OK, so now its time for Part Two of my list where I look at my pick for the Top 10 most disappointing bosses from the Dark Souls series. Now, as I mentioned in the first part, I will be looking at the bosses only from the Dark Souls games 1-3 and NOT Demon Souls because well...I haven't played Demon Souls yet and can't comment on any of the bosses.
So, with that all said, let's gear up once again and take a look at the top 5 meh bosses from this great game series...
5. Gwyn, Lord of Cinder (Dark Souls)
Hang on! Didn't I put this guy in my 5 best bosses from Dark Souls 1 earlier this year??? Yes, but I have since had time to reflect on this one.
So yep at No.5 is the final boss of the original Dark Souls, Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. Now, this guy is one of those bosses who promises to deliver and actually delivers very little in the end even though depending on how you fight him, he can still be a pretty challenging boss to fight. Gwyn himself as a boss can be found at the Kiln of the First Flame and is said to be the original one to have linked the first flame but as you are sure to be his successor, you will have to go through him in order to take his place.
Now to be fair as I said, Gwyn can be a pretty tough boss and he did give me a pretty hard time on my first playthrough. However, once you suss Gwyn out, his challenge diminishes greatly because if you are very good at parrying, you can finish him off very swiftly. Now, I suck at parrying but I managed to suss out a way to beat him in melee by playing hide and seek running around pillars and hiding from him and getting my strikes in whenever I could. Then I replayed the game as a sorcerer and Gwyn was ridiculously easy to beat as I used homing crystal soul mass to wipe him out, which it did very quickly!
So, yeah Gwyn can be a challenge as a boss but he can also be a real pushover and that is something that makes him a bit of a curiosity. However there is little denying that when you master this guy, he's not the most satisfying boss in the game to beat yet the fight does have alot of cool elements and the incredibly poignant theme does I guess symbolise the end of an era, or Gwyn's era and it remains one of the most memorable of the series.
However, this boss fight is a final boss not done quite as well as it should have been and for that, Gwyn takes his spot here at No.5.
4. Royal Rat Authority (Dark Souls 2)
At No.4 is this much maligned boss from Dark Souls 2, Royal Rat Authority, who is basically a large rat, who is protecting her baby rats, who just all happen to be toxic! So, this fight, kind of similar to Gwyn, can actually be pretty challenging or very easy depending on how you approach it, which doesn't really make it all that enjoyable.
So, what is challenging about the fight here? Well, the main challenge comes from RRA's baby rats who are all toxic and they can attack pretty fast as soon as you enter the fog gate and if they do then the toxic effects will kill you fast maybe even before the Royal Rat get's her claws into you! So, in order to make the fight more managable you need to kill the baby rats as fast as possible before they hit you and you turn toxic. And once the baby rats are out the way, Royal Rat then becomes a real joke of a boss, who has a very weak health bar as you can kill her pretty quickly!
So as far as a challenge goes, this boss despite the toxic rats, is a big letdown and while I don't hate this boss fight like alot of fans of the series do, it definitely still is one of the more disappointing ones as it is mechanically pretty dull and boring. It does however act as a nod to a far better fight in Dark Souls 1, Sif, the Great Grey Wolf, who as you whittle his health bar right down, becomes weak and slow down and the same thing happens here with the Royal Rat. Again its like the game makers are toying with your emotions and making you feel guilty about killing off a wounded animal. Shame on you Namco Bandai! ;-)
Anyway all that aside, the Royal Ray Authority is a pretty underwhelming boss fight that offers very little in the way of appeal and its not an awful fight but again its just meh and a pity it wasn't cut from the final game.
3. Pinwheel (Dark Souls)
At No.3 is this boss from the original Dark Souls, Pinwheel, yep Pinwheel...oh dear, Pinwheel is flat-out just a boss that has been done wrong and offers very little in the way of enjoyment or a challenge. However I will say this at least that Pinwheel's design is actually kind of cool looking as he is a weird and creepy looking boss that has a unique look overall but that's about as good as things get here.
So, as for the fight itself (if you want to call it that!) well Pinwheel has some pretty basic attacks in that he can throw fireballs at you aswell as a flamethrower effect and his most notable attack is when he splits off and creates clones of himself to distract you. However beyond this, Pinwheel has nothing else in his poor repotoire of naff attacks to throw at you really.
The funny thing about this fight is that you can also summon to make it even more of a joke as the NPC, Paladin Leeroy, can take him out for you without you having to make a single strike! In fact its more difficult in getting to Pinwheel that it is fighting him because the bonewheels that attack are lethal and pose a much bigger threat than this boss ever could!
So, yep even though Pinwheel doesn't quite take the top honours here he definitely still is one of the most disappointing and lacklustre bosses in the whole series. I had also even considered adding the Prowling Magus and the Congregation into this list aswell but I didn't because believe it or not I have died to them a few times but never to Pinwheel!
Anyway so Pinwheel definitely deserves his place here in the top 3.
2. Covetous Demon (Dark Souls 2)
At No.2 is this guy...the Covetous Demon...oh yeah, Jabba the Hut!
Yep this Jabba wannabe is easily one of the most naff and above all POINTLESS bosses in the whole Dark Souls series. This big lump basically moves around a room and tries to kill you with belly flops, slashes, slams and rolls and that's just about it.
So, yeah I can't really say a great more about him than that other than maybe that CD is quite similar to the Gaping Dragon in that he is a boss that does appear to be a little pre-occupied with himself as he seems more interested with does a belly flop and a roll than in killing you! However to be fair, Covetous isn't quite as self involved as the Gaping Dragon is it has to be said. Also to be a bit fair to ol Covetous is that while I never died to him on New Game, I did use a Bonfire Ascetic a few times and when I did CD did become a little bit more challenging as I did die to him once or twice as at that point I was playing New Game +3 essentially!
Howeve despite this, Covetous is stil a complete joke of a boss and one that was just a straight-up example of very lazy boss designubg and given that is basically a giant Jabba the Hutt rip-off and its just a shame that isn't an optional boss in the game because I sure wished he was!
Anyway, so yep the Covetous Demon more than deserves his place on this list as a disappointing nothing boss that offers little in the way of enjoyment or satisfaction in defeating him and he more than deserves the runner-up spot.
And the No.1 most disappointing Dark Souls boss (for me anyway) is...
1. Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin (Dark Souls 2)
Yes at No.1 is this fella, Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin, the final boss from Dark Souls 2. Aldia if you are unfamiliar with him is the big firey lumpy mass that surprises you at certain stages in the game when you try and light a bonfire, he explodes out of it and talks to you about your quest. However in order to fight him you do need to kill King Venderick first of all before you go on to face Queen Nashandra, who will be the final boss you encounter if you don't kill Vendrick but if you do, Aldia will appear at the end as the final boss.
Now I have to start by saying I don't think Aldia is a terrible boss by any means but given that he is meant to be the final boss of Dark Souls 2, I found that in itself to be very disappointing because overall this boss is a very dull and boring fight. His attacks are pretty much dialed in and by the numbers as he just waves his tentacles around alot and emits fire damage if you get too near him.
Aldia does offer a modest challenge to be fair though as some of his attacks can be quite dangerous such as his tentacle attacks when they rise up from the ground and he can emit quite alot of fire damage when you get up close to him. In fact the only time you can get near Aldia to attack him is when his fire fades out and he turns grey and that's when you can get your hits in.
But in all honesty this is just a very dull, boring and underwhelming boss fight that leaves you yawning more than anything else and yeah OK I did die to him maybe three times but no more than that in my playthroughs. And in a way its a pity given that Aldia is in an interesting sounding character in his cutscenes and the jump scares he provides as he unexpectedly explodes out of bonfires at certain moments in the game is also quite effective if you aren't expecting it.
So for me Aldia takes the top spot because a final boss in any game should provide a decent challenge and Aldia here just doesn't cut it as his challenge is a very dull one and while he's not an awful boss, he really is easily the most disappointing one for me in the whole Dark Souls series.
SIGN OFF
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon, which should be completely unrelated to Dark Souls although I think I will do a top 10 Best Dark Souls Bosses fairly soon also.
So until the next one, its bye for now!
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