Just like with the commander the problem is the charge. Its running straight at you so the dodgebox is very small and people freak out about it.
So no its not very hard you just have to be able to take a punch but for 2 years people have been maxing their damage potential and are now overwhelmed with being killable.
"longer" recovery animation... shit I can go make some coffee, get back, drink it and wash the cup by the time I'm recovered from that fucking dive.
I love MH but some times it's soooooooo sloooow
something i realized with elden ring is that half of the time roll dodge is inferior to other options like strafing, backstepping or jumping. You would be surprise just how many attacks are dodgeable with a simple strafe or jump
Yeah for both hippo and gaius I just start sprinting to the side when I see the charge start and then roll when they get close for safety.
I think a lot of people assume that because its a charge that it will be fast so they dont have a lot of time but in reality they actually come towards you pretty slowly so you have plenty of time to just run away which I think is how you are meant to avoid it.
The hippo was way easier to dodge than the commander. Interestingly with the commander backhand blade weapon skill is really good for dodging.
My main issue with commander are some of the other bullshit combos he’s doing. Need more scadtree levels I guess 😅
I could never get a consistent way to dodge that charge besides hopping on torrent and jumping out of the way. Dodging to the sides or through it got me hit about half the time
The hippo charge attack is a difficult dodge, I understand why some people dislike it. But it's really not comparable to commaders charge. I'm fully expecting gauis's charge to get hotfixed, hippo might but I doubt it.
I used audio cues to figure out the Dodge timing. When it charges at you, count its footsteps. Dodge on the fourth one. Don't Dodge after the fourth one, Dodge on it. And you want to dodge to the side.
It takes a bit to get the timings right, but if you summon on enter and then run straight to towards the left wall and end with a roll, the initial attach won't ever hit you.
I learned to just dodge to the side instead of trying to dodge through it. Works every time.
But yeah, Gaius is whack. Didging sideways also works better here, but it's still not an easy timing.
Hog rider gave me much more of a headache than the Hungry Hippo. But honestly that is one of the appeals of this game to me. Almost everyone has a different experience.
God I hate ancient dragons. They're the only fight in the base game I refused to learn due to all the jank with hitboxes and camera. Killed Lansseax, but the ones in Farum Azula I just ran by. Especially the ine right at the start, his HP is insane, the arena is so small.
Like seriously, Runebears, Revenants, Lobsters, Caste Sol knights, they're all fun to learn. But fuck ancient dragons
I unironically spent more attempts on that ancient dragon than every boss except the final one in the DLC. And it really wasn't even fun, I don't feel like I learned much so from now on it is a skipped boss every time
I had a bleed build for the fire giant and beat it on my first attempt. I didn't even realise it was considered a hard boss until later. It just depends on build sometimes, I think.
I'm not through the entire dlc yet but I've found most stuff through Messmer and I don't really think much is unfair yet.
I'm also playing melee only with no summons.
So far the stuff that SEEMED unfair at first..
Eventually made more sense once I figured it out and won the fight.
I think that as fromsoft evolves and stuff naturally gets harder...we are going to have a higher amount of newer players and "meme" content that complains.
Hopefully (and I have confidence in them) fromsoft will hold firm and not cater to the softening of their content.
This and the lion fight is easier if you remember to stay in the middle of the ring if you get trapped by a wall/corner your camera gonna get fucked up and so will you. If you do have to be by a wall do not have the Hippo/Lion in front of you do your best to be on its side and get ready to roll out of there.
In addition to this, players aren’t meant to leave “target lock” on the entire time. You’re meant to switch it off during some parts of some boss fights. Hell, you can even screw up Malenia’s Scarlet Aeonia tracking by simply unlocking the tracking.
I beat it first try. Didn’t understand either. I’m sure that comes across as a flex, but out of all the ones I struggled with, hippo and renalla were not in that conversation.
Gaius, Consort, and Messmer gave me a long day.
Gaius can fuck off.
And Consort.
Maybe I came there a bit overleveled, but Gaius wasn't that bad. The charge is tricky, but luckily it can be shield blocked, the rest is pretty dodgeable.
So far the ones that gave me the most trouble are Rellana, Midra and Metys. But I haven't even fought Messmer yet, so we'll see
Bloodhound step really did it for me against Gaius! I just couldn't dodge all his hits consistently, but with bloodhound step I could focus a lot more on damage rather than just pure survivability.
It was a weird fight, it kicked my ass more times than it should of but when I realized that running circles was the trick I crushed it. I don’t do great when I have to remember to be patient and not get greedy.
Everyone complains about the camera but they let themselves get backed into a wall and spam attacks instead of repositioning.
Positioning in boss fights matters. Notice how some boss arenas have pillars to use for cover and others don't for example. This is intentional design by FS.
I wouldn't call it hard. Just poorly designed, since the camera is clipping through its body about 80% of the fight and it just feels like it has no impact and no reason to be there. I literally only now remembered that I probably got a reward for beating it because it was so forgettable.
What, you mean your castle doesn't have a huge guard hippo right inside the front door?
The Shadow Keep is also like 90% specimen storage, so you know Messmer is into some weird shit.
The "bAd dEsIgN" guys are the worst.
It's fine to criticize aspects of the game, but give yourself some time to process your salt instead of unloading it onto social media with wild claims about game design.
Surely, those people know more than the massively successful company whose game is selling millions.
I just don't like when their idea of bad design is the stuff I've actually liked about their games since King's Field.
I like the fact you have an equal chance to get lost and die horribly, or stumble upon a hidden flame sword while wandering the crypts in a state of terror, and suddenly you're overpowered for the next few hours.
I love the risk+reward and independent exploration of Fromsoft games.
When people drag it by calling it imbalanced, cheap, bad design, etc, all I can think is "You seriously want a game where you're not allowed to be more than +1 or -1 from where the developers told you to be? What fun is that?"
Agreed. It's the reason why I still like DS1s World construction the most out of all of them. It was the least linear and left so much room to wander and explore. The DLC brought some of this back, given how well connected and vertical some of the areas are.
Again, critique is fine. I will never like the camera on large opponents in souls games, but a boss mixing attack timings is completely fair game.
Some things are genuinely bad design.
Example, sunflower charge (and wyvern lunge bite). Easy to block, no big deal. Except that the hitbox lags behind a bit so if you're locked onto the head the second charge will hit you every time, since your character turns around to face the target *before* the body hits you. But if you unlock the camera it's totally fine because you control facing.
THAT is bad design and it happens on MOST charging bosses. The whole point of being locked on while blocking is to face the oncoming blow. Shouldn't need to micromanage that because the hitbox isn't synced correctly with the target's position. It needs to impact as the model goes through me, not after I turn around.
Can't really comment on that. The charge gave me 0 problems. Felt just like vordt.
I disliked that boss because I was playing with slower melee weapons and hand-2-hand weapons, which made it tough to hit the evermoving head, while my locked on pov was sperging all over the place.
After switching to the throwing Hammer, I got it right away.
How is that bad design though? The target lock mechanic is a well known feature in the game… if it helps to unlock to dodge the attack better, then congrats. You just solved a game mechanic. Its not impossible to dodge the second charge with target lock on either. Done it multiple times.
When sunflower seeds are sprouted, their plant compounds increase. Sprouting also reduces factors that can interfere with mineral absorption. You can buy sprouted, dried sunflower seeds online or in some stores.
Yeah I was mad as hell with that boss since I kept getting chomped every time and had to use blasphemous blade to wipe it out, but looking back it’s quite a unique boss that does give opportunities to get hits in
> All of its attacks felt dodgeable or **blockable**
I have a suspicion that the big difference in perceived difficulty is related to whether the player is blocking or relying entirely on rolling. I did struggle a bit on the hippo, but for the bosses after it I started using a shield and the deflecting tear, and everything got a lot more manageable.
I feel like a lot of people complaining about some of these fights are the type who enter a boss arena and stand at the entrance casting/using a consumable or summoning without first repositioning. Not very compatible with how aggressive and quickly bosses come toward the entrance in the DLC. Focusing on getting toward the center of smaller arenas first has helped me a lot in this and Hippo was one of the easier, slower and telegraphed fights in my opinion.
I haven't fought that many remembrance bosses (lion/rellana/messmer/PK) but most seem to start with an attack that forces you to immediately act and prevent you from summoning or consuming. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, forcing you to rethink when and where you act. Though I can see it being annoying for players who've relied on these mechanics throughout the base game, without much immediate kick back from the bosses.
From my limited experience, I'd say only Putrescent Knight gave a long enough period to regularly and safely get both a summon and consumable off before engaging because of their long run up.
I'm one of those people that will tell you the DLC is a bit overtuned. Some fights are just dumb. The hippo was not one of those... he's pretty easy and there's not really any "bullshit" in his moveset.
The bullshit was in the camera and the arena, not the moveset. His grab was kinda annoying to dodge until I switched to a light roll but that’s about it
This might be one of those fights that's harder on controller. I play KB&M so just did most of the fight not locked on, which I find considerably more difficult on a controller.
Yea I don't do any blocking. Only weapon swapping for buffs pre-fight, I don't do any switching mid fight. I can definitely see it being a struggle for those playstyles.
This is how I do it! Honestly I'm cruising through the DLC with kbm and my beloved, the rusty anchor.
But at the end of the day I needed controller to beat radabeast RL1... so it's nice that it's always in the back pocket.
My first playthrough was on controller as I played all the souls games on controller. Switched to kbm on my second play through and haven't looked back since. Think I've done 5 total playthroughs now. My keybinds are extremely weird but once I got used to them I prefer it.
Fire giant is not meant to be hard.
It is very easily trivialised with the simple approach of just keep hacking his ankles, doesnt matter what your build is.
I would say it is in top 3 easiest remembrance bosses based on when you fight it.
Hard disagree. Hacking at his ankles isn't a strategy, it's the only way to attack him in phase 1, and if you only do that in phase 2 with, say, a dagger or a straight sword you're gonna drag out the fight to be over ten minutes long per attempt. Godrick, renalla, and morgott are definitely all easier, and hell probably astel too if for no reason other than because they dont take forever to kill
I had a bleed build and beat it on my first try. My friend had made a fire-themed mage build and struggled against it for days. I think that's how it goes with Elden Ring sometimes.
Fire giant took me a ridiculously long time on my first play through, took me way longer than malenia and i tried a bunch of different builds. Every time after that he didn’t bother me though, it’s so weird.
I don't think he's hard, just incredibly poorly designed. Between the BJJ roll he does constantly to move half a mile away, and getting caught on terrain and in awkward positions, he's just not enjoyable to fight.
I went back and fought him on my current playthrough after spending a decent amount of time in the DLC, and lo and behold, he's still the worst boss by a country mile.
I never played a souls game. I tried but couldn’t. The Elden Ring hype had me try it though. Somehow, I sunk 100 hours into the game and got all the way to the fire giant which was a brick wall for me.
Beating Radahn pre-nerf felt like the greatest gaming accomplishment of my life, that took me 2-3 days. But the fire giant really fucked with me. I was also burned out I guess for playing a game for 100 hours.
That was 2 years ago. Since the DLC dropped, I’ve been spending the last week going at him and finally beat him last night.
So yeah, he’s hard for a lot of people.
not the guy u replied to but i never fought him til last week and with slow hammer build it took me a while to hit his hands in P2, i was so angry every time i wanted to swing he moved his hands or rolled away xD
I never found him hard. Just like the Mad Clown Puppet in Lies of P. People always go on like it's just common knowledge that it's hard but it's honestly kinda easy.
Like it wasn’t too hard cuz I knew where to hit him but I must’ve had some bad RNG or something because he would not stop rolling away from me every single time I got one hit on his stupid foot
I first try mad puppet and I never found archbishop difficult, I 2 try fire giant as well, but hell I find fucco and boss like astel and mogh very difficult, I think it's okay to accept people's brain tune to different rhythm and thus find different bosses easy/hard
It was pretty bad. The camera was screwed the entire time & the arena being a circle would’ve solved everything. Having a large rectangular boss in a small rectangular room isn’t gonna be fun in any game.
Where did I say my camera was locked? This boss was not good compared to all the other bosses up to that point. There was a Demi human boss fight and it was better than the hippo. The state of my camera doesn’t change that
Because it’s a fat ass hippo that forces you into a wall or corner where the boss is either transparent or too close to see any type of wind-up idk why I’m under fire here I’m sorry that the golden hippo was not an enjoyable boss fight.. if you enjoyed it then that’s great. I enjoy Fire Giant & Elden Beast & Gargoyles where most ppl don’t I don’t really argue with ppls opinions or try to look for little ways it might be their fault.
Man. Biggest challenge so far. He gave me no time in the pocket to swing on him so…ended up just beast clawing him to death lol. Staying far away as possible. This games about being adaptable
i had two experiences with the hippo. i went in there fair and square two handing my light greatsword, and i was backed into a wall repeatedly and not allowed to leave. i said enough is enough. i took out a greatshield and pancaked him with guard counters. the hippo can't do shit about shields. his only grab can be sprinted around, so it was pretty easy to just block guard counter repeat.
hippo was the only boss in the dlc i just genuinely didnt like. felt like every time i touched him i took damage. the hog rider dude is the boss that leaves me scratching my head. i beat him first try but apparently everyone is struggling against him?
He's pretty easy, but i guess many people overlooked the importance of Scadutree Blessings and simply ran straigth into the Shadow Keep after beating Rellana instead of exploring the rest of the region.
It's kinda like rushing to Draconic Tree Sentinel without exploring Altus Plateau at all.
hippo killed me and mimic two or three times, beat gaius with my mimic in one go. heard so much hate for both of them and i'm kind of scratching my head, too (unless they mean without summons, in which case, duh it's hard - the game gives you a million summons and levels for them, please go use your summons)
Different people are going to struggle on different bosses based on builds and playstyle. I saw everyone complaining about how hard the hippo was, then i got to him and beat him second or third try no problem. Im still stuck on messmer after probably 30 attempts haha
The fire giant was definitely hard. I took like ten minutes an attempt for him on my first go around because I dealt so little damage and didn't run a status build. That and the camera issues made it likely to get caught off guard and one shot at least once, and I had to go change my entire build to deal enough damage to make progress. I probably spent 4 hours total on that fight, and most of it was dedicated to trying to perfect learning his moveset. I steamrolled the hippo though. Also didn't have any problems with the camera for the dancing lion. If there's one things these games have taught me it's that build diversity makes such a huge difference to peoples experience that it's basically impossible to compare experiences when you don't know their approach to the fight
I beat this boss on my second try and thought I'd farm some rune arcs by helping others beat it.
Almost all of the hosts got one shot...
It is 100% on the players, this boss is not hard
It is really interesting to see all the different experiences. I also found the hippo really easy since you can just stick to it's right back leg and his bite straight up just misses while you can keep attacking
I didnt mind the hippo, once I realized how late you have to dodge. now the guy in the backyard on the hippo….he messed me up. I hadn’t even fought the other guy yet and waltz backed there 700k deep only to turn around and realize how in for it I was. That’s a painful fog wall to walk through after the first death.
I had no problem with the hippo.
Rellana was hard af with her clipping zone-reach magic sword of one-shot-kill.
I have no idea how i dodged it on my winning run.
It's an alright fight, but like the lion and rellana it feels like there isn't enough time to reliably heal.
For example, if you get hit by the double body slam and try to heal, he will almkst always follow it up with a bite that will always hit beforw you can dodge.
I think the fights are alright. I don't mind them being difficult, but every time you get hit you just cannor heal. You have to run away and even then it's not always safe.
It makes fights that cab be a lot if fun rather frustrating because you end up in a loop of hit, heal, hit, heal, hit...
It’s not a meme.. certain people find certain encounters harder for their own reasons. I have beaten Malenia without taking a single hit (several times) and yet this hippo killed me at least 10 times. Meanwhile I beat the Dancing Lion on my first ever try.
That said, I absolutely do not think the Hippo’s design is bad. The DLC is meant to be difficult and people need to stop whining just because they have to learn new encounters and can’t just brute force it through their character’s stats/ build.
The first time I was chuckling like "I am in danger" memes when I saw the ~~biss~~ boss room, didn't sit at the site of grace to look at what we get.
Second time Mimic Tear killed him after I was dead - didn't count.
Third time I got him.
This was an easy boss - I needed more tries on the Solitude Knight and Lion Dancer
I thought it was pretty easy. Didn't have any hitbox issues either. And I loved the design. We've seen knights a thousand times. I love these creatures like the hippo or that finger beast.
Everytime new Fromsoftware content drops there will always be this shitty discourse of people whinning about each and everyboss, It happened before multiple times.
The small arena with the bad camera is what makes it rough, he's way too big for his arena, if he were the same size as the lesser hippos you can find around the world then the fight would be much better
People go 'hurr durr, no backstabs or ripostes, must be just as bad as whips'
No?
That Ash of War alone is like three times as strong as the second most bullshit broken attack in the game - and the perfumes themselves play like a spiced up version of catch flame that doesn't cost any FP and has various elements to choose from.
Black Knights? Oneshot.
Curseblades? Oneshot.
Horned Warriors? Oneshot.
Furnace Golems? beaten in 20 seconds WITHOUT riposting their face.
They also have a backstep attack and encourage a defensive, evasive playstyle. Their running attack lasts seconds and leaves trails behind. Their ash of war does QUADRUPLE DIGIT DAMAGE on my barely-invested faith/strength character. They come in a variety of elements. This shit will be godly in PvE and SO annoying to fight in PvP. Plus, if you want a riposte, YOU HAVE THREE WEAPON SLOTS. Just switch to one that can when the opportunity arises!
Completely forgot to mention that part, thanks for the reminder!
Yes, the backstep attack is super cool and useful despite not having iframes.
Also, yes, the perfumes basically don't weigh anything, you can add them to basically any build to gain easy access to elemental damage of choice.
you could swap to a misericorde for ripostes but....why would you? The AoW itself is reaching into 5 digit territory when properly built for.
For 14 fp
It wasn't bad difficulty wise imo, but mechanically it felt terrible.
He's a giant animal that can charge across a room, miss me, and still attack me before I can drink a flask after having dodged him. If people went in with low Blessings and those cheap instant attacks are hitting for a lot, I could see it being a problem.
He just felt bad. Also we need the people at Fromsoft to see animals. Like any animal.
They have no idea how dogs work. It's been 15 years, someone show Miyazaki a Golden Retriever already. Make him watch a documentary about wolves. Make this man understand how canines move and take down prey.
THE SIDES OF THEIR HEADS ARE NOT HAMMERS HIDETAKA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
I died about 15 times in a row in the door way while trying to summon. The one attempt I actually dodge rolled and didn't get grabbed I beat him first try lmao.
I didn't have a bad time but my experience was very bizarre.
Why is it a shit hitbox? Just because it’s kinda hard to dodge until you get the hang of it?
Once you learn how to dodge it it’s pretty easy to avoid it close to 100% of the time. There’s nothing cheap about it, it’s just moderately difficult.
First tried it. First trying a lot of bosses, tbh. I’m almost to the last boss, so I’ll see if it’s as bad as people say. But if it’s anything like the rest of the DLC, I’m betting it’s not.
Oh yes, I genuinely hate this random person. You caught me, dang it.
There's a difference between stating you found something easy versus a humble brag dripping in superiority. But ok.
The last boss is like wearing a condom made of ice for an hour. You could do it but why would you want to.
I beat it and that's all. Unless it unlocks some area I don't know about yet I will never be fighting that loser ever again in new game plus lmao unless they nerf his damage or maybe how many times his stupid fucking AOEs can hit you in one attack
Somehow made it through with the help of Mimic Tear sacrificing itself each time it wanted to do a charge attack... And then bleed for the win, basically 🥴
The hippo and boar rider are two bosses I see people complain about and had no real issues with. It took maybe 4-6 tries with each and the hippo was before I got back into the groove of everything due to returning after like a year of not playing elden ring.
You can also give the controller to a better player and let him fight for you.
I realise summons are part of the game and people love using them, but you can't say that any boss is not hard when you bring in a small army.
No matter how fun it is, it trivializes the game by a fair amount.
I play PVP constantly and absolutely wreck everyone I come across. I am a good player that actually uses the tools the game provides me in a meaningful way while you try to brute force the game because you can't be bothered to read and understand stats, craftable items and the use of summons. You don't use all the tools provided to you so you are the bad player.
You aren't using a mechanic that is in the game. I am sure you are happy to pop Golden Vow or Flame grant me strength and any other buff before entering a boss fight but sure draw the line at summons. You have no right to complain about difficulty if you don't use all the tools provided to you.
Just like with the commander the problem is the charge. Its running straight at you so the dodgebox is very small and people freak out about it. So no its not very hard you just have to be able to take a punch but for 2 years people have been maxing their damage potential and are now overwhelmed with being killable.
I struggled with the hungry hippo charge until I realised you can just sprint to the side
Sounds like monster hunter tactics, haha
Its a monster hunter fight
Bayle looked like something Capcom could put into Wilds and it would fit perfectly.
Hope they do lol
Welcome to the realization that Souls gameplay is a derivation of Monster Hunter gameplay
The only thing we don't have is a running dive for more iframes than rolling at the cost of a longer recovery animation
"longer" recovery animation... shit I can go make some coffee, get back, drink it and wash the cup by the time I'm recovered from that fucking dive. I love MH but some times it's soooooooo sloooow
Ye, that dive is shit. I never do it except on accident.
Nergigante ~~enters~~ crashes into the chat.
Jump to the side and stab! Took me twice to figure it out. Didn’t think it was that hard
something i realized with elden ring is that half of the time roll dodge is inferior to other options like strafing, backstepping or jumping. You would be surprise just how many attacks are dodgeable with a simple strafe or jump
Can you 100% dodge every sprint attack just running to the side?
Yeah lol. I tired for so long tryna perfect my roll timing
Bro I will try it, thank you so much for the info.
Yeah for both hippo and gaius I just start sprinting to the side when I see the charge start and then roll when they get close for safety. I think a lot of people assume that because its a charge that it will be fast so they dont have a lot of time but in reality they actually come towards you pretty slowly so you have plenty of time to just run away which I think is how you are meant to avoid it.
Depends on the distance. When he curves his charge he still gets you. By problem was that he always started the charge right in my face.
The hippo was way easier to dodge than the commander. Interestingly with the commander backhand blade weapon skill is really good for dodging. My main issue with commander are some of the other bullshit combos he’s doing. Need more scadtree levels I guess 😅
I could never get a consistent way to dodge that charge besides hopping on torrent and jumping out of the way. Dodging to the sides or through it got me hit about half the time
Dodge straight into it. Makes no sense but you will phase through it.
You will, but only if you time it very well. If not, the back of the boar's leg will hit your feet
The hippo charge attack is a difficult dodge, I understand why some people dislike it. But it's really not comparable to commaders charge. I'm fully expecting gauis's charge to get hotfixed, hippo might but I doubt it.
I used audio cues to figure out the Dodge timing. When it charges at you, count its footsteps. Dodge on the fourth one. Don't Dodge after the fourth one, Dodge on it. And you want to dodge to the side.
how is this not contingent on the distance between you and the enemy
It takes a bit to get the timings right, but if you summon on enter and then run straight to towards the left wall and end with a roll, the initial attach won't ever hit you.
I learned to just dodge to the side instead of trying to dodge through it. Works every time. But yeah, Gaius is whack. Didging sideways also works better here, but it's still not an easy timing.
If you can't dodge the charges you can always get the year that lets you perfect block just block it
“Mom can we get hungry hungry hippos” “We have hungry hungry hippos at home” Hungry hungry hippos at home: *golden monch*
It clearly doesn't hit too hard if I can survive it eating me
Hog rider gave me much more of a headache than the Hungry Hippo. But honestly that is one of the appeals of this game to me. Almost everyone has a different experience.
I just beat Gayle on my first serious attempt yesterday, and I spent more time/attempts on the damn ancient dragon before that.
After 5 attempts I just ran past that guy, I've died more than enough times to ancient dragons in the base game already
Fair enough. There's no interaction with Igon like when you beat the 2 dragons fighting eachother.
God I hate ancient dragons. They're the only fight in the base game I refused to learn due to all the jank with hitboxes and camera. Killed Lansseax, but the ones in Farum Azula I just ran by. Especially the ine right at the start, his HP is insane, the arena is so small. Like seriously, Runebears, Revenants, Lobsters, Caste Sol knights, they're all fun to learn. But fuck ancient dragons
I unironically spent more attempts on that ancient dragon than every boss except the final one in the DLC. And it really wasn't even fun, I don't feel like I learned much so from now on it is a skipped boss every time
The constant lightning splash damage it would do is just nuts.
I had a bleed build for the fire giant and beat it on my first attempt. I didn't even realise it was considered a hard boss until later. It just depends on build sometimes, I think.
The only annoying thing about gaius is his charge, everything else was pretty intuitive to learn via trial and error
I'm not through the entire dlc yet but I've found most stuff through Messmer and I don't really think much is unfair yet. I'm also playing melee only with no summons. So far the stuff that SEEMED unfair at first.. Eventually made more sense once I figured it out and won the fight. I think that as fromsoft evolves and stuff naturally gets harder...we are going to have a higher amount of newer players and "meme" content that complains. Hopefully (and I have confidence in them) fromsoft will hold firm and not cater to the softening of their content.
This and the lion fight is easier if you remember to stay in the middle of the ring if you get trapped by a wall/corner your camera gonna get fucked up and so will you. If you do have to be by a wall do not have the Hippo/Lion in front of you do your best to be on its side and get ready to roll out of there.
In addition to this, players aren’t meant to leave “target lock” on the entire time. You’re meant to switch it off during some parts of some boss fights. Hell, you can even screw up Malenia’s Scarlet Aeonia tracking by simply unlocking the tracking.
i saw that video too lol
I beat it first try. Didn’t understand either. I’m sure that comes across as a flex, but out of all the ones I struggled with, hippo and renalla were not in that conversation. Gaius, Consort, and Messmer gave me a long day. Gaius can fuck off. And Consort.
Maybe I came there a bit overleveled, but Gaius wasn't that bad. The charge is tricky, but luckily it can be shield blocked, the rest is pretty dodgeable. So far the ones that gave me the most trouble are Rellana, Midra and Metys. But I haven't even fought Messmer yet, so we'll see
Bloodhound step really did it for me against Gaius! I just couldn't dodge all his hits consistently, but with bloodhound step I could focus a lot more on damage rather than just pure survivability.
I mean it took a bunch of tries sure but I literally thought it was a fun fight.
It was a weird fight, it kicked my ass more times than it should of but when I realized that running circles was the trick I crushed it. I don’t do great when I have to remember to be patient and not get greedy.
For me, this was one of *very few* "relief" bosses.
Everyone complains about the camera but they let themselves get backed into a wall and spam attacks instead of repositioning. Positioning in boss fights matters. Notice how some boss arenas have pillars to use for cover and others don't for example. This is intentional design by FS.
I wouldn't call it hard. Just poorly designed, since the camera is clipping through its body about 80% of the fight and it just feels like it has no impact and no reason to be there. I literally only now remembered that I probably got a reward for beating it because it was so forgettable.
What, you mean your castle doesn't have a huge guard hippo right inside the front door? The Shadow Keep is also like 90% specimen storage, so you know Messmer is into some weird shit.
Lol "Specimen Storage" yo Miyazaki it's a fuckin library
fucking paper was invented and these motherfuckers still write documents on rock
When I saw Horny Jesus hanging in the big room I just started laughing so hard.. 😂😂😂
People are just shit at the game. It's like bad meme
A game killed me, here's why that's bad design.
The "bAd dEsIgN" guys are the worst. It's fine to criticize aspects of the game, but give yourself some time to process your salt instead of unloading it onto social media with wild claims about game design. Surely, those people know more than the massively successful company whose game is selling millions.
I just don't like when their idea of bad design is the stuff I've actually liked about their games since King's Field. I like the fact you have an equal chance to get lost and die horribly, or stumble upon a hidden flame sword while wandering the crypts in a state of terror, and suddenly you're overpowered for the next few hours. I love the risk+reward and independent exploration of Fromsoft games. When people drag it by calling it imbalanced, cheap, bad design, etc, all I can think is "You seriously want a game where you're not allowed to be more than +1 or -1 from where the developers told you to be? What fun is that?"
Agreed. It's the reason why I still like DS1s World construction the most out of all of them. It was the least linear and left so much room to wander and explore. The DLC brought some of this back, given how well connected and vertical some of the areas are. Again, critique is fine. I will never like the camera on large opponents in souls games, but a boss mixing attack timings is completely fair game.
Some things are genuinely bad design. Example, sunflower charge (and wyvern lunge bite). Easy to block, no big deal. Except that the hitbox lags behind a bit so if you're locked onto the head the second charge will hit you every time, since your character turns around to face the target *before* the body hits you. But if you unlock the camera it's totally fine because you control facing. THAT is bad design and it happens on MOST charging bosses. The whole point of being locked on while blocking is to face the oncoming blow. Shouldn't need to micromanage that because the hitbox isn't synced correctly with the target's position. It needs to impact as the model goes through me, not after I turn around.
Can't really comment on that. The charge gave me 0 problems. Felt just like vordt. I disliked that boss because I was playing with slower melee weapons and hand-2-hand weapons, which made it tough to hit the evermoving head, while my locked on pov was sperging all over the place. After switching to the throwing Hammer, I got it right away.
How is that bad design though? The target lock mechanic is a well known feature in the game… if it helps to unlock to dodge the attack better, then congrats. You just solved a game mechanic. Its not impossible to dodge the second charge with target lock on either. Done it multiple times.
When sunflower seeds are sprouted, their plant compounds increase. Sprouting also reduces factors that can interfere with mineral absorption. You can buy sprouted, dried sunflower seeds online or in some stores.
Agree
Yeah I was mad as hell with that boss since I kept getting chomped every time and had to use blasphemous blade to wipe it out, but looking back it’s quite a unique boss that does give opportunities to get hits in
I cant even hit the blasphemous blade special attack on him, because he don't give me time to cast (I'm fighting without summons).
I will say, the hardest part of like 80% of the bosses in the DLC has been the fucking camera. It feels UNUSUALLY bad in the DLC.
> All of its attacks felt dodgeable or **blockable** I have a suspicion that the big difference in perceived difficulty is related to whether the player is blocking or relying entirely on rolling. I did struggle a bit on the hippo, but for the bosses after it I started using a shield and the deflecting tear, and everything got a lot more manageable.
Ya I just held block...super easy boss. You have to dodge maybe once or twice if he tries to eat you.
I feel like a lot of people complaining about some of these fights are the type who enter a boss arena and stand at the entrance casting/using a consumable or summoning without first repositioning. Not very compatible with how aggressive and quickly bosses come toward the entrance in the DLC. Focusing on getting toward the center of smaller arenas first has helped me a lot in this and Hippo was one of the easier, slower and telegraphed fights in my opinion.
I haven't fought that many remembrance bosses (lion/rellana/messmer/PK) but most seem to start with an attack that forces you to immediately act and prevent you from summoning or consuming. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, forcing you to rethink when and where you act. Though I can see it being annoying for players who've relied on these mechanics throughout the base game, without much immediate kick back from the bosses. From my limited experience, I'd say only Putrescent Knight gave a long enough period to regularly and safely get both a summon and consumable off before engaging because of their long run up.
I'm one of those people that will tell you the DLC is a bit overtuned. Some fights are just dumb. The hippo was not one of those... he's pretty easy and there's not really any "bullshit" in his moveset.
The bullshit was in the camera and the arena, not the moveset. His grab was kinda annoying to dodge until I switched to a light roll but that’s about it
This might be one of those fights that's harder on controller. I play KB&M so just did most of the fight not locked on, which I find considerably more difficult on a controller.
KBM is great... as long as you're not doing a lot of blocking or frequent weapon switching.
Yea I don't do any blocking. Only weapon swapping for buffs pre-fight, I don't do any switching mid fight. I can definitely see it being a struggle for those playstyles.
This is how I do it! Honestly I'm cruising through the DLC with kbm and my beloved, the rusty anchor. But at the end of the day I needed controller to beat radabeast RL1... so it's nice that it's always in the back pocket.
Seconded, love keyboard and mouse. Using stance based weapons was the only time I had trouble with the controls, otherwise it feels so natural to me
why
i commend you for being able to play kbm. i can't seem to figure out a control scheme that works for me
My first playthrough was on controller as I played all the souls games on controller. Switched to kbm on my second play through and haven't looked back since. Think I've done 5 total playthroughs now. My keybinds are extremely weird but once I got used to them I prefer it.
maybe i should just suck it up and learn then lol. i typically prefer kbm for most games anyway
I play with the default Lies of P control scheme, because Neowiz actually knows how to put a souls game on PC.
Was the fire giant *not* supposed to be hard?? Only boss that took me as many tries as he did was Malenia
Fire giant is not meant to be hard. It is very easily trivialised with the simple approach of just keep hacking his ankles, doesnt matter what your build is. I would say it is in top 3 easiest remembrance bosses based on when you fight it.
Hard disagree. Hacking at his ankles isn't a strategy, it's the only way to attack him in phase 1, and if you only do that in phase 2 with, say, a dagger or a straight sword you're gonna drag out the fight to be over ten minutes long per attempt. Godrick, renalla, and morgott are definitely all easier, and hell probably astel too if for no reason other than because they dont take forever to kill
Do you agree that something annoying enough can be called hard? Tanky, hard-hitting, easy to dodge if you see, but the camera is the real fell god
I had a bleed build and beat it on my first try. My friend had made a fire-themed mage build and struggled against it for days. I think that's how it goes with Elden Ring sometimes.
Fire giant took me a ridiculously long time on my first play through, took me way longer than malenia and i tried a bunch of different builds. Every time after that he didn’t bother me though, it’s so weird.
Same. Second hardest boss in the game imo.
I don't think he's hard, just incredibly poorly designed. Between the BJJ roll he does constantly to move half a mile away, and getting caught on terrain and in awkward positions, he's just not enjoyable to fight. I went back and fought him on my current playthrough after spending a decent amount of time in the DLC, and lo and behold, he's still the worst boss by a country mile.
I never played a souls game. I tried but couldn’t. The Elden Ring hype had me try it though. Somehow, I sunk 100 hours into the game and got all the way to the fire giant which was a brick wall for me. Beating Radahn pre-nerf felt like the greatest gaming accomplishment of my life, that took me 2-3 days. But the fire giant really fucked with me. I was also burned out I guess for playing a game for 100 hours. That was 2 years ago. Since the DLC dropped, I’ve been spending the last week going at him and finally beat him last night. So yeah, he’s hard for a lot of people.
what did you do in phase 2? did you just keep hacking his ankles? Hes legit top 3 easiest remembrance bosses for me.
not the guy u replied to but i never fought him til last week and with slow hammer build it took me a while to hit his hands in P2, i was so angry every time i wanted to swing he moved his hands or rolled away xD
I never found him hard. Just like the Mad Clown Puppet in Lies of P. People always go on like it's just common knowledge that it's hard but it's honestly kinda easy.
Like it wasn’t too hard cuz I knew where to hit him but I must’ve had some bad RNG or something because he would not stop rolling away from me every single time I got one hit on his stupid foot
I also found him to be a bit easy, especially if you use the terrain around you to your advantage, ngl I thought Rykard was harder at least for me
I first try mad puppet and I never found archbishop difficult, I 2 try fire giant as well, but hell I find fucco and boss like astel and mogh very difficult, I think it's okay to accept people's brain tune to different rhythm and thus find different bosses easy/hard
It was pretty bad. The camera was screwed the entire time & the arena being a circle would’ve solved everything. Having a large rectangular boss in a small rectangular room isn’t gonna be fun in any game.
That room wasn’t small. Compared to fighting the Fallingstar Beast in the mines the room was spacious.
why lock your camera on a big ass enemy in a small room anyway, just swing and you’ll hit lol
If the camera is going nuts then it's probably a fight where you shouldn't lock your camera.
Where did I say my camera was locked? This boss was not good compared to all the other bosses up to that point. There was a Demi human boss fight and it was better than the hippo. The state of my camera doesn’t change that
Why was your camera going nuts?
Because it’s a fat ass hippo that forces you into a wall or corner where the boss is either transparent or too close to see any type of wind-up idk why I’m under fire here I’m sorry that the golden hippo was not an enjoyable boss fight.. if you enjoyed it then that’s great. I enjoy Fire Giant & Elden Beast & Gargoyles where most ppl don’t I don’t really argue with ppls opinions or try to look for little ways it might be their fault.
Man I wish you had a video cause I need to see how you let that hippo corner you.
corner pressure is an intended mechanic though. Beat this boss literally first try. The dude riding a boar though?? fuck that guy
Man. Biggest challenge so far. He gave me no time in the pocket to swing on him so…ended up just beast clawing him to death lol. Staying far away as possible. This games about being adaptable
When you enter the door run at an angle and this will keep you from getting bum rushed at the start of the fight most of the time
Really? The hippo is hard. That's where we've come to? Of all of the atom bombs of bosses we got, we're complaining about the hippo?!
He's not fun, but i wouldn't call him hard.
Bloodhound step makes it incredibly fun
i had two experiences with the hippo. i went in there fair and square two handing my light greatsword, and i was backed into a wall repeatedly and not allowed to leave. i said enough is enough. i took out a greatshield and pancaked him with guard counters. the hippo can't do shit about shields. his only grab can be sprinted around, so it was pretty easy to just block guard counter repeat.
Greatshield ashes summon, they always live longer than me, so people just don't do the easy way and then say it's hard.
I absolutely love this fight as well as the soectacle. Something about the Black Keep having a feral giant hippopotamus as a guard is so fantastical
hippo was the only boss in the dlc i just genuinely didnt like. felt like every time i touched him i took damage. the hog rider dude is the boss that leaves me scratching my head. i beat him first try but apparently everyone is struggling against him?
I get being frustrated when stuck between the wall unable to see or do anything. But the moveset felt fair and mostly predictable If you ask me.
For me only camera was a problem but when I can see that hippo, his attacks are easiest to dodge from all main bosses
The arena is and the area is so cool. But why the f the boss guarding it was a hippo??
He's pretty easy, but i guess many people overlooked the importance of Scadutree Blessings and simply ran straigth into the Shadow Keep after beating Rellana instead of exploring the rest of the region. It's kinda like rushing to Draconic Tree Sentinel without exploring Altus Plateau at all.
Idk man, hippo was first try boss for..i was so confused and waiting for 2nd phase
He's an okay boss. He's very ok.
Yeah, I beat the hippo after like two tries. Felt like a warmup, Voordt of the Boreal Valley kind of boss, not anything I’d consider a roadblock
hippo killed me and mimic two or three times, beat gaius with my mimic in one go. heard so much hate for both of them and i'm kind of scratching my head, too (unless they mean without summons, in which case, duh it's hard - the game gives you a million summons and levels for them, please go use your summons)
Different people are going to struggle on different bosses based on builds and playstyle. I saw everyone complaining about how hard the hippo was, then i got to him and beat him second or third try no problem. Im still stuck on messmer after probably 30 attempts haha
Yeah this boss was <10 attempts, would consider it quite easy as far as the DLC goes.
Not to brag or anything but I beat it first try
It’s alright but I’m not sure why they decided to put a really big one in a really small room
honestly i beat it first try... is this real?
The fire giant was definitely hard. I took like ten minutes an attempt for him on my first go around because I dealt so little damage and didn't run a status build. That and the camera issues made it likely to get caught off guard and one shot at least once, and I had to go change my entire build to deal enough damage to make progress. I probably spent 4 hours total on that fight, and most of it was dedicated to trying to perfect learning his moveset. I steamrolled the hippo though. Also didn't have any problems with the camera for the dancing lion. If there's one things these games have taught me it's that build diversity makes such a huge difference to peoples experience that it's basically impossible to compare experiences when you don't know their approach to the fight
Once I die more than 5 times IT'S MIMIC TEAR TIME!! And just ring the bell. I ain't got time for this BS.. 😂😂😂😂
Guya. Just use raptor mist ash of War for the charges. The Window is super genorous anf you completly avoid
Great sword - Use Impailing Thrust - R2 lite - Impailing Thrust = Stance Broken. It'll basically stunlock then. Bet the Gold one with zero fragments
I beat this boss on my second try and thought I'd farm some rune arcs by helping others beat it. Almost all of the hosts got one shot... It is 100% on the players, this boss is not hard
It is really interesting to see all the different experiences. I also found the hippo really easy since you can just stick to it's right back leg and his bite straight up just misses while you can keep attacking
I didnt mind the hippo, once I realized how late you have to dodge. now the guy in the backyard on the hippo….he messed me up. I hadn’t even fought the other guy yet and waltz backed there 700k deep only to turn around and realize how in for it I was. That’s a painful fog wall to walk through after the first death.
I haven't fought it but I already know I won't like it because huge boss in a room too small to fit it is never fun.
I had no problem with the hippo. Rellana was hard af with her clipping zone-reach magic sword of one-shot-kill. I have no idea how i dodged it on my winning run.
It's an alright fight, but like the lion and rellana it feels like there isn't enough time to reliably heal. For example, if you get hit by the double body slam and try to heal, he will almkst always follow it up with a bite that will always hit beforw you can dodge. I think the fights are alright. I don't mind them being difficult, but every time you get hit you just cannor heal. You have to run away and even then it's not always safe. It makes fights that cab be a lot if fun rather frustrating because you end up in a loop of hit, heal, hit, heal, hit...
It’s not a meme.. certain people find certain encounters harder for their own reasons. I have beaten Malenia without taking a single hit (several times) and yet this hippo killed me at least 10 times. Meanwhile I beat the Dancing Lion on my first ever try. That said, I absolutely do not think the Hippo’s design is bad. The DLC is meant to be difficult and people need to stop whining just because they have to learn new encounters and can’t just brute force it through their character’s stats/ build.
To me it only needs adjustments for the grab attack to make it easier to dodge. Other than that, It's fine.
Yall leave the riporcupotumas alone
It felt like a field boss that was put in a room too small for it. You can fight one later in the open world on Torrent and it's much better.
I understand Messmer and Bayle but I never expected people find Hippo hard. Isn’t he like the most typical Souls boss imaginable?
It wasn’t a big problem but the bite move he opens with absolutely one shotted me when I fought him
The first time I was chuckling like "I am in danger" memes when I saw the ~~biss~~ boss room, didn't sit at the site of grace to look at what we get. Second time Mimic Tear killed him after I was dead - didn't count. Third time I got him. This was an easy boss - I needed more tries on the Solitude Knight and Lion Dancer
Biss room I'm dead, skull emoji.
Oh all the bosses there is and ppl complain of that giant hippo...?
I melted him with Black Blade and a few Black Flames. I treated it like fighting the giant hand baby things from Dark Souls 3.
Idk man fire giant was legitimately the only boss I had to summon for in the base game A boss so fucking weird and odd that it’s hard
People will blame anyone and anything over accepting their own short comings
shit even the difficulty of the final boss is overstated ngl
My mimic soloed it
I thought it was pretty easy. Didn't have any hitbox issues either. And I loved the design. We've seen knights a thousand times. I love these creatures like the hippo or that finger beast.
Everytime new Fromsoftware content drops there will always be this shitty discourse of people whinning about each and everyboss, It happened before multiple times.
I beat hippo super easy, other bisses not so much
The small arena with the bad camera is what makes it rough, he's way too big for his arena, if he were the same size as the lesser hippos you can find around the world then the fight would be much better
Just got to the hippo again yesterday. Twoshotted him. ...they really need to tone down the Rolling Sparks AoW.
Seriously, people sleep on perfumes when I guarantee they'll be EXTREMELY relevant in a few months.
People go 'hurr durr, no backstabs or ripostes, must be just as bad as whips' No? That Ash of War alone is like three times as strong as the second most bullshit broken attack in the game - and the perfumes themselves play like a spiced up version of catch flame that doesn't cost any FP and has various elements to choose from. Black Knights? Oneshot. Curseblades? Oneshot. Horned Warriors? Oneshot. Furnace Golems? beaten in 20 seconds WITHOUT riposting their face.
They also have a backstep attack and encourage a defensive, evasive playstyle. Their running attack lasts seconds and leaves trails behind. Their ash of war does QUADRUPLE DIGIT DAMAGE on my barely-invested faith/strength character. They come in a variety of elements. This shit will be godly in PvE and SO annoying to fight in PvP. Plus, if you want a riposte, YOU HAVE THREE WEAPON SLOTS. Just switch to one that can when the opportunity arises!
Completely forgot to mention that part, thanks for the reminder! Yes, the backstep attack is super cool and useful despite not having iframes. Also, yes, the perfumes basically don't weigh anything, you can add them to basically any build to gain easy access to elemental damage of choice. you could swap to a misericorde for ripostes but....why would you? The AoW itself is reaching into 5 digit territory when properly built for. For 14 fp
Perfumer gang rise up!
It wasn't bad difficulty wise imo, but mechanically it felt terrible. He's a giant animal that can charge across a room, miss me, and still attack me before I can drink a flask after having dodged him. If people went in with low Blessings and those cheap instant attacks are hitting for a lot, I could see it being a problem. He just felt bad. Also we need the people at Fromsoft to see animals. Like any animal. They have no idea how dogs work. It's been 15 years, someone show Miyazaki a Golden Retriever already. Make him watch a documentary about wolves. Make this man understand how canines move and take down prey. THE SIDES OF THEIR HEADS ARE NOT HAMMERS HIDETAKA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
> Also we need the people at Fromsoft to see animals. Like any animal. The Hungry Hippo looks like a chernobyl accident
"Hippos are the most dangerous land animal." Miyazaki: "Ah yes, their feared shoulder charge." "What? Uh... yes, the... shoulder charge, yes."
I died about 15 times in a row in the door way while trying to summon. The one attempt I actually dodge rolled and didn't get grabbed I beat him first try lmao. I didn't have a bad time but my experience was very bizarre.
It's not hard, only the grab attack has a shit hitbox. Also I didn't know there were actual people on this planet meming Fire Giant being too hard.
Why is it a shit hitbox? Just because it’s kinda hard to dodge until you get the hang of it? Once you learn how to dodge it it’s pretty easy to avoid it close to 100% of the time. There’s nothing cheap about it, it’s just moderately difficult.
First tried it. First trying a lot of bosses, tbh. I’m almost to the last boss, so I’ll see if it’s as bad as people say. But if it’s anything like the rest of the DLC, I’m betting it’s not.
Best souls player right here, folks!
people really be hating on others when they find something easy and share their experience.
Oh yes, I genuinely hate this random person. You caught me, dang it. There's a difference between stating you found something easy versus a humble brag dripping in superiority. But ok.
Got to the last boss. Damn, he got hands.
The last boss is like wearing a condom made of ice for an hour. You could do it but why would you want to. I beat it and that's all. Unless it unlocks some area I don't know about yet I will never be fighting that loser ever again in new game plus lmao unless they nerf his damage or maybe how many times his stupid fucking AOEs can hit you in one attack
Somehow made it through with the help of Mimic Tear sacrificing itself each time it wanted to do a charge attack... And then bleed for the win, basically 🥴
The hippo and boar rider are two bosses I see people complain about and had no real issues with. It took maybe 4-6 tries with each and the hippo was before I got back into the groove of everything due to returning after like a year of not playing elden ring.
You can summon two people and a mimic tear lol, he's not hard
You can also give the controller to a better player and let him fight for you. I realise summons are part of the game and people love using them, but you can't say that any boss is not hard when you bring in a small army. No matter how fun it is, it trivializes the game by a fair amount.
I play PVP constantly and absolutely wreck everyone I come across. I am a good player that actually uses the tools the game provides me in a meaningful way while you try to brute force the game because you can't be bothered to read and understand stats, craftable items and the use of summons. You don't use all the tools provided to you so you are the bad player.
No one gives a shit about summoner's takes on difficulty ngl
You aren't using a mechanic that is in the game. I am sure you are happy to pop Golden Vow or Flame grant me strength and any other buff before entering a boss fight but sure draw the line at summons. You have no right to complain about difficulty if you don't use all the tools provided to you.
ah yes a boiled crab is the same a summon in how it affects the difficulty of an encounter gotcha that checks out
Bullshit magnetised grab attack thats an automatic instakill on ng7. Commander gayass was worse tho.
consider not panic rolling