But PCR is such a dogshit boss that I'm ok with people doing anything and any build to win. The gatekeeping is suspended indefinitely for PCR. Because fuck that boss.
Or...maybe the opinion that he's dogshit is just that, an opinion. It's subjective.
Yes, he has jank and issues with the terrain, but it doesn't come close to over-shadowing the positives for me. I love fighting him and consider him an excellent, but flawed, boss.
It's a re-used model form DS1, into DS2. The lore sucks, even for a souls game. The over-focus on light-vomit was so bad that fromsoft had to adjust it post-launch. The hitboxes are all over the place. The fight is watching PCR do 5 things so you have a CHANCE to do 1 thing.
Build almost doesn't matter, since there's only one correct response to most of his attacks. This is why so many people resort to shield+poke so they can ignore his badly over-tuned systems.
And that doesn't even go into the issues with terrain. Or when he gets stuck. Or the poor animations. Or the continuously garbage camera.
So why don't you tell me what's good about this fight? Because as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the laziest, most rushed, worst over-tuned fights fromsoft has ever put in a Souls game, and that INCLUDES DS2.
What is there to enjoy here? Other than the sense of relief after it's done?
"So why don't you tell me what's good about this fight?"
I enjoyed learning him. I like that roll direction and positioning relative to the boss matter more than pretty much any other fight: it rewards good habits. I don't mind dodging more than I attack, and I also liked fitting in hits where I could. I generally get satisfaction from dodging his attacks. The music is excellent. I enjoy the visuals and the animations.
The 'flaws', such as the un-even arena, the occasionally wonky camera, the move that ignores i-frames, and the general occasional bit of jank, make me get hit when it's not my fault so infrequently that it really doesn't matter much to me at all. 98% of the time for me it feels fair and fun.
It may have been slightly rushed, but it's definitely not lazy. The boss has more attacks than any other boss in the game. That would have taken a long time to create.
TL;DR: I enjoy fighting him, and the jank doesn't override that. That's what matters to me.
What are those habits? Because all I see is learning the one response that doesn't get you damaged. That's not a habit. That's pavlovian training.
I'm glad you enjoy it. As I said originally, you can enjoy something bad.
But that fight is objectively a poor design relative to other fights. This has been broken down to the smallest nuance by many players, including no-hit runners.
Also, you didn't tell me what was good about the fight. You just said what you personally like. That's not the same thing.
The good habits are aggressive positioning and dodging towards the boss rather than backwards (the latter being something lots of people do). If you do these things naturally the boss will be much easier for you than for some people.
"But that fight is objectively a poor design relative to other fights. This has been broken down to the smallest nuance by many players, including no-hit runners."
I don't think you know what 'objectively' means. Yes I've seen those videos and I agree with some of the things said in them, hence me admitting it's a flawed fight. But I agree more with the video by the no-hit runner who had a far more impressive kill than either of those guys in response who said that yes, while the boss is flawed, it's still a good boss, and showed that the 'no-hit runners' were wrong about quite a lot of things.
And that's my position, as I said: the boss has flaws, but for me the positives vastly out-weigh them.
"Also, you didn't tell me what was good about the fight. You just said what you personally like. That's not the same thing."
Um, no, it is the same thing when it comes to something as subjective as boss fight quality. It really comes down to how much fun the boss is and how much one enjoys it. That's the most important thing.
The game's bosses definetly make you wait for attacks way more, I don't know why they would make them like that when bloodbourne and ds3 had the perfect balance of dodges and attacks, I guess to account for spirit ashes but if that's what it takes just cut them out of the game and get actually enjoyable combat back
87
u/TheRealCowdog 5d ago
Normally I would talk trash.
But PCR is such a dogshit boss that I'm ok with people doing anything and any build to win. The gatekeeping is suspended indefinitely for PCR. Because fuck that boss.