Posted August 13, 2019
Still working my way through Dark Souls 3 when I get the chance. During my last session, I made it through Lothric Castle. I died several times to some of the regular enemies, which was a little annoying, but in each case, my death was the result of carelessness and poor stamina management.
I beat Dragonslayer Armor on my fourth attempt, which was much better than my first playthrough of the game. I was glad to see that my fond memories of this boss fight held true; I would say Dragonslayer Armor is perhaps my favorite boss fight in the entire game. It isn't particularly difficult or lore-important, but something about the fight just clicks with me. It's a fast-paced fight that requires careful dodging and spatial awareness--my first death to it happened because I fell off the bridge during the second phase of the fight. It's one of those fights that I enjoy because I know that every death is truly, without doubt, my fault. And I love that.
After defeating that boss, I went through Consumed King's Garden and defeated Oceiros. I don't particularly like or dislike this fight. The first phase is pretty easy and the second phase is annoyingly unpredictable, and some of his attacks have weird hitboxes. Where this fight excels is atmosphere. The opening cinematic is interesting, and I love the dialogue throughout the fight (granted, the dialogue can get annoying after hearing it half a dozen times, but it's good nonetheless).
I continued on to the next boss, Champion Gundyr. This is a fight that absolutely kicked my butt my first playthrough. I probably made 20 or more attempts on him, and though I got close to beating him several times, I always died to him. Always. This was particularly vexing because the ending I was aiming for required me to get to Dark Firelink, and I couldn't do that without killing Champion. I finally learned of his weakness to parrying during some Internet research, but my lack of practice with parrying still made the fight difficult. After quite a few more tries I eventually killed him, but I vowed to never attempt it again.
Fast foreward to a week ago, and I had much less trouble with him. I still died a few times (which was only annoying because of the run back to him), but I consistently parried him. I bested him on the sixth attempt, and I was satisfied.
I moved on to the optional dragon location (Dragon's Peak? I can't remember the name right now) and killed the first dragon boss on my first attempt. I hated this battle my first playthrough, but I felt indifferent to it this time. It's a cool concept, I guess, but the execution is annoying more than anything else. It's basically a normal location just with a huge environmental hazard. I mean, yeah, technically it's possible to beat the dragon in a straight up fight, but that would take forever. I don't think the tedium would be worth it.
I am currently on my way to facing Nameless King, which I'm nervous about. This was the only boss I didn't kill in my first playthrough. I made several attempts at it, but I kept getting wasted by the stupid dragon. At that point, I just wanted to finish the game, so I gave up and moved on. I intend to defeat him this time around, and I'm curious to see if I will find it as difficult. So far this playthrough has been much easier than my first; I hope that continues.
I've also recently restarted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I got this for my 2DS a couple years ago. I made decent headway into the game, but I eventually stopped playing for reasons I can't remember. I decided to start it over and make my way through it. Progress has been slow; though I have access to the 2DS at home, between wanting to spend time with my wife and with my daughter, I don't have much time to play it. I can usually only get in maybe 30 minutes at a time. I just finished the first dungeon. It's not the most engaging game for me, but I love the graphics and atmosphere, and my wife likes hearing the music and sound effects while I'm playing. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it someday.
I beat Dragonslayer Armor on my fourth attempt, which was much better than my first playthrough of the game. I was glad to see that my fond memories of this boss fight held true; I would say Dragonslayer Armor is perhaps my favorite boss fight in the entire game. It isn't particularly difficult or lore-important, but something about the fight just clicks with me. It's a fast-paced fight that requires careful dodging and spatial awareness--my first death to it happened because I fell off the bridge during the second phase of the fight. It's one of those fights that I enjoy because I know that every death is truly, without doubt, my fault. And I love that.
After defeating that boss, I went through Consumed King's Garden and defeated Oceiros. I don't particularly like or dislike this fight. The first phase is pretty easy and the second phase is annoyingly unpredictable, and some of his attacks have weird hitboxes. Where this fight excels is atmosphere. The opening cinematic is interesting, and I love the dialogue throughout the fight (granted, the dialogue can get annoying after hearing it half a dozen times, but it's good nonetheless).
I continued on to the next boss, Champion Gundyr. This is a fight that absolutely kicked my butt my first playthrough. I probably made 20 or more attempts on him, and though I got close to beating him several times, I always died to him. Always. This was particularly vexing because the ending I was aiming for required me to get to Dark Firelink, and I couldn't do that without killing Champion. I finally learned of his weakness to parrying during some Internet research, but my lack of practice with parrying still made the fight difficult. After quite a few more tries I eventually killed him, but I vowed to never attempt it again.
Fast foreward to a week ago, and I had much less trouble with him. I still died a few times (which was only annoying because of the run back to him), but I consistently parried him. I bested him on the sixth attempt, and I was satisfied.
I moved on to the optional dragon location (Dragon's Peak? I can't remember the name right now) and killed the first dragon boss on my first attempt. I hated this battle my first playthrough, but I felt indifferent to it this time. It's a cool concept, I guess, but the execution is annoying more than anything else. It's basically a normal location just with a huge environmental hazard. I mean, yeah, technically it's possible to beat the dragon in a straight up fight, but that would take forever. I don't think the tedium would be worth it.
I am currently on my way to facing Nameless King, which I'm nervous about. This was the only boss I didn't kill in my first playthrough. I made several attempts at it, but I kept getting wasted by the stupid dragon. At that point, I just wanted to finish the game, so I gave up and moved on. I intend to defeat him this time around, and I'm curious to see if I will find it as difficult. So far this playthrough has been much easier than my first; I hope that continues.
I've also recently restarted The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I got this for my 2DS a couple years ago. I made decent headway into the game, but I eventually stopped playing for reasons I can't remember. I decided to start it over and make my way through it. Progress has been slow; though I have access to the 2DS at home, between wanting to spend time with my wife and with my daughter, I don't have much time to play it. I can usually only get in maybe 30 minutes at a time. I just finished the first dungeon. It's not the most engaging game for me, but I love the graphics and atmosphere, and my wife likes hearing the music and sound effects while I'm playing. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it someday.
