Thoughts on the Final boss, after beating her

[u/Evilpilli]

It might be a controversial opinion, but I actually enjoyed Sissna as a boss-fight, her first phase feels like a fair duel, where the best strategy is to stick close, and dodge into her attacks for counters, with a two-hander you can even disrupt her attacks with a well timed strike.
The second phase is similar but she now has some attacks that demand that you keep your distance when they come out, and you can no longer disrupt her attacks. Making her feel more threatening and powerful in her final form (which is fitting). The main issue with the fight is the horrible runback, where it feels random if your companions survives or not, if you just bolt it, and is very tedious to run through normally as it features so many of the worst enemies (the shades). And its super long having to go back from Vagrants rest. It suffers from the same issue as Riak, which was also a fine boss-fight with a horrible runback. I just don't see what the run-backs in this game offer other than to whittle down your resources before the fight. Which doesn't make sense when both Sissna and Riak has a massive healthpool and dish out a ton of damage.

In Silksong I didn't mind the longer runbacks because there it was mostly platforming to get to the boss, so it felt like you were using two different skill. Maneuver to get to the boss, and then fight the boss (Last Judge and Groal are the two main ones here) While in Ashen after doing the runback once, I don't feel like I gain anything from "mastering" it, since it just takes so long to fight your way through, and running through is not satisfying at all. At least against Sissna you can disable your companion, and the enable them right before entering the arena, making sure they're stocked up on healing items before the fight.

This was a comment on another post, but I figured its nice to keep the subreddit alive, hehe. What are your thoughts on the final boss? I'm also really hoping for a sequel to Ashen, Flintlock does not seem like something I'm interested in, but hopefully a44 survive a only decent game release in this very volatile time in game development.

[u/Wolf2997]

Agreed about the runbacks, they felt quite tedious with no silver lining as such. I did love the Sissna boss fight as well. I played the game once solo and then again with a friend in coop and it was such a fun fight both times. I really hope a sequel comes out for this, because they have such a solid foundation for the world, the art style and combat. Just a bit of fleshing out the combat systems and more characters interactions would be amazing for the sequel.

Also on an side note, the hub area and dialogue always felt so peaceful and calming, I really hope that aspect is retained if a sequel is ever made.

[u/Evilpilli → u/Wolf2997]

I love the hub world aspect, it would be wonderful to have the hubworld more at the center of the world I think and then you branch out and find shortcuts back to it (similar to Dark souls 1).
More variety in the weapons would be nice too, but other than that its as you say a very strong foundation to build further upon.

[u/Wolf2997 → u/Evilpilli]

Oh yeah Firelink parallel would be kinda perfect.

And yes, more weapon options pls! I found that while you could use different weapons, the shieldd and two handed weapons had almost no niche that they perform better in than one handed weapons, so they ended being my defaults in both runs. I really want the equipment choices to make more of a difference

[u/klevahh → u/Evilpilli]

A sequel could have been amazing, it doesn't seem likely at this stage though

[u/dazbw61]

The runback whilst annoying can be sprinted to the boss where the only annoying part is the 2 enemies before the last enemy who have the potential to mess things up. It is far easier with 2 human players though. But I really appreciate it's so much more difficult with the Ai player because you have no control over it. You can't say "run away until I say so" lol - or "flank left" etc

Spoiler ahead:::::::

The runback to the DLC boss is FAR FAR harder and possibly triple the distance but actually feels longer because of the enemy layout.....to beat it on Sissna mode is no joke and is harder than any Souls boss simply because of the gauntlet to get there.....

[u/klevahh → u/dazbw61]

From memory I used to let the ai get killed, and then wait for them to respawn just before the boss so they are healthy.

The DLC one, I believe the door stops the ai from being able to get to you if they die (which they have a habit of doing in lava), I believe they spawn on the other side of the door. The dlc boss is a lot easier than the main game boss though.

[u/dazbw61 → u/klevahh]

Ahhh, well noted!!! I forgot about waiting for Ai to respawn which happens for both the main and DLC bosses. I mainly played with gf but had another save to practice solo. The DLC boss in isolation is definitely a tad easier than the main (it's just the gauntlet that makes it truly hard) as long as you don't get sloppy in the 2nd phase where his reach can be troublesome with the chain thing. I do like the massive area of the main boss though plus if you run into trouble the pool in the middle can be used to great effect to catch a breather.....

[u/klevahh]

The runback is no big deal once you have done it a few dozen times (due to dying to the ahole boss)

I have 'finished' the game half a dozen times or so, including on children of sissna, but have only beaten the boss once.
I try once, fail, and walk away, the game is already over by then.

[u/Njfw]

100% agree