The Chalices scale independently from game cycles. The later ones are equivalent to like NG+2 to 4 or something
So yeah it's real endgame type stuff
Ringed City had way too much HP even on NG
Unlike Dark Souls you can really ramp up your output aside from stats and weapon upgrades though. A huge part of your damage comes from Blood Gems and the ones you can get in the Chalices are way better than most from the main game
But sure there's bad bosses everywhere, I don't know what you've been watching so I can't comment
Like, fuck guys that Gascoigne fight was nuts. I was at like 1 HP so man times there at the end. It's got me in a weird spot where I 100% too tired to play more but also can't sleep because that was hype as fuck.
Blood starved beast: A lot less good than Gasgoigne. The giant flappy bits over its head make it hard to tell when the fuck is going on after a while. Not a particularly hard boss just kind of annoying. Also my accidental heal count went up significantly lol, that is going get me into trouble once the hard bosses show up, I imagine.
I should add that I appreciate that in this much faster moving game than Dark Souls hitting this very fast boss with large hammer still felt totally viable and good.
Made some good progress this time, I think. First, killed Vicar Amelia on my 4th-5th try and I am left with some questions:
1. Is bosses with way too much shit going on with their models just gonna be A Thing in this game? Cause I could not see shit if I got behind Amelia, really anywhere but directly in front of her made visibility kind of a mess.
2. What's the deal with her healing? On my second attempt anytime she got around 50% she'd fuck off and heal like a third of her health back until I died from attrition. On the later attempts she didn't heal at all. Makes it feel like a victory through RNG which kind of sucks.
Otherwise, I found a guy with an electro-mace that was easy to parry to death, but his friend with the Rifle Spear is maybe the worst designed enemy I have ever encountered. Real cool to fight a super fast guy with a super fast weapon with a shotgun taped to it so you can literally never hit him through the constant spray of shotgun fire while he dodges around like a fuck. Fuck that guy, he lives for now because I cannot be bothered to put up with that particular pile of horse's shit after dealing with Amelia.
I have discovered that the DLC is, in fact, installed. So I guess I'll be getting to that in the far future.
Also there isn't really much in the way of poise so slow weapons are rarely useful
Even if you don't get a stun off you could probably out-dps the heal with a Saw Cleaver (or even the sword form of the hammer) so it's like she didn't do anything
it's a good thing I killed Shadow of Yarnham on my first try because I have no idea how I got there so that run back would have sucked ass.
Rom took a few tries, less tries than the hunter outside their room though. NPC hunters have way too much HP. I'm guessing ignoring the little spiders and just going ham on Rom is the way to go? The times when I tried to kill them didn't go super great.
Not sure where I should be now. There's the place I spawned after Rom, something involving the Tonsil Stone or whatever I picked up at some point, and I just entered Cainhurst. Would really like some Bloodstone Chunks to make my weapons better as well, game's dropped exactly one that I could find.
You say cool stuff, but all I see is crystal lizards that insult me by dropping shards, two NPC Hunters, and a poison swamp.
Every NPC Hunter is the worst enemy in the game. Rifle Spear guy is now dead but still managed to be a gigantic pain in the dick many levels and weapon upgrades later. Weeb Ass Motherfucker in the Cathedral could just idly bleed off 400 health with little effect on his health bar and gets to have a gun that actually does damage on top of infinite stamina and absurd melee damage. Neat.
Got an idea based on my adventure into Nightmare Frontier and found my way into the DLC first enemies I see? That's right, boys, Fucking Hunters. Turned right the hell around and left. Fuck that noise.
This game would be 500x better if they just deleted that shit. It's not interesting fighting "You, but an HP wall with guns that don't blow ass."
Second and third worst enemies are the little worms and the hoppy bugs in Cainhurst. The former because they are a pain to hit and can hit you six times by just sitting still somehow? The latter because they look dumb.
Other than those losers Cainhurst's an alright zone, I could do with less screaming ghosts but I can't blame a ghost for doing what ghosts do, really. There was a neat bit where I hit a gargoyle clean but instead of being hit he warped space time actually grabbed me from behind, I'm glad the offline player can still get the proper Dark Souls Online ExperienceTM.
I warped out once I found the boss because I know about this one and I have no confidence in my ability to beat him at the moment. Will throw myself at that wall later. :v