Topic: Kena: Bridge of Spirits

@Jimmer-jammer I ended up using the trees as cover but moving between them rather than staying in one place. That and rolling out of the way of his volleys of arrows meant I became quite effective at not getting hit and then it was just waiting for the right moment to attack. The best time to get him is when he generates that red sphere that increases to fill the area. I’d use the L1+R1 dash to get through and then immediately load up a rot arrow using the ability to slow everything down to ensure it hit home. He then falls to the ground so you can rush in and launch a few bombs at him followed up with arrows or if too far away just arrows. I’d then just wait it out again until the next chance. I got him down to just a sliver and had half a health bar left but rather than go crazy on it like I might have done when I started the game I used the rot ability I had to heal. Glad I did as it hit me hard straight after but I had enough health then to ensure I finished with some left over. It shows that patience definitely wins out with these bosses.

@render that’s awesome, thank you!! I’ve yet to even get him past half health. Got some things to try 😄

Just rolled the credits. This is definitely a weird game balance wise. I’d struggle with one boss fight only to find the next one way easier. The last few I actually quite enjoyed as I felt they were much fairer in their move sets.

The damage dealt by most of them seems extreme for “normal” difficulty. The Warrior fight is a good example as it gives you a few seconds to figure out what the deal is before it hits you 3 times and that’s it virtually all your health gone.

I still think Sprout Captain and Corrupt Taro gave me the most bother and actually the last boss fight was, as others have mentioned, not too bad.

@render Are you going to shoot for the platinum here? A friend of mine mentioned that a 'Master' difficulty playthrough is a necessity to attain the plat.... and he inferred that such an attainment was basically bordering on the impossible ha!

What are your thoughts? I bounced in & out of Kena pretty quickly (post-returnal) and temporarily shelved it so I could play Demon's Souls. Considering getting back in, but I also have Ghost Tsushima turning my head - which I am quite keen to play.

Well done on rolling the credits though, I hear the boss fights are right up in FromSoft levels of tedium! (except no good cheeses lol)

@CJD87 I don’t know if I’ve got the will power to do the platinum. The game felt properly hard even on normal that I feel master difficulty is just going to be a drag. There’s not a NG+ either so you’d be going back to having nothing which would make it a bigger undertaking. It’s a good game and I’ve enjoyed it but it’s not a great game so it doesn’t make me want to rush back into it either. I’m tempted to have a look at how difficult it’s going to be and might drop it if it proves stupid!

If you haven’t finished it’s definitely worth going back to do that as you might also enjoy the last lot of boss fights. GoT is great as well though so don’t blame you for being torn 😀

@render It’s funny as I didn’t think either of those bosses were all that bad but struggled more with corrupt woodsmith (so far!)

@Jimmer-jammer @JohnnyShoulder Just beat Corrupt Taro, I actually found Wood Knight and Sprout Captain harder so maybe I am getting better at the game, but then again, I am playing on Story mode as I am really only interested in playing for the Story, I already have the best works of Miyazaki if I am looking for that sort of challenge!

N.B The cut-scene after defeating Taro was really heart-warming.

@render Yeah I agree with that some of the bosses were unbalanced. Corrupted Taro was by far the most difficult boss fight for me. Most of the others felt just right, with some of the others even too easy. I'm sure one of the later bosses glitched out me and just stood whilst I whaled on it lol.

I still really enjoyed the game though, and would put in my top 5 games I played this year.

@TheBrandedSwordsman Yeah I knocked it down for Story for Corrupted Taro, but soon put it back up again as I found it too easy.

I agree the story section you mentioned was quite touching. I think that was near the point I understood what was going on.

@TheBrandedSwordsman each area kind of has its own little story, and I’ve also found each of them very well done. It’s a beautiful game for sure!

@Jimmer-jammer Yeah, I'll be looking forward to exploring more of that, are you tempted to turn the difficulty down to Story for the boss you're currently stuck on? Might be a way of getting past the roadblock.

@TheBrandedSwordsman I’ve thought about it, though I tend to get rather stubborn with this sort of thing. Not sure why. I’m not feeling that as heavily with this particular game though, so it may just come to that!

I just got to, and beat - eventually - corrupted Taro. That was tough, and I don't mind admitting I fair turned the air blue while working on it

@Jimmer-jammer @Th3solution @JohnnyShoulder I just completed both of the puzzle sections after the last (toughest according to many) boss in the game, Corrupt Taro. Johnny, how did you find the platforming in that section with the spirit bombs? I found them okay but timing was sometimes an issue. Sol, the spirit bombs, without wanting to give too much away are a mechanic in the game that assist with platforming, it's a great game, you should play it after Demon's Souls, then either Dark Souls 3 or Elden Ring. Do you reckon you will follow that course?

@JohnnyShoulder I thought that the puzzles were a nice way of breaking up the gameplay after the last boss, and I now have to find three relics to summon the next one, Adira.

I played this game and I liked it.

@TheBrandedSwordsman I’m not sure which course I’ll take, but I think I’ll play Kena sometime this year. It might be a good follow up to DeS due to its lighter appearing tone. I definitely want to put something slightly different as a palate cleaner between DeS and my next From game.

I finally polished off the game yesterday.

The last two bosses proved to be a bit more of a challenge for me and I wasn’t expecting the ones at the end of the three paths prior to that to cause me such a headache either. It’s made the decision to not bother with the platinum much easier though..

Great game and I’m genuinely surprised to see it didn’t make any of the end of year lists on this site.

@TheBrandedSwordsman Yeah the platforming sections when you have to get the timing right with either the bombs or arrows can be quite tricky. There were a few squeaky bum moments when I only just made it! 😂

And agree that the puzzles break up the combat nicely. I don't think I ever thought 'Oh no not another platforming section'.

@Thrillho I enjoyed those bosses more than some of the others and by then I'd kind of hit my stride with it so didn't think they were as hard as some of the earlier ones. I still might give master difficulty a go but I've got so many other things that I want to play or go back to that I'm not sure I want to invest the time in dying over and over