Every time this thread got bumped, I figured you were posting about how you beat him just after complaining about it! That’s how these things usually go. Maybe a bit longer in this case.
Just me bitching about the camera as usual. Is it really an unsolvable problem? Do they just not care?
Congrats! How long did the playthrough take you?
40 hours, according to Steam. Pretty sure 8 or more of that was just those last two bosses, Christ.
Orphan of Kos flashbacks. At least the camera worked in that fight.
Half the time than it took me. I think that’s probably average for me. It takes me twice as long in these From game than most people.
The most difficult fight for me was Owl (father), the second time you fight him. I think I spent at least 8 hours just on that fight. Still loved every minute of it.
If you’d like to feel better about yourself, it took me 33 hours to just to beat them.
Here is my breakdown of the fight, before I forget, in case I need to refer to it again or someone else is curious:
Phase 1: Genichiro
This sucks. You can Ichimonji him out of the initial Mortal Blade draw, which I recommend. I’ve seen other people talk about getting behind him and hitting him with Whirlwind Slash, which you can do, but it’s dangerous because the MB draw has some serious tracking and it’s unpredictable (to me, at least) where you’ll be safe. I prefer to just short circuit the move entirely. When he jumps, you can deflect, but for me it’s not worth it. He’s going to do an unblockable after (almost always, occasionally he’ll just do a big, normal sweep), and in the high grass it’s hard to see if he’s going for a thrust or a sweep; if you choose wrong you’re going to take major damage. Better to just avoid the jump and stay away from the attack after. You have a couple options of how to approach. I prefer the in your face method, because if he goes for the bow you can just hit him out of it. At range, where he will sometimes do the counterable jump thrust, which is easier to deal with here than in the first battle, he will pull out the bow, and if you get hit because you’re running and it won’t block in time, there’s half your life gone. Otherwise it’s just posture damage you take for no gain. Inside, you can often get good hits because he tries for a move that doesn’t work, and his sweep is easy to see coming because he sort of circles around you first (and you can hit him while he does). I think I usually got the deathblow on posture when his life bar was at half or more. I almost always had half my lifebar missing at the end of this, because there was always like one attack that made it through because of mushy block timings or whatever. Annoying, but the only alternative is to be perfect, and a good bit of that is up to the RNG of the boss. I had him do three different unblockables in a row on me once. Irritating!
Phase 2: Isshin Sword
He’s a little slow in this phase, giving you the opportunity to use the Mortal Blade more. He takes chip damage from this even if he blocks, so it’s a good move to use, even if you’re out of emblems like I was. Punishable moves are the three hit combo he does from running, which leaves him very slightly open at the end (I usually Mortal Blade this one because unless you’re behind him, which is hard to do, he will block.) and the double cross from sheathed that gleams a little as he’s charging it. That one leaves him much more open, and you’ll get at least one good hit in, and occasionally he won’t even be able to block a Mortal Draw. Less easily punishable is the Ichimonji. I think he does that in this phase. Be careful with this one, though, because sometimes he goes for a second Ichimonji, and I could never see any tell that this was going to happen, and it’s easy to get caught out by it for massive damage. There is another move I think you can get a hit in if you’re careful, but I’ve already forgotten what it is.
Phase 3: Isshin Spear
Easily punishable moves are the overhead spear slam jump and to a lesser extent the shooting. Run around at range, dodge under the jump and pray the camera stays locked on (it won’t, so get used to turning it around and retargeting as you attack). Can get one hit safely, two hits if you’re ready to do some deflecting. With the shooting you can run into it as you’re blocking and he can’t actually hit you if you’re up against him, giving you a moment to attack. Ichimonji makes a return, but at this point I’m willing to wait for my bread and butters. I don’t even bother getting near him when he’s dancing around in his other big combo. Just go out to range and wait until he’s finished flailing.
Phase 4: Lightning
Same as 3, with a couple of extra lightning-infused attacks. Supposedly you can reverse the lightning slam, but the couple times I tried it I just got shocked and it wasn’t clear to me why, so for me it’s better again to wait him out and bait the slam/shoot.
My favorite thing was how the weather progressed during the fight. Very cool. I was a bit taken aback by the lightning because he’d mentioned that G learned it from Tomoe and he sounded a bit dismissive of the whole thing, but then again I guess the only rule of the Ashina school is to win.
Well, this is first playthrough for me and for me was the shortest From game by a good ten or more hours. I didn’t fight the boss you mentioned because he doesn’t exist for the ending I got. I mean, I fought that character but from the way people talk he’s much harder where you fought him? I guess I’ll see.
Was that 33 hours of just fighting them over and over or did you go off and grind for supplies, etc. during that time, too?
Just fighting. I didn’t use any consumables during the fight because it seemed pointless given how slim the odds were that any single run was going to be successful. Despite the time spent on it, I don’t think I ever felt actually frustrated by it–unlike a couple of earlier fights.
I think I got the most frustrated by this game out of any From game, actually. They keep making games that require more and more precise timings and give you less and less room to breathe, but sometimes it feels like the controls just aren’t up to it, like you press a button to do a thing but the timing is just too unforgiving and the thing sometimes just doesn’t happen. That frustrates me. Plus the ongoing camera problems, which were thankfully few here since so few of the enemies were large, but still they were present, and at some of the worst possible times, too. That ninja in the well, DoH, this jump I keep going on and on about. I’m sure Elden Ring will have its share of camera issues, too. Just seems to be endemic at this point.
Oh! And I was the most frustrated by the animations in this game, too. Like, the action is so fast, I really really don’t want to be caught out by some stagger animation that requires manual canceling with a specific button, oof. I’ve noticed this annoying tendency in a few games. This one, Dauntless, Ghost of Tsushima. I don’t see the point, it’s just annoying busywork. Either force the animation play out like MHW or just let me move away from it with the stick or something.
As long as I’m complaining, I’ll say that the sneak button being L3 was a big liability in this last fight as well. So, so many times I ended up going into that sliding animation when I was just trying to run, uuuuugh.
Interesting. And this was by far the one I was least frustrated by. I’ve never finished DS1, and only made it through DS2, DS3, and Bloodborne with liberal summoning.
Ultimately, I think the real reason for that was the length of the boss runs. Being able to return back to the fight to try again often within seconds and usually without dealing with enemies was a huge help. That alone is why I’ve given up on DS1 on each of the four or five attempts I’ve made so far.
Phew… I’ve been now playing for two months. I’m a family man. And only have few hours here and there. It’s been quite a journey, I spent a week on the Guardian Ape , and another on 2nd Owl fight… it was tough, to re-learn yourself for every single boss. Now… I think I’m at the final boss, happening on the flower field. But man has it been grueling, getting through the demon, and the seven Spears fight before that took days…
And now… I’m just exhausted, now at the end I’m looking at the boss and I know that with time I can bring him down, but uhhh, I’m struggling to get motivated. What do?
行くぞ、隻狼!!!
I guess that was all I needed.
はい先生!
How my blood boils!!!
Just so everyone is on the same page, @kolbex said “Let’s Go, Ship Wolf!” and then @mixuk replied, “Yes, teacher!” and then Kolbex was enraged for some reason.
Let’s Go!!! Ship Wolf sounds like an anime about pirates or something.
LOL well, just going by Google Translate. :)
Yes, I did that, too, but 隻狼 is Sekiro. Although 隻 is a counter (a type of Japanese character used to designate what type of thing is being counted in a number) for ships, in this case it’s short for 隻腕 which is a one-armed person. “Ikuzo, Sekiro!” is what Isshin says at the beginning of his fight.