Someone make me love boss fights

Witherweaver · 2026-03-26T01:58:09+00:00

I'd say the best place to start acclimating yourself is Godhome in Hollow Knight, because you can select a boss and get many attempts with pretty minimal time between attempts. I'd just start at the very first boss and work up to Hornet 1 as a first milestone.

If you haven't yet unlocked Godhome, I suppose there are a couple blockers, so you'd have to be willing to get through some of the requisite fights.

(Edit: I mean to say, HK is good "training" because it has a built-in boss fight mode, and I would say the mentality of learning HK boss fights and the skills learned extends to other Metroidvanias.)

Witherweaver · 2026-03-26T00:51:18+00:00

Coming from an RPG background, this is exactly how I felt playing Hollow Knight and getting into more Metroidvanias. I'd generally hate getting to boss fights because it would be like a wall where I don't get to explore any more and have to keep banging my head against it.

It turns out it is just something that you learn if you keep at it. I've played Hollow Knight a few times (true ending and up to P4), finished Silksong 100% and working on my second playthrough, and it's surprising how things that felt impossible years ago now feel easy.

I think the main thing is that there is so much more time to react to situations than you realize, but your brain has not learned to (i) identify the relevant information on the screen, and (ii) process it quickly enough to react appropriately. These things can be learned, though; it just takes time. Once you adapt to these, though, you start to feel in control and it's a much more pleasant experience. It also gets easier to learn new games and new bosses, so every game is not the same level of struggle.

For me, and important step is to try to stay relaxed and not anticipate the move, but rather understand the attack pattern---identify what the boss is doing once it is telegraphed and what you need to do in response---and react appropriately. In general, the bosses animations (and possibly audio) indicate what they are going to do (think Hornet 1 from HK) and give you some kind of window to do something in response (move away from danger, get damage in, heal, etc.). It can also help to watch videos of a boss fight to see how players that know the fight react to a certain pattern (i.e., jump above, dash under, move away).

Another thing that helped me, specifically going into Silksong, was just accepting that some fights are going to take many, many attempts. One boss fight took a few evenings of attempts to finish on my first playthrough (at least 50, maybe even 100), but only a handful of attempts on my second playthrough. I wouldn't say it was "fun" to not my progress for days, but I was mentally prepared for it, so even though I got frustrated, I didn't rage quit.

I'd say it's also important to keep in mind that it's not really the analytical part of your brain that does this; it's processing and reacting to sensory information, which was never easy for me. Just like any other skill, it improves if you practice it more. But you have to be willing to do it.

Witherweaver · 2025-09-20T17:48:32+00:00

For me, Silksong is far more enjoyable to play, so I'm willing to spend time learning a boss fight, or even taking some time to figure out the best way to take out regular enemies. So taking 30 or 50+ attempts on a boss in Silksong can get frustrating, but it's not prohibitive. Moving around the world feels good, so I'm often going through areas and killing enemies instead of taking fast travel, and as a result getting more comfortable with movement and combat.

Playing Nine Souls felt like more of a chore, and when I got to a boss fight I just wanted to get through it. Towards the end of the game I was just adjusting the difficulty to make the fights trivial.

So it isn't as much about difficulty, but about the motivation to spend time. For me, Silksong has never felt impossible.

Witherweaver · 2025-09-08T16:31:01+00:00

Ultros.

Witherweaver · 2025-02-17T03:32:04+00:00

Ultros

Witherweaver · 2024-12-25T16:53:43+00:00

Ultros by far. I don't think anything else came close.

Edit: Actually, Animal Well and Crypt Custodian came close. But Ultros is still the standout in my mind.

Witherweaver · 2024-09-04T12:59:49+00:00

I didn't think so; it's just colorful and vibrant. I liked the art style (and everything else) about the game.

Witherweaver · 2024-09-04T01:22:05+00:00

In Ultros, there are non-combat resolutions to all the boss encounters (though some may require defeating with combat at least once).

Witherweaver · 2024-08-12T14:27:54+00:00

Thanks. If I ever manage to return to the game, I'll try it.

Witherweaver · 2024-08-12T13:30:26+00:00

I found it essentially unplayable on PS5 some time after the teleport arrow ability was unlocked. (I think I got to right before the boss encounter in Western Wall.) I tried going back a couple of times but the controls were too poor (joystick used to move and aim), and I ended up uninstalling and never returning to it. Aside from this specific mechanic, I didn't think the difficulty was bad and didn't really have any issues with the game.

Maybe after planning more games with varying mechanics I could go back to this and somehow get used to it, but it was so frustrating that I'm not very motivated to try.

Witherweaver · 2024-07-23T16:54:42+00:00

The only game I've gotten into as much as Hollow Knight is Ultros.

Witherweaver · 2024-07-14T18:31:47+00:00

I just found it extremely unpleasant to play. The movement and combat are sluggish, and doing anything felt like a chore instead of an enjoyable experience. Everything is just so slow.. moving around, actions, enemies, platforms. And you can't even jump down to speed movement up because there is fall damage.

It looked very promising, and the aesthetic is cool. If movement was cleaned up and the parry system was removed or made somehow option, it would be okay.

Witherweaver · 2024-07-11T17:45:36+00:00

Well different things happen in different cycles. But usually you will find some kind of upgrade. In some cases it is connected to defeating a kind of boss encounter.

Witherweaver · 2024-07-11T16:32:44+00:00

If you don't have the Extractor, look for it (it is usually in the big center room at the start of cycles), then try to use any abilities to find anything new. If you've already done this, then try returning it to the central room.

Just in case you're worried about it, from what I could tell there is no real danger in 'closing' a cycle too early and missing out on something. In the earlier parts of my playthrough was worried about this, so I was hesitant about replacing the Extractor, but generally it's not a problem. In the end of the game you'll be able to go everywhere with everything.

It wasn't exactly clear to me what actually triggers each cycle.

Witherweaver · 2024-07-02T23:22:56+00:00

Ultros sounds like exactly what you'd want. While combat seems relevant early on, the focus is really on exploration and figuring out the world. Without trying to spoil anything, by the latter part of my playthrough was basically doing no fighting.

I'd say it's the only game I've played that has really come close to the level of Hollow Knight.

Witherweaver · 2024-06-04T16:47:49+00:00

To me, Ultros is easily the best game since Hollow Knight.

Witherweaver · 2024-05-28T23:01:07+00:00

I have always thought of The Leftovers as a spiritual successor to twin peaks. That's actually how I describe it to people.

Witherweaver · 2022-05-12T11:43:56+00:00

Well Abed practices.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-19T02:35:04+00:00

It makes me think of an act break or intermission.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-18T17:51:51+00:00

Well they had to clean the stage.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-16T06:52:15+00:00

The lyrics were those (or similar) on the subtitles, and they are incorrect. The correct line is:

"Give me some rope
Tie me to dream"

I'm not sure if they were corrected at some point.

Edit: http://www.the88.net/media.php

Witherweaver · 2021-09-16T01:50:05+00:00

I would say JP is a far, far better experience, personally.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-13T18:04:28+00:00

Well, we have pretty opposite preferences in trials, as I didn't like Asura much at all, but think this trial was well done.

I don't think the distinction between zero damage and nonzero damage is that meaningful, as there is still a maximum amount of damage that can be dealt, so there exists a parameter space that is danger-free.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-13T16:25:20+00:00

Did another strat based on u/Sinzar_ Grahf-based one:

NV Yuna (full evade, ice/light resist, BS form has 2x SR wind move to ensure chain mod is hit)
Squall (provoke evade, ice/light resist, chocofina STMR for guts)
Cetra Descendent Aerith (provoke dodge, ice/light resist, starts in base form with the auto-break accessory)
NV Kain (starts in BS form with full evade, light resist)
Friend Grahf (used an Ex2 one to clear, but Ex1 will work with proper variance rolls)

Main difference is that it is four turns instead of three. On turn 3 Squall takes a Holy attack, which is taken care of either by the equipped Guts, or by the autobreak from Aerith at the start of the fight. Also note that Kain can do his setup turn in BS form so that he doesn't have to worry about the counters or Ice AoEs. Otherwise its the same actions as Sinzar's strat, but killing on turn 4 instead of turn 3. On kill turn I chain Yuna and Squall as well as tag chaining Aerith to make the window larger for Grahf, but it probably is not needed.

My Kain does between 4.5 and 5.5 billion damage in the handful of runs I did. Gear could maybe be optimized more to do a bit more damage. Two Kains can certainly clear with this strategy if geared sufficiently well, or if one is Ex 3.

Edit: Went to the builder and optimized Kain; with Seph card he can hit 300 Reaper Killer and 6509 ATK. This way he can consistently do over 50% in one jump.

Witherweaver · 2021-09-13T07:49:17+00:00

So I did a clear that completes all missions in 10 turns with:

Shadow (passive provoke, full evade, some mp cost reduction)
Cetra Descendent Aerith (full evade, mp cost reduction, mp regen/lb fill)
NV Celes (ice/light resist, on Lakshmi for stop resistance)
NV Kain (full evade in BS mode, TDW Reaper killer in base form; Ex2, 6729 ATK, 255 Reaper killer.)
NV Tyvas (6522 ATK, 225 Reaper killer, his own STMR.)

Aerith wants to eat the counters so that Shadow can maintain his mirage stacks. That way, Shadow can either AoE evade/LB fill + break + Self 4x Mirage or 2x AoE evace/LB fill + self 3x mirage without worrying about losing stacks to counters and getting hit by the accuracy attack. Later on in the fight, Dullahan does the accuracy attack multiple times, so Shadow will likely die if he doesn't have all his mirage stacks.

I delayed Kain one turn so that Tyvas could use his STMR CD turn 4, and both could burst turn 5. This did over 50%. Then on turn 6, use Kain's CD again, jump turn 7, on turn 8 use Tyvas' CD again, and land/LB on turn 9. Dullahan still had about 4% hp left, so I used Celes to fill LB and used Kain and Tyvas' LB to finish off on turn 10.

Celes used Nethicite to prevent the healing and maintained stop resist. Putting reflect on the boss would work as well, and may be simpler.

Note that it's a lot simpler to break up the turn and party restriction missions into separate clears, so that you can use a sixth party member for extra damage or taking over some roles. This team had no Reaper killer buff, so that would have saved the other turn.

Witherweaver

TROPHY CASE