with me getting one-hit killed at the end. The vast majority of my deaths are when she decides to attack when I thought I finally had an opening to get a swing in. Seemingly the only attack in the 2nd and 3rd phase that leaves any real opening, is her swinging combo where she attacks a whopping 8 times.

And what idiot thought it would be a good idea to have a boss literally right after another? Seriously, you defeat Pontiff, who was both awesome and difficult, shortly thereafter, you get two optional mini bosses down at the water reserve, then Crystal Sage V2.0 followed immediately by this bitch. It's nothing but bosses at this point. The pacing went completely out of the window.

Congratulations From. Even if I manage to beat it at some point, it pretty much guarantees that I'm never going to replay this game, as I don't ever want to fight something so obviously broken again.

 

[PletdeKoe]

Well there is only one thing you can do: Git gud!

No reason to blame From Soft, for designing a portion of the game you find difficult, while others had less problems with it. I love the dancer, it is a boss that has some real character.

 

[Jawehawk]

Well there is only one thing you can do: Git gud!

No reason to blame From Soft, for designing a portion of the game you find difficult, while others had less problems with it. I love the dancer, it is a boss that has some real character.

I don't find it difficult, I find it cheap. Pontiff was difficult.

A boss that can tank a lot of damage, do a ton of damage, doesn't suffer from limited stamina and acts irregular is not fair. Aside from one attack in its last two phases, it is impossible to predict whether you actually have any time to get an attack in on it before it starts its next combo. On top of that, it'll sometimes perform attacks where it seems like it would then have a cooldown (jump attacks) only to perform a sudden spin attack. It breaks the standard boss rules, and it doesn't leave consistent or sufficient room for the player to attack in the latter half of the fight.

 

[Bjorn Lucas]

you said the word fair in a dark souls game,............ thats not gud

 

[Jawehawk]

I know, right?

The madness continues, as the boss has now officially become one of the most fundamentally broken boss fights I have ever encountered. There's just not a single positive thing to say about it. Her design is dreadfully boring, and she has no interesting lore. In fact, she barely has any. Nothing about the world lore would change if she wasn't there. At least with Ebrietas in Bloodborne, you could excuse the awful fight with her being central to the plot. But in this case, you get an awful fight that is irrelevant to the plot, and that relies almost entirely on being lucky with what attacks she decides to do. It would be funny if I wasn't wasting hours trying to beat her.

How can anyone find it fair that in her 2nd phase, there is literally only one combo where she leaves herself open for a few hits? With any of her other combos, she sometimes decide to start another one immediately after. The player has no way of knowing.

Perhaps if I was able to summon help. Oh right, I can't, because of the ember system. Someone save me....

 

[Bjorn Lucas]

I know, right?

The madness continues, as the boss has now officially become one of the most fundamentally broken boss fights I have ever encountered. There's just not a single positive thing to say about it. Her design is dreadfully boring, and she has no interesting lore. In fact, she barely has any. Nothing about the world lore would change if she wasn't there. At least with Ebrietas in Bloodborne, you could excuse the awful fight with her being central to the plot. But in this case, you get an awful fight that is irrelevant to the plot, and that relies almost entirely on being lucky with what attacks she decides to do. It would be funny if I wasn't wasting hours trying to beat her.

How can anyone find it fair that in her 2nd phase, there is literally only one combo where she leaves herself open for a few hits? With any of her other combos, she sometimes decide to start another one immediately after. The player has no way of knowing.

Perhaps if I was able to summon help. Oh right, I can't, because of the ember system. Someone save me....

are you not playing online??
Summoning some help works out fine by me when i am done with a boss

 

[Jawehawk]

are you not playing online??
Summoning some help works out fine by me when i am done with a boss

I am, but I have no embers. Most were used to avoid getting one hit killed by earlier bosses, some were wasted as a result of PvP, and the few I had left I used to summon people, but we never won the battle. I've tried helping others beat the boss, but either the host dies, or I die in the latter half of the fight.

I consider Bloodborne's insight system to be about a million times better than this...

Over the course of three days total, I think I've spent around 6-7 hours trying to beat it. I'm sick of it, and don't know if I can be bothered anymore. Broken by broken boss design...

 

[Luminis]

So, the DLC is due on Tuesday, anyone hyped?

 

[prousonhairy]

So, the DLC is due on Tuesday, anyone hyped?

I kind of am, I don't know, I wish they wouldn't wait so dang long for that stuff to come out. I know they can't release it right away, or people would complain too. Plus I'm really getting into Elder Scrolls online.

I wonder how long it will be? I guess it will be pretty neat. 2 bosses I've heard.

 

[Luminis]

Yeah, it's been a while. Loaded up my main character and damn, I'm rusty. Got destroyed like a complete noob in PVP. Better than having DLC a week after release - which basically amounts to content that was ripped out of the main game only to be sold for a couple bucks.

I genuinely don't know squat about the DLC, though, aside from how to access it I'm hoping for an interesting new weapon or two.

 

[Jawehawk]

Nope. Completed the main game, including all the bosses, and doubt I'll ever play it again.
Don't know if the DLC would even work with my game, as my game is a UK copy, while I am in Denmark and using a Danish account.

 

[Luminis]

Would've been a major surprise if you went for the DLC, @Jawehawk, considering your posts in here

But yeah, absolutely no point in getting it if you didn't like the direction the game's taken 👍

 

[MisterWaffles]

Dark Souls 3 was 28$ on sale this week on PS+ so I bought it. I love the game mechanics and tight boss fights but the game is so incredibly hard! The hardest game I played before this was Diablo 3, so I'm not sure if I made the right decision rushing headlong into this game.

I did beat the first boss in the cemetery after a few tries and I'm in the first area atop the castle wall. Playing as a knight named "Ike".

 

[nk4e]

Dark Souls 3 was 28$ on sale this week on PS+ so I bought it. I love the game mechanics and tight boss fights but the game is so incredibly hard! The hardest game I played before this was Diablo 3, so I'm not sure if I made the right decision rushing headlong into this game.

I did beat the first boss in the cemetery after a few tries and I'm in the first area atop the castle wall. Playing as a knight named "Ike".

That wasn't the first boss lol.

 

[MisterWaffles]

That wasn't the first boss lol.

Yes it was, the online guide referred to him as a boss. He had a whole introduction and everything too.