Its been a while since I did my challenge run (Naked (with a shield to parry, no weapon), no attributes spent, hitless) so might miss something, and the list isn’t in any specific order
The gate you enter through blocking the view if the fight ends up going south
First phase attack with a shield, I think there’s like 2 variations, and one can’t be parried, I lost a lot of time trying to parry it, there needs to be some clear indication of it (iirc there’s a sound but if you don’t know what its for its easy to miss)
Second phase attack where he points the sword then launches the tentacles has inconsistent parry timing, I’m assuming it’s related to how far you are from him making the attack hitboxes get to you sooner or later
If you are too close to him in the second phase his attacks miss (but only sometimes so you can’t even abuse it), meaning that you don’t get focus from the parry (meaning that i had no dmg)
Second phase attack where he does a 4 hit combo, even if you parry the sword hits you can still get hit by tentacles when hes falling over
There was one time where a barrel stayed floating after he destroyed the platforms, which blocked my view, killing me (considering it was one time in so many attempts its not critical but i figured id bring it up)
Now some personal issues:
Second phase is much slower than the first, especially with the ground tentacle attack, its 7s of just walking around waiting for him to stop trashing about, him creating distance is also pretty annoying when you are going bare handed
Additional feedback:
Let me lock my level to level 1, leveling up gives a bit of a damage boost, and as you can imagine a run like that has you die a lot, iirc I leveled up from lvl 12 to 25 dying to Darak (making the fight easier over time).
Unfortunately I ended up playing a different game and not beating Darak (reason why this feedback has been delayed so much). Second phase was simply not fun, with all of the aforementioned issues.
I’d love to complete this challenge with the next update so here I am.
The changes you ask for in attacks are tiny details for most players, and some of these flaws are more preferences than actual flaws.
In my opinion shield attacks should not be parryable as it is not very intuitive.
The fact that the attack has different timing based on the distance makes sense and is interesting.
I agree here, It would be better if it was more consistent for all players who use perrys, but at the same time it’s a tiny detail that very few people will notice.
This attack is an interesting middle ground between a non-parryable and a parryable attack because you can get focus but you get hit, in my opinion that’s fine since outside of this challenge run it’s a nice option, you can decide to parry it to get focus at the cost of some HP or you can treat it as a non-parryable attack.
Obviously, if the game was more polished, everyone would benefit, not just those trying to do a challenge run. But at the same time if the problems you find don’t exist outside of the challenge run then there’s not much point in fixing them, the perry is a tool at your disposal that should be used when it’s most effective not your main source of damage, if the run is fun for you do it, but if the game isn’t built around this very specific playstayle it’s understandable the devs can’t think of everything.
In my opinion shield attacks should not be parryable as it is not very intuitive.
Physical attack? Let me parry it
The fact that the attack has different timing based on the distance makes sense and is interesting.
It just makes it feel janky, nothing interesting about that
I agree here, It would be better if it was more consistent for all players who use perrys, but at the same time it’s a tiny detail that very few people will notice.
Again, makes it feel unfair and janky
This attack is an interesting middle ground between a non-parryable and a parryable attack because you can get focus but you get hit, in my opinion that’s fine since outside of this challenge run it’s a nice option, you can decide to parry it to get focus at the cost of some HP or you can treat it as a non-parryable attack.
Taking damage when you parry an attack, makes it feel unfair and janky.
Obviously, if the game was more polished, everyone would benefit, not just those trying to do a challenge run. But at the same time if the problems you find don’t exist outside of the challenge run then there’s not much point in fixing them…
These are all the issues your average player will run into, but probably not all at once, and they are all detrimental to the player experience, even if the player isn’t aware it’s an issue because they aren’t likely to fight him for 20h straight
…the perry is a tool at your disposal that should be used when it’s most effective not your main source of damage
Even outside of the challenge run parrying is always the best tool at your disposal if you don’t have focus for the big damage attacks
but if the game isn’t built around this very specific playstayle it’s understandable the devs can’t think of everything.
I’m just parrying, that’s not a very specific playstyle
My impression is that you don’t really parry, as issues with parrying exist outside of my challenge run
Only difference is that I got to experience them all
Note: Did you know that Darek has a oneshot aoe attack?
Maybe it’s because I played Souls before but parrying things like charges, shield attacks and other attacks that are not performed with the enemy’s weapon doesn’t seem intuitive, obviously this is a different game and the rules can be different but generally it’s already like this: almost all shield attacks are not parryable even if they are physical attacks.
I agree that it should be clearer what is parryable and what is not, maybe add a glow or an aura to the physical attacks that are not parryable (but in a diegetic way and not a decontextualized particle effect).
I disagree with this, there are attacks that have a travel time and these attacks should not become instantaneous just so they are easier to parry.
For two reasons, the first reason is that you can learn the timing variation based on distance and learn to parry it consistently, in the same way that you can parry attacks that are combined with a dash or a jump and therefore have timing variation based on distance just like this attack, the second reason is that moving away from the boss is synonymous with safety and is the typical way that novice players handle bosses, and having the attack come later when you are far away makes it easier to dodge even if it is more difficult to parry.
Not if it is communicated correctly, in this case it is clear that you perry the sword but not the tnetacles, It’s also very interesting thematically, the implication that you could stop the man but not the monster.
The player who uses parry is not the average player, there was a questionnaire some time ago on this forum, the majority of players never use the perry then there is a part of the players who use it every now and then and then there is a small part of players who use it often, the perry in this game is designed as a risky option that is used on more telegraphed attacks not the default response.
Sorry if I repeat myself but The perry is designed as a riskier option that rewards more (if executed correctly) it is not the basic response to an attack, all attacks are dodgable, not all are perryable, and among those who are parryable only a few are worth parrying because they are well telegraphed.
And it was thought this way by the developers in fact if you learn to parry even just a couple of attacks of each enemy you can trivialize the game by spamming runes.
You’re not just parrying, you’re using perry damage as your only source of damage, and when you are not taking advantage of the main bonus of the perry which is the focus you get as a reward.
You try to parry every single attack of the boss because it is your only way to do damage, instead of using parry only at the right moments, you are essentially trying to replace the dodge with the parry and also the damage of your weapon and runes with the damage of the perry, I consider this a very specific play style (and you’re also without armor).
I’ve learned to parry most of the attacks on all the bosses except the huntress, and I’ve done similar things with many enemies. I haven’t learned them so well that I always get hit, but I generally know which attacks are easy to parry and which aren’t.
I have more fun dodging, but if I need focus, or I’m in a tricky situation, or I just want to, I parry.
I have over 550 hours of playtime, and I haven’t fully learned all the parry timings on purpose because the process requires too much patience, and if I had, it would have ruined the game since the focus you get from parrying can easily trivialize the game.
I also beaten the final boss of the elden ring dlc, almost only with perrys, if you’re interested in what kind of player I am.
The phase transition? Almost all of Darek’s attacks are AOE and if you are without armor they could all be oneshots xD.
Did you know that The “push attack” of enemy with the two-handed axe (the one you also find at the beginning of the game) is parryable?
For two reasons, the first reason is that you can learn the timing variation based on distance and learn to parry it consistently, in the same way that you can parry attacks that are combined with a dash or a jump and therefore have timing variation based on distance just like this attack, the second reason is that moving away from the boss is synonymous with safety and is the typical way that novice players handle bosses, and having the attack come later when you are far away makes it easier to dodge even if it is more difficult to parry.
That attack is fast enough that besides the few frames for the parry window it doesn’t matter where you are, iirc its actually 3 attacks, so sometimes you can parry 2 and third one gets through depending on the distance and timing, save me time and move on from this one
Not if it is communicated correctly, in this case it is clear that you perry the sword but not the tnetacles, It’s also very interesting thematically, the implication that you could stop the man but not the monster.
You can parry the tentacles, just not always, if you are off by a few frames it goes through, also this isn’t your school essay
The player who uses parry is not the average player, there was a questionnaire some time ago on this forum, the majority of players never use the perry then there is a part of the players who use it every now and then and then there is a small part of players who use it often, the perry in this game is designed as a risky option that is used on more telegraphed attacks not the default response.
Skill issue
Sorry if I repeat myself but The perry is designed as a riskier option that rewards more (if executed correctly) it is not the basic response to an attack, all attacks are dodgable, not all are perryable, and among those who are parryable only a few are worth parrying because they are well telegraphed.
And it was thought this way by the developers in fact if you learn to parry even just a couple of attacks of each enemy you can trivialize the game by spamming runes.
Skill issue
You’re not just parrying, you’re using perry damage as your only source of damage, and when you are not taking advantage of the main bonus of the perry which is the focus you get as a reward.
You try to parry every single attack of the boss because it is your only way to do damage, instead of using parry only at the right moments, you are essentially trying to replace the dodge with the parry and also the damage of your weapon and runes with the damage of the perry, I consider this a very specific play style (and you’re also without armor).
There’s a misunderstanding here:
Darak Sewers First Phase :Discord
Twins Hitless: Discord
Hope that’ll clear it up
The phase transition? Almost all of Darek’s attacks are AOE and if you are without armor they could all be oneshots xD.
Nah, and even without armor you don’t get oneshot, but Darak has one very specific oneshot attack thats hella rare to see, fight him for a few hours and you’ll know it when you see it
Did you know that The “push attack” of enemy with the two-handed axe (the one you also find at the beginning of the game) is parryable?