GayCharlie88

Adan, Thief of Fire reminded me of a PvP build from Dark Souls and that's not a praise. I tried my best to make something out of this fight but unfortunately it's a design that doesn't feel finished to me and I'm not even sure why it was picked for this location instead of a Black Phantom somewhere especially when the boss has an attack that can combust which would look awesome in the open world environment like in a forest. This boss can also be easily missed because it's location is mostly pointless so discovering it on your own isn't a satisfying reward. My strategy was to punish during the Flame of the Fell God initiation, after the Wild Strikes finisher and any basic attacks that looked heavy. That's pretty much it. There really isn't anything special to point out and I think it's mainly because of the specific arena it's in like I mentioned earlier. Imagine fighting this guy on uneven ground on a mountain, now that would be interesting and new in my opinion. In my conclusion this wasn't an entertaining boss and it very well could have been in the right set up but this is the type of aspect we see overlooked in a game so incredibly massive so it's to some degree understandable. I just hope they work harder in future projects so that potentially great concepts do not get lost in a mediocre void.

Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader is an excellent fight that I have technically reviewed already however in that review of the Black Knife Assassin I take damage and the move set isn't as developed so look at this as my definitive view at the boss concept. This is coming from a no rolling perspective for a personal challenge and also to extend the fight for analyzing purposes. This boss contains some of the best telegraphed attacks I've seen in Elden Ring so far except for the basic attacks which were a little too awkward for me to utilize a parry tool however I had a lot more fun finding free space to back stab after attacks. My strategy was to keep an eye out for specific attacks that contained a slow enough recovery time for either a back stab or a jump attack which in the end had a fine balance of both. The attacks I enjoyed seeing the most were the Destined Death and grab attacks due to the satisfying timing and visual reads. From what I understand the Destined Death attack is the only new move added for this fight and I believe this is the final Black Knife fight in terms of depth however if I'm wrong I'll look into possibly another review though this will more than likely cover enough if that's the case. The jump attacks were also especially fun to punish though they seem to either happen frequently or hardly at all so it wasn't one hundred percent dependable. One punish opportunity was compromised due to a jump attack that liked to only initiate when I attacked after the Blade of Death so I avoided following up entirely since my primary weapon's recovery time was too slow to avoid the jump attack. The Destined Death is an attack design I've noticed a few times already in Elden Ring like in Maliketh and Malenia however I feel this is it's best execution in comparison of those fights. This boss also likes to idle a bit much but at least it's not the worst I've seen and sometimes whenever the boss would retreat it would go to the rocks on the edge of the arena which doesn't create the most positive outcomes. I haven't been the biggest fan of this whole retreat aspect the bosses have in Elden Ring and it feels like I'm playing Monster Hunter having to chase the fight around sometimes which doesn't engage me personally. Overall I really enjoyed this fight. It has a lot of fun combat fundamentals that creates that magical moment of “Let me try that again” attitude. I just wish the fight had a bigger role in the main path because it beats a few boss on that roster.

The Godskin Duo is a fight that personally broke me mainly because within itself is broken and I'm about to rain down on this messy mandatory menace of a concept from every angle I can possible approach it on because this is the biggest disappointment I have ever experienced in the From Software games. There are multiple problems that will be addressed here and I'm sure there's more depending on build differences along with variations of strategies. Personally challenge wise the sleeping pots will not be used along with my typical standards. My strategy was to get the Apostle's health close to the second phase transition that way once the Noble was defeated I could get rid of the Apostle faster. Whenever this was successful I could basically fight one on one for the remainder of the fight. I chose to deal with the Noble's second phase while both Godskins were present because the fight seems to flow a lot better. I didn't explore the approach of dealing with Apostle's second phase in this situation very much however I do not recommend it due to how aggressive the Noble remains unlike the other way around. Now that we got the consistencies down let's discuss the inconsistencies because of RNG. My biggest issue in this fight is the Noble's rolling attack on the pillars which is bizarrely random in it's viability due to the attack rolling over sometimes. After hours of practice and then some research from similar play style restrictions on Youtube I found that the middle pillars apparently had the lowest chance of the Noble rolling over. What was more annoying is that every player I talked to either never had the attack roll over the pillar or it never rolled over on the pillars in the middle so perhaps it's an angle issue that they were not even aware of. As you can see the pillar base shape is a hexagon which contains six possible angles to choose from and if there's a specific one that never allows the rolling attack to roll over then I couldn't find it. I basically had to stick with the middle pillars and cross my fingers. Rolling through the attack and running with it is an option however there's a chance the Apostle will just damage you with a fire ball which leads me to the next subject. The fire balls is the attack that ruined most of my strategic planning and options. Parrying was out because it allows the other Godskin to approach just in time to throw a fireball. Trying to parry the Apostle is especially problematic because it takes two successful deflects to get a riposte so it's a colossal waste of time. The fireballs also had awkward chances with the pillars in situations of some going over broken pillars or clipping through the full pillar model when it should have been safe. There's another problem relating to the Noble's rolling attack that I wanted to address. Whenever you can get the rolling attack to work properly and you want to deal extra damage during that time you can either use projectiles or position yourself perfectly to strike the Noble while at the same time not getting struck by the devastating hit box of the rolling attack. Personally I would have gone for a no rolling challenge however since my primary weapons have a mid recovery time it would have double the duration for the fight so I didn't bother but it can be more comfortably done with much faster weapons like thrusting swords or katanas. The next set of issues will be addressed coming up because not only are we reviewing the Godskin Duo but we're looking at the individual Godskin fights along with the Spiritcaller version to cover many more apsects. Godskin Apostle is my least favorite of the Godskins because of the quirky animations that are not satisfying to punish. I also never felt comfortable parrying due to the deflecting simply not visually making sense so I stuck with specific attacks that had just enough to time to properly punish. My strategy was to look out for the fire ball attack, the jump attack and the spinning weapon attack. Mostly I stuck with my weapon's thrusting attack which allowed enough distance to recover now of course I'm applying a no roll challenge so my options are limited on purpose and using rolling would obviously allow more strike opportunities however I wanted to extend the duration to display more of the fight. The battle doesn't get very interesting until the second phase which would have been better if it was like that phase for the entire fight because the attacks are a lot more fun to punish. The stretch sweep especially is fun to tackle due to how confusing it can look at first but if you time it just right you can get several good hits in. The stretching spinning weapon attack when dodged through properly allows a nice punish in a sort of similar way. The first phase attacks also speed up however it's a fair trade in my opinion. In the Godskin Duo fight the jump attack becomes extremely deadly and it can happen at the most inconvenient times especially when you're trying to deal with Noble separately. The fire ball attack can also be thrown at moments that appears to have striking opportunities which doesn't punish the player properly since it's more of a discouragement caused by a random moment other than learning how the fight works. Godskin Noble over time became one of my favorite boss fights in the game since most of the attacks are properly telegraphed unlike the Apostle. This fight is very engaging in both phases with rhythms changing through out the battle. My strategy for the first phase was to bait out one attack in particular for me to parry. I found that after the fire ball attack if timed well enough will offer a distinct thrusting attack about eighty percent of the time. I also had to be very cautionary because if the attack didn't activate then I could have been open to attacks that have very wide hit boxes that do not seem to have properly registering parry windows for some reason. In the middle of baiting other attacks can occur that are very punishable which are basically the attacks that are not the basic sword attacks. The charge thrust has a very interesting window where you can run to the Noble's left side to totally avoid it but you must act quickly. The second phase always seems to begin with the rolling attack so it must be scripted to one hundred percent initiate it. In my opinion the roll attack is executed the best way here since the arena compliments it in the best way by not allowing the pillars to break and be compromised. You can also attack through for extra damage but you still need to be careful about your positioning however it's still miles better than what's in the Godskin Duo arena. My strategy for the second was to be significantly more cautionary due to this belly AOE attack that happens so suddenly dealing a extreme amount of damage so I switched from jumping attacks to thrusting attacks. Parrying basically remained the same though I had to be mindful of this mutiple super thrusting attack which when timed poorly can mess everything up. In the Godskin Duo fight I had to apply a lot of cautionary rolls since I wasn't parrying the Noble's attacks I had to prepare for a double thrusting attack that has no indication of starting. This definitely applied to the Apostle since his attacks are much faster and unpredictable. Then of course you have the moments when they're both attacking you at the same time which I got really lucky several times throughout. Every video I've seen with similar play style restrictions has several moments of plain luck and unfortunately that's just how this fight works which also applies for half of the Smough and Ornstein fight from Dark Souls. The Spiritcaller version of the Godskin Duo is better but the arena doesn't complement the move set of the Godskins at all mainly with Noble but at least it's a one on one fight that's reasonably stacked with another. This fight rewards learning how to fight the Godskins individually unlike the Godskin duo that punishes you with inconveniences around their design. It's still worth finding a strategy that works for you though so I can't entirely say it doesn't help knowing their move set and I deeply encourage anyone to fight them individually before tackling the Godskin Duo. The Spiritcaller design works basically the same here so I'm mostly going to touch on my final thoughts on the main Godskin Duo battle from the beginning of the video. Other issues I didn't address earlier like the Noble being able to thrust right through the pillar, the Noble's AOE attack that stays for several seconds which destroys spacing out the Godskins and the long attack animations from both really could have used adjustments for the fight to work. I'm not saying make the fight easier but more manageable and satisfying to experience. It's already a major inconvenience separating the Godskins so why must we be bothered by extremely long attacks? The rolling attack is the only one that's well thought out because you can still reasonable get strikes in if careful but then that's screwed up by getting rolled at a random chance. I'm just shocked on the lack of effort. I know From Software can design amazing duo fights so why is the Godskin Duo left so half baked? It's so close to being one of the best duo fights I've seen but it's compromised by broken aspects and dare I laziness which the same applies to half of the Smough and Ornstein fight which gets a pass only because it's presentation is incredible other than that the battle design for the first phase is atrocious. Do I recommend fighting the Godskin Duo without sleeping pots? I'm afraid so because other wise you'll have to deal with unavoidable RNG. Perhaps the fight was purposefully designed this way to encourage the players to go nuts with summons and magic tricks but that thought makes me even more disappointed because a boss shouldn't have heavy RNG elements other than mixing up attack patterns that makes a fight less predictable. Jumping back into the Spiritcaller fight as you can see the Noble is performing the roll attack that can be manageable with a roll then running with it while also being aware of the end the of attack that can track your character slightly. I mentioned this because it's one of the coolest attacks I have seen in the From Software series however there's one small problem. At the beginning of the attack there's some kind of animation frame skip right before timing a dodge which can be very jarring for getting the timing down. I haven't heard anyone else criticize that so it may just be me. To wrap up I just want to say it was a bitter sweet experience fighting the Godskins. I hate one but I love the other it's just too bad the game doesn't work well with them both together and I hope I was able to explain my concerns well enough. We're never going to see a From Software game without problems but I must say that the issues give these games character and it's fun to see the interesting methods of getting by like we have through all of the games. I want to apologize if you heard some sniffing during this review. At the time of this recording Hurricane Ian finished the day before and it has tossed pollen in the air which triggers my allergies so it's was tough recording for this video. I want to thank you for listening this long and I promise the next reviews will be back to being short and sweet. This boss was just a weird moment for me in Elden Ring and I wanted to express how I fully feel about it's design.

Astel, Naturalborn of the Void is basically Amygdala from Bloodborne however extremely watered down here combat wise. The presentation is very nice but that doesn't sell me personally. This is easily a one minute review type boss however since the boss is constantly transporting away along with attacks that doesn't allow much space I'm afraid we're looking at a three minute review so I'll express how I feel about every attack since there isn't that many of them. The Cosmic Burst is the opening attack most of the time, after that it usually occurs if the player is too far away and it's very fun once you get the timing down. The unfortunate thing is that it has a poor punish window even if you're very close enough to reach Astel within seconds after the attack. Waves of Darkness never was a concern but does prevent the player from staying underneath the boss which is something I appreciate though once again the punish opportunity is very low and it's not a satisfying attack to avoid also. Maybe if it had shock waves without the gravity damage instead then it could have been more impactful and engaging. The Tail Slam is weird and not visually appealing. Simply running to the sides gets the job done but it's never satisfying to pull off because it looks so poorly animated in my opinion. At least the punish window is very generous especially when it usually occurs twice in a row. Nebula is something where the damage detection timings should have been better. With distinct animations perhaps half of them should be lethal and the other half should leave openings to punish which only a couple does allow time to squeeze in properly which was satisfying to execute when the moment was appropriate. Vicious Bites was a problematic set of attacks, the telegraphing is terrible and prevented a lot of punish opportunities from other attacks. What ever happened to the well telegraphed attacks from the Armor Spider from Demon's Souls? This attack also didn't have a very good punish window. Meteorite of Astel is one of the sloppiest moments in the fight with running to the side at a far enough distance being the safest solution. It would have been better if you could time it properly to punish if you got close enough to attack Astel by properly avoiding the meteorites but they track you all the way. It felt like a huge version of the Arcane Sky Barrage in the Rom, the Vacuous Spider fight from Bloodborne but less engaging. The Teleport Grab is the most problematic attack in the whole fight due to the poor indication of it's position and occurrence. It's a good jump scare though so I'll give it that. The punish window is actually decent if you evade the huge grab detection range. The Pincer Grab is probably my favorite attack though it hardly ever occurred during practice runs. It's telegraphed well though the range is oddly small for it's build up but at least the punish window was good. The Gravity Slam is just a waste of time and was clearly just there to look cool nothing more. It's not satisfying to evade and the punish window is really weak. The Tail Stab is another attack I loved to see and punish. It's very well telegraphed and satisfying to time evading properly similar to the small ranged Nebula attack.

Fire Prelate is another unofficial boss this week but I feel it's another enemy that should have been a boss perhaps in a dungeon somewhere. Let's the get the obvious observation out of the way this enemy is inspired by Smough's design and move set from Dark Souls. I feel that addressing the new style that changes the fight is enough for a review regardless of the concept age and I feel it had potential to be greatly modernized for Elden Ring. My strategy since I was applying a no roll restriction for a personal challenge was to pay closer attention to the behavior. Most attacks didn't have a follow up to be concerned about however a few did like the vertical power slam which is followed by an upper cut swing. Now every attack technically has a follow up attack though it can be avoided by running before the head butt initiates however the uppercut attack requires an extra bait to strike afterwards. One thing very odd about this design twist was the fire cauldron that spews and combusts which oddly adds a very interesting scenario especially when attempting to back away since it could catch you if you were not paying attention. The second phase for some reason removes the fire from the cauldron and this may be due to the slightly more aggressive attack that's added which is the charge combustion attack which is just as brutal like it was in Dark Souls. The fire cauldron could just have a time limit but I'm not sure because I never tested that particular aspect out. This is where the arena compromises the boss unfortunately and it's a reoccurring problem in the From Software games like Ludwig, the Accursed from Bloodborne. I don't know why they never design bosses to work well on elevating platforms. The charge combustion attack actually cancels if you lead it up the stairs which would be considered a good strategy but personally I would prefer to have the excitement of having it chase me up and down the steps for the Tom & Jerry vibes I like to have in boss fights. In conclusion I highly recommend to experience this boss in it's entirety without tools of convenience. I understand being powerful is a big appeal in these games for most players but try using a weaker weapon on this one and get a taste of traditional boss design mixing in on something new.

Deathbird reminded me of something but I couldn't quite put my finger on it then someone mentioned Oceiros, the Consumed King from Dark Souls 3 and I do notice the similarities but unfortunately it's not a better fight in the slightest. This boss doesn't want you to learn how to fight it because the move set prevents you from punishing anything and the only solutions are to either exploit it with the tools of convenience or not target locking, staying behind and hoping for the best. Both fights were never satisfying to me because the design philosophy is so screwed up here that it prevents any sense of skillful achievement and I don't blame anyone for disliking a Deathbird. Another comparison I'll make is the Titanite Demon from Dark Souls with it having similar attacks and brutal hit boxes so this concept has existed for a while now so I guess it was their mission to make it super annoying as possible along with other concepts in the series. Death Rite Bird is the advanced version and it's an improvement but I will say that I enjoyed this one more only because it's Ghostflame attacks are visually appealing however still poorly telegraphed just like everything else. There are some subtle tells but it's part of the design issue I've address several times already which is the always being prepared for a massive attack which is the entire fight basically. You have a fraction of a reaction time to properly move away from an attack and what's funny is that the grab attack is one of the most generous attacks to avoid but still requires you to be in right place at the right time. Overall there is a strategy that has somewhat of a consistency but it still lies in a design that punishes you for reacting properly with weird and inconsistent hit boxes that doesn't make the fight enjoyable. This goes back to Radahn a fight that's circled around gimmicks but if you want to fight him one on one without tools of convenience then it requires methods that doesn't feel satisfying to use. Imagine if the Deathbird had the same gimmicks as Radahn and replaced him entirely, would the fight get as much praise? It's definitely something to think about. One more final thought is that this boss would have been significantly better if the attacks were parryable and it would have complemented the design so well.

Starscourge Radahn was extremely underwhelming after hearing so much praise from the community. I heard updates messed with the design but after doing some research I didn't find anything that would affect my strategy before the adjustment other than using Torrent which I feel is important when it comes to closing gaps and reducing RNG in this fight. Just throwing this in here but I remember when I first saw this fight it immediately reminded me of Homer at clown college riding a tiny tricycle. Running up to Radahn was the worst part of the fight for me. I don't mind running back to a fog gate however having to either run or use Torrent just to start the fight was really boring in my opinion. This sort of reminded me of the Storm King in Demon's Souls but milder where you must watch out for projectiles until the boss approaches. I'm surprised that I haven't heard of anything that makes your character less visible or quieter to avoid the majority of the section. There's just too many issues for my personal interest but I understand it's for the presentation I suppose. The arena also reminds me the Slave Knight Gael fight from Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City DLC. My strategy was to watch for one combo in particular that allows a generous amount of i-frames during animations. This is a similar strategy I have in other fights like the Valiant Gargoyle and the Deathbird. Whenever Radahn uses Cragblade on his weapons I waited for the inevitable Starcaller Cry which is just another one of those massive attacks to be aware but at least it doesn't happen randomly and is more consistent here. This strategy works all the way through the fight and I might have been a bit overpowered in the footage but I didn't get to display his Meteor Summon attack which wasn't very concerning since the tell of when they're released is well telegraphed and the Spiralling Death which is basically the Storm Assault used by Godrick the Grafted so the i-frames are very generous there as well. This fight could have been something I loved but unfortunately it's designed around too many gimmicks for me to call it an outstanding one versus one battle. By the time of writing this review I've defeating Radahn several times and I never got that heart throbbing that the other bosses have given me. Perhaps I was anticapating something more traditional than a combo mess of a ploy.

The Lion Guardian Duo is not an official boss but I enjoyed the enemy design and the arena so much that I decided to review it anyway along with other enemies I feel should get the attention they deserve. Out of everything I've seen boss wise it puzzles me that this concept didn't at least get a boss bar and yet we got boss fights like the Soldier of Godrick, the Giant Miranda Flower and the Royal Revenant. This fight immediately reminds me of Lud and Zallen from Dark Souls 2 for obvious reasons heck the second one wakes up and joins in when the other one's health is low enough. An awesome call back to a boss with an universally hated run back. My strategy is pretty basic and the same for every attack with the only difference being the timing of the punishments. This particular Lion Guardian shoots out a Vordt of the Boreal Valley frost spray which is incredibly deadly however can easily be stunned out of to reduce to area of effect. As for the second Lion Guardian it stays pretty mild until the other one is gone at least from what I noticed however it could have just been luck. Unfortunately I received damage at the final strike somehow and I'm not sure why but I must have attacked at the first frame of a damage detection animation however I couldn't just start over because the other Lion Guardian was dead already and these enemies do not respawn. So you're probably wondering why I like this design when it's such a simple set up. Well I really enjoyed learning how this enemy worked, the arena was well designed and fighting it was a lot fun like most bosses should be. Difficulty is great and all but when it takes up most of the design then you just get fights like the Royal Revenant which just makes a challenge tedious in my opinion so my point is that Elden Ring needed more traditional style boss fights instead of these infinite stamina sponges filling up the boss roster.

Morgott, the Omen King is considered essentially the same as Margit from what I've heard from other players but personally it feels like a totally different fight. I don't know if this is due to my high playstyle standards that demands perfection so the timing from the attacks are different however it can't be denied that at least half of the move set has changed. This fight is significantly better in my opinion mostly due to the pacing since idling doesn't occur nowhere as often like in the Margit fight and it gets even better in the second phase. My strategy for the first phase was to gradually gain a parry riposte since it requires three successful deflects. Personally I like consistency with parrying so I found that fishing for the spirit spear throw had an eight out of ten chance of the same parryable follow up attack. Other than that there where other openings I used such as using the i-frames from the hammer swipe where I would catch the precise animation of my character standing up as Margott's weapon swings over me. This attack also had very precise timing outcomes, if I rolled too soon the spirit dagger swing would happen but if I rolled late enough a vertical double swing would activate. It's like a reversed timing system from the Beast Clergyman and I'm surprised no one has addressed these designs at least from what I've seen from the community. Phase two is significantly more chaotic in a good way for the most part. There is however a combo attack that can compromise approaches and I basically had to fight anticipating it the entire time. This is something I'm not a fan of in Elden Ring where a boss has this massive attack that you must constantly be aware of or you're basically screwed. Yes they can be rolled through but it never feels satisfying to me at least because the overall annoyance of thinking and preparing for the attack the entire time just ruins the whole experience in my opinion. I would enjoy the spirit dagger rain attack more if it wasn't for the chance of the combo attack occurring in such a risky situation. Other than that everything else is great like the blood charge attacks, the geysers of whatever liquid that is creates a unique pacing and that stubborn spear charge still gives me anxiety. Overall an incredible fight and probably one of my favorite bosses in Elden Ring. I think the design is different enough and the placement is a perfect gatekeeper for the not so great endgame ahead.

No script this time, this boss doesn't deserve one.

Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon is almost a really good boss however the design is severely flawed with an overused gimmick and poorly thought out with AI collaboration. It's really hard to praise this design when it's been executed significantly better in another From Software title. Yes this fight is very pretty though that's basically all it has going for it. I'm not going to bother explaining a strategy for the first phase because it just feels pointless due to the lack of solution variety so let's move on. My strategy for the second phase is definitely something that grew on me through my first playthrough because jumping makes this fight feel so much better and tolerable. One attack in particular I found extremely annoying however jumping totally fixes that. Rennala can be easily staggered so after evading an attack you can simply go in for a strike. This however becomes more complicated due to Spirit Summons that do not compliment the fight well at all and just feels like random implementations. It's mostly best to lead the summon away and run back but then you have a dragon that usually likes to hang around Rennala so it's not one hundred percent successful including the chance of her attacks tagging you while you're dealing with a summon. I want to create a separate video sometime explaining how this design works better in the Elana, the Squalid Queen fight from Dark Souls 2 where everything feels intentionally designed to work together. Unfortunately I don't have the time to explain here. This fight was decent and I learned to appreciate it more near the end of figuring out a strategy. It's just a shame that a good magic based boss design is hidden underneath concepts that do not shine well together.

Onyx Lord was a very unique experience for me and I'll go as far to say that I'm probably the world's first at doing a no roll and no damage with the ranged orb throw. I looked it up and no one has done this yet on Youtube at least. Every video displays someone staggering the boss right before the attack happens but if someone can send me a link to a video of someone avoiding the attack without rolling that would be great. Other than that personal challenge this boss is really annoying if you don't excessively strike staggering it out of all of it's attacks. I was going to parry but I wanted more especially once I found out that the orb throw could be compromised with the middle section of the arena. I'm really curious to know if that's the main purpose or just a wild coincidence. So in order to keep the attack from reaching me I had to make sure the boss never got into the middle section which could easily be ruined by one of it's running swipe attacks. One special attack not present here is the Meteorite attack which only requires some running around very similar to Rom, the Vacuous Spider's Ranged Ice Barrage attack in Bloodborne. I think this boss could have been a lot better with some kind of mechanic uniqueness like the Crystalians but it feels like they gave up half way through it's design. I suppose it's okay for how it currently stands.

Godfrey, First Elden Lord Is definitely one of the most impressive bosses I've fought on my journey though Elden Ring. I never got bored and I don't have too many complaints. This boss actually rewards aggression very well with satisfying attack windows to discover and a second phase to remember. My strategy for the first phase was to ideally have Godfrey use the Axe Throw at the beginning since it allowed such a wide window for strikes and afterwards I would basically squeeze in whatever windows I was aware of. The attack isn't in the footage but there's an attack called the Fissure where Godfrey rips open the ground creating a blast radius. I'm mentioning this because the recovery time is super fast for any kind of proper follow up which is a shame because it can take up so much time however you can fix this by baiting for another Axe Throw so there's a chance to get something out of it. I see a lot of similarities with the Lion Clan Warrior from Dark Souls 2 for obvious reasons. The most satisfying attack to punish is the Regal Roar due to the animation wind up sort of like how the Lightning Bolt attack works for the Draconic Tree Sentinel. The Regal Roar allows so much opportunity for attacking that it'll most likely lead you directly into phase two. Hoarah Loux which is an advanced version of Champion Gundyr from Dark Souls 3 and it's easily one of my favorite second phases for a boss fight in the From Software games. It's funny how this phase felt shorter but was longer than the first phase. I guess I was having so much fun that I don't even notice. My strategy consisted of mostly waiting for the dashing grab attacks and following up. In the mean time the best part in my opinion was properly timing the Earth Shattering Stomp that was incredibly rewarding to pull off. By the way it looks like I take damage by the roar attack but it actually doesn't take a way any health surprisingly which is odd because in the Leonine Misbegotten boss you do take damage from a roar attack. At first I was keeping my distance a lot waiting for the dashing grab attacks however I eventually became more comfortable hugging around during the stomp attacks. I must have spent a total of twenty four hours maybe more studying this boss alone for my SOLO, no summons, no magic tricks and no damage for my own personnel challenge which never had a dull moment. I will look forward to this fight for many playthroughs to come.

Sir Gideon Ofnir, The All-Knowing is one of many magic based boss designs that's almost spectacular however it's all compromised by one attack. A lot of players will not think twice about this fight because of the low amount of health involved and that's understandable because this fight doesn't want you to understand how it works. I don't know why some bosses are designed this way, I suppose it adds a level of difficulty however aggression only works when there is stamina involved which doesn't seem to exist for bosses in Elden Ring. After properly evading a fast combination of attacks the player should feel rewarded however this design philosophy seems to take back seat for a good chunk of battles. My strategy was to very simply take advantage of the staggering. I wanted to apply more challenge to my personal satisfaction but this one attack called the Triple Ring of Light compromised everything due to it's range, hit boxes and behavior. I couldn't find the i-frames for jumping, using the arena didn't work since it moved along the steps, using the pillars worked but it messed up the camera a lot so I couldn't focus on the next move properly, rolling was too problematic and spacing it seemed to work the best however you could easily get struck by a projectile. So my strategy turned into basically making sure this attack never happened. I know avoiding it can be done because I was able to half of the time but it was mostly RNG like how I explained earlier. It's a shame that these magic based bosses just aren't quite there in design quality. The only one that seems to work extremely well is Lorreta which is entirely optional unfortunately.

Stray was one of my highly anticipated games of the year however once I finally got to play it I wasn't as thrilled. I'm a huge fan of games that step out of the typical boundaries with animal mechanics like Snake Pass, Maneater, Untitled Goose Game and even Jaws Unleashed. We don't see too many that can successfully execute the feeling of playing as the animal in question. This is where Stray most definitely hits very well at all angles. Unfortunately the game surrounding these mechanics is where the game suffers and the best parts of the game only has two sections leaving linear paths that offers very little engagement most of the time. Starting with the positives, the game is beautifully immersive with that lived in feeling and the exploration for the most part is well executed with proper consistency of aesthetic findings. I really enjoyed the moments with a particular security type enemy that had the strongest obstacles in the game which was the most memorable for me. The attitude of a cat is well captured however very little is involved with the charming feline mechanics. The open segments of the game are really fun at first but grows old too quickly due to the mundane platforming. Unfortunately that's really all of the positives I can give the game. Like I said at the beginning I feel that the cat mechanics are great. If the game allowed free style jumping then the level design would have to be significantly different to complement that freedom so I understand the restriction. The Last of Us series works well with prompt jumping because the game doesn't require platforming to be a strong game due to the zombie/human encounters being the entire focus of the game design with it's stealth/full throttle style level design. Free style jumping is proven to be pointless for this series with it's implementation in The Last of Us 2 where it has little to no purpose so prompt jumping would have sufficed once again. The reason I bring this up is to demonstrate the importance of having primary mechanics and either using them as something purposeful or completely useless. An example where prompt jumping wouldn't work is in a game like Super Mario Bros. Imagine not having any timing or precision like pressing jump at Goomba when the game tells you to. In my opinion that would be a very mundane experience for a game built to be a platformer and this is something I feel is missing in Stray, you can play as a cat so why not have require the player to feel engaged as one fully with consequences if you poorly calculate a jump? Jumping in Stray is it's primary mechanic yet feels so bland so what is the dominating aspect that can engage players to play multiple times? It's not the puzzles because they're extremely elementary and it's not the enemies because of their straight forward solutions. I think it's simply due to the atmosphere of the game which is the strongest aspect in my opinion so really everything can apply technically if someone is looking for a consistent experience. If that's want you prefer in a video game then Stray is definitely for you. When you play Stray you're getting a specific vision where everyone that plays or even watches a play through of it will receive the same experience every time but that couldn't be the reason why I didn't care for Stray. Resident Evil 7 is one of my favorite games of all time yet it's a consistent experience. I think the difference is simply that I find Resident Evil 7 thrilling and suspenseful thanks to it's well designed atmosphere and scenarios. In terms of consistency Stray and Resident Evil 7 are very similar in design it's just one is a light hearted puzzle game and the other is a terrifying puzzle game. I supposed this is more of an essay figuring out why I didn't like Stray more than a review. I was really excited to play this game when it was announced however I think overall the level design doesn't pull me in as something vastly replayable. The atmosphere is fine but not fully encapsulated to the point where I'm intrigued deeply with the world. Personally the game felt more like a tech demo of something bigger in the future and perhaps that's where the concept of Stray will stretch it's full potential. Do I recommend Stray? Personally I don't suggest paying full price for it. It's great for one play through but after that you may want some of your money back.

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(SOLO, No Summons, No Damage, No Magic Tricks) Beast Clergyman feels like a traditional boss from Dark Souls very similar to Manus, Father of the Abyss which is probably why I absolutely loved fighting this boss. At first this boss felt super fast and questionable however it eventually slowed down after consistency observations. I didn't care for the pillars in the arena, they do have a purpose in the second phase but they disrupted the flow of the first phase too much in my opinion. Simply my strategy was to keep distance and react properly to incoming attacks. Unfortunately staying close resulted in the boss constantly attacking which just leads to stamina exhaustion. As you can see I'm finally using jumping attacks which flows very well with this fight. The freestyle jumping didn't feel useful to me until this moment in the game which is about time. The mechanic was especially useful for the Beast Claw attack. I used to roll through it however the jump attack was much faster to avoid a follow up attack like the Rock Spray which was the most problematic for me. Luckily I found the proper i-frames and timing to react effectively all thanks to the freestyle jumping. One thrust attack in particular was very interesting due to the few variations of attacks to distinctively react to like the back up sweeping, Rock Spray and Beast Claw. All which had very satisfying and unique i-frame timings. Maliketh, The Black Blade is the most generous part of the fight with more openings to attack surprisingly. The move set however is all over the place which sounds good but works more against the boss than complementing the approach toward the player. This battle design reminds me of Slave Knight Gael but with the vulnerability of Vordt of the Boreal Valley both from Dark Souls 3. My strategy was to also stay close to avoid most ranged attacks. I noticed if you keep your distance then the boss just zig zags around with flashy attacks. Staying underneath the boss avoids a lot of attacks at least until the Piledriver attack which is a basic AOE or the Black Blade projectiles which requires a nice rhythm to evade. I do wish I had more time to further explore this section of the boss however I didn't realize my weapon would inflict as much damage like it did so I never planned to defeat Maliketh so quickly. There is one attack that I didn't fully develop a strategy for and that's the Destined Death move however that aside I thought the Beast Clergyman was the better fight in my opinion due to the more brutal move set that I personally found more satisfying to learn. I feel very conflicted with this one. I really liked both fights yet put together like this doesn't work well in my opinion. I think both fights are too short and should have had their own fights. Beast Clergyman with a second phase with additional attacks could have benefited well on the bridge before the main arena instead of the Draconic Tree Sentinel as much as I love that fight. I feel the same way about Maliketh. The reason why a fight like Sister Friede from Dark Souls 3 works so well is because it's a constantly evolving move set with the boss instead of something entirely different. Learning how to fight two vastly divergent designs was fun but also tiresome at times and discouraged practice for me personally until I was finally comfortable. In the end this is the reason why I play that way I do and if I'm not spending days or weeks on a boss to fully experience what it offers then it's not rewarding to me. I love the From Software games because they offer situations like this. I may not love every single boss design however when I do it's the best gaming experience I could possible ask for as a gamer.

Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree is another outstanding horseback boss that utilizes significantly more magic projectiles that's actually not poorly designed compared to the projectiles in the Red Wolf of Radagon fight. I finally get to present the Parrying Dagger that turned out to be in the one caves I missed in Limgrave somehow. Thankfully it's accessible early so I can try it out on the majority of parryable bosses. I originally wasn't going to parry in this fight because there's no riposte however the stagger from the parry is long enough to inflict a decent amount of damage plus it made the fight a lot more fun. If only I had the Parrying Dagger sooner so I could have parried the Draconic Tree Sentinel. My strategy of course centered around the parry stagger landing a charged heavy strike and a running light strike then Loretta usually would follow up with a summon bow attack that I could just roll through. The beginning of the fight allows a charged heavy strike due to the cinematic magic summon jump, I just have to start running away immediately to avoid getting tagged. The first phase glintblades and the glintstone stars can be avoided by running to side however once the second phase starts the glintstone stars becomes more problematic in that regard which is why I start rolling instead. I generally preferred a specific polearm animation to parry due to some attacks being very awkard to consistently time which is why you'll see me run up just to back off. To get this specific attack I would keep my distance until the opportunity initiates that typically followed after the glintblade attack. The second phase gets more aggressive magic projectile wise with wider hit boxes because of an increase of projectiles. Like I mentioned at the beginning, this doesn't trivialize the fight with RNG like the Red Wolf of Radagon. The tracking is slightly increased which is why running was no longer viable for me. There may be a specific trick to avoid it consistently because I did avoid those by running a couple of times but I'm not sure what I did differently. The second phase summon bow attack requires a slightly different timing to roll through so that wasn't a huge deal but works very well when there's a combo of magic projectiles being shot. This in my opinion is how combo attacks should be handled instead of visually confusing the player with excessive attacks including tiny evasion windows of opportunity from the boss. I really enjoyed this fight. There were attacks not presented in this footage unfortunately, the magic enchanted polearm sweep attacks which were satisfying to evade but it's unfortunate that they seem to have a somewhat low occurrence for some reason. I don't really have any significant problems with the boss itself and it's probably one of the most solid designs in the game so far in my opinion. I do feel that the arena is too big though and it could have been reduced about fifty percent without any issues.

Fire Giant was a humbling experience. I stated in my Guardian Golem review "I can't even think of an appropriate example on how to execute giant type enemies from the other six games, they been that bad. Perhaps later in the game they'll change my mind hopefully." I'm proud to say that From Software has done it. This boss is probably the best I've seen in gaming entirely and I can't wait to talk about it. Here's one of my stretches but I believe this is the Ceaseless Discharge from Dark Souls designed properly. The attacks and arena are obviously different though the scale and subtle details just screams that older concept. Considering how poorly the Ceaseless Discharge is executed, I think From Software wanted redemption for this idea and they fully accomplished it with the Fire Giant however that's just speculation. For phase one my goal is to reduce the amount of time spent in phase two and the reason why is because there's a small amount of RNG that occurs due to one attack. The boss typically scoops snow at the player during the walk up which requires a Nameless King Wind Wave dodge, the follow up isn't as consistent so I like stop after Snow Scoop and wait. Whatever attack eventually occurs I need to remove the bone splint then achieve another stun all within phase one. One of the most fascinating aspects of this design is how unpredictable yet very consistent each attempt can be. Some of my tries would flow very well however the other half of the time I'm having to adapt to the many variations of attacks and I never got tired of it. The second phase is the most problematic and this is due to a fire ball that's summoned. This attack requires a proximity trigger to remove it unless there's another way that I haven't seen yet. The fire ball has the potential of creating RNG scenarios especially when the Fire Tempest is activated because you have too many damage detections that collides together including the incoming plate attacks. Most of the time it's avoidable thankfully but unfortunately like the Red Wolf of Radagon certain hit boxes will line up in a manner that is unavoidable. Now we enter phase three which is a whole other monster to handle in terms of approach. At the beginning I start off hitting it's left hand during the Fire Tempest attack until the Fire Giant rises. Now there are a few outcomes possible however eventually the Rock Spew will occur if not directly after the starting Fire Tempest. The direct point of attacks move to the hands and you can attack other parts like the feet again though you're not going to achieve much damage plus staying in front allows more control of this beast. The Fire Balls are back in twos though using Torrent during the spawn animation to quickly trigger them solves the issue so I can get back to the frontal assault and for the rest of the fight I'm basically only striking after basic attacks however the thrilling speed bumps keeps thing interesting. Another issue that's only a time waster is the fact that the Fire Giant rolls around often so it can be thirty seconds before you can inflict damage again and that's including attacks that do not have the appropriate recovery times. A positioning issue occurs when the Fire Giant comes across a stump or elevated landscape that cause the boss to change tracking. This is mostly annoying than anything else because I'm waiting to read the next attack and the boss suddenly turns so it can be a slight inconvenience and it's a technical issue that's been in every SoulsBlood title from what I've noticed. I've heard complaints about not being able to see attacks during the first two phases however it's actually very generous on the design with sounds to go by and simply understanding the behavior of attacks. This boss was very intimidating at first and it was one of those fights I fell in love with as I understood how it worked. I wish more players took the time the study i-frames and become comfortable with boss fights they struggle with because there's usually a click moment that's turns the boss into a massively fun experience. I understand that people have less time than I do so I get it but if you have some spare time perhaps look at the Fire Giant a little closer and you may understand why restrictions are a ton of fun when fighting things that weigh a ton.

Draconic Tree Sentinel is the most impressive boss in Elden Ring for me so far. The move set has a wide variety of distinct animations that's properly telegraphed and it's absolutely satisfying to fight. I wanted more of the Tree Sentinel and I definitely got it with the majority of attacks being divergent compared to the one I fought in Limgrave. The strategy I picked was more close ranged this time because if I attempted my manipulation calibration method then I wouldn't get very far. Thankfully this boss doesn't excessively strike because usually after a few strikes the boss would move away from the player to start using fireballs. This attack at first seemed very inconvenient however it eventually became one of my favorite moves to counterattack and it also has a slightly different response time depending on how close you are. You can probably tell that I favored the boss's left side and this is because the attacks are more manageable to access for hits. The other side can work but the attacks do not allow much room to work with since there isn't much distinction about what level of swing is going to execute. I only used the right side to force an opening for the left side which worked extremely well. The second phase is where things get very interesting. So the boss conjures it's inner Nameless King from Dark Souls 3 and wears it proudly. The Nameless King is one of my favorite boss fights so you can imagine how excited I was to see this unfold. One attack that threw me off the most was the lightning strike that actually has a slight double window of damage detection and thankfully the boss has movement properly telegraphing when it's going to strike. This attack isn't in the showcase because it's a ranged triggered action and I was mostly up close. My biggest complaint about this design is the ground lightning sparks which can be very difficult to see near the boss and you'll notice in the footage that I don't get close until that last strike but that's only because the boss already used that attack so many times so I got impatient. Overall a fantastic gatekeeper. I heard there's a bypass but why would you skip on such a well crafted piece of From Software art?

Demi-Human Queen Margot undoubtedly is a poor man's Vicar Amelia from Bloodborne so the fight isn't too spectacular. This is just one of those fights that should have a better design later in the game but I decided to review it anyway just in case plus I like to look back to see how my strategies evolved over time. My strategy was to circle around and wait for attacks that had slow recovery times. I could have done a no roll challenge however I was ready to get back to bigger bosses so I decided to use my weapon one handed instead to reduce the amount of practice time. If you notice that some bosses do not make it here on the channel it's either because they were too similar to another fight I reviewed or I found a boss fight that had a luck percentage that was too high to apply the necessary amount of skill which has been in quite a few fights so far. My favorite attack to evade was the aggressive biting and my least favorite was a staff drag which wasn't present of course in the showcase however that was only because I was too far away to trigger it. I'm sure with more practice I would have been more comfortable with the attack however the telegraph isn't exactly well animated in terms of distinction which is very important if you want a satisfying evasion. This fight was okay and like I said earlier I'm sure there's a better version later in the game so perhaps I can give the concept better praise. While I have time I need to mention that my uploads will probably become less frequent soon because boss fights are getting crazier which is great though it's going to take more time to find i-frames and learn the behavior consistencies with the bosses I'm currently seeing as of now. I happen to have other priorities other than Elden Ring believe it or not so I can't promise reviews every week like it has been and it may end up with one or two reviews a week. I hope everyone has enjoyed my perspectives and game play performances so far. I look forward to any feedback you want to offer. Thank You.

Magma Wyrm Makar is like fighting Chaos Witch Quelaag and the Gaping Dragon from Dark Souls at the same time until the second phase starts then it becomes less interesting. I picked this fight in particular because of how unique the arena is and what's pretty wild is that I had this very idea whenever I thought about how to improve the Ludwig, the Accursed arena from Bloodborne because of how terribly it works with that boss's movement and aggression. Once again we have an occurrence where my least favorite attack is absent which is the fire walk the boss usually performs first thing whenever you first enter the arena and sometimes performs it three times in a row which wasted so much time. I even had a bow on me just so I could be doing something while waiting out the length of that attack. One other attack missing is a jump attack when the boss puts the weapon in the it's mouth and launches into the air slamming towards the player however a simple roll could avoid it obviously so it's more of a surprise then a complicated window to pay attention to. With my strategy I decided to do a no roll challenge since there wasn't as many attack like I initially thought so I needed an extra challenge to help display more attacks that didn't occur very often. My approach was to attack lightly then back off whenever I felt the spin attack or the two handed slam was imminent. The visceral attack was unexpected but surely welcomed for the showcase. The second phase may look intimidating however it's very mild in comparison. The fire attacks allow a lot of strike opportunities and you only have to watch out for impact waves from the sword. I really enjoyed this fight. It's one of those designs that's very unique and uses older ideas in a fresh execution though I wish the second phase was more impactful. Also the fire walk can get very excessive at times and could use spacing throughout the battle like the jump attack.