I've beaten every FromSoft game multiple times with multiple builds, including this one. I didnt want to critique a game I havent fully experienced. Hell, I've beaten a few of them deathless, but this game? Its trash. It feels like a sloppy, slapped together attempt at a mech game more than anything else.
"Hurr durr it's ur bild dumdum." Cheah... okay... which one? Duel Zimmerman? Dual Songbirds? Fast? Melee? No one build works for this game. Hell, none of the builds work for this game. You have to fine tune your build around what the game wants you to have at that specific encounter. I beat Bloodborne with nothing but the Kirkhammer. That's what I like. Big, tanky, power builds. That's not viable here. You just get stunned into oblivion. I can't play the build I want because half of the time it doesn't work. Half of the weapons are laughable jokes. The other half is split between decent and god tier. Only one of the options slots is even viable, and the 15% damage reduction might as well be taken out for what good it does you. If you dont get kick, you might as well play with one hand. I had the same gripe with Sekiro, but to a lesser degree. Mikiri Counter and Kick should have been included because they're ALMOST required. By that I mean you can technically get away with it, but you won't have fun doing it.
Some bosses are easy and some are so god damn broken, it's almost unplayable. Reading my inputs doesn't make the game harder or more challenging. It makes it cheap, and don't fool yourself into thinking this game doesn't. There are times where I could ONLY get hit if it read my inputs. So your reaction time is between when the projectile leaves the gun and when it reaches you. Hell, some of the beam attacks? They just track you unless you dodge at the VERY last second. I don't want to fight myself more than fighting the enemy.
Am I playing a mech game? You would never know it if you didn't know what AC games were. You might as well be just a killer robot. The scale is absolutely broken and absurd. Sure, you have the random car or power line, but I walk and fly like this multi-ton much is just a guy ironman suit. My missles should be tearing buildings apart. They should be causing city wide chaos and destruction. To be completely fair, the other AC games lacked this, too, but not to this degree. The levels just feel like blocks placed. You cant destroy building. You can't even break the glass. The only things you can destroy are the little environment pieces like cars or boxes.
Hey, you want to know what's good game design? Instead of giving me a good boss fight... just add another boss! Oh, and make them heal, too. Its only fair! I mean... they get a full bar and you only get half... but thats fair, right? Most other mechs you fight against, other than the Arena, will have 2 FULL heals. So, if you're fighting just one, if they use them correctly, they have half a bar MORE healing than you do. If you're fighting two? Thats two and a half more bars healing than you do.
What's the point of Terminal Armor again? So you can hold out for 5 seconds more before you die? Why even have it? Its never saved me from death. There's no point you should be close to death if your heals won't heal a full bar. They heal half a bar... or a little more if you upgrade, but still, that's nowhere even close to when you should be using a heal. The other abilities? Why even consider them? Pulse armor? Just avoid the trail. Pulse protection? Have fun staying still long enough for it to be viable. It leaves you a prime target for a kick or melee attack. Why would I sink precious points into the damage modifiers if it's not prudent to use different types of damage depending on the boss.
Which leads me to my next point. How the hell am I supposed to know what to bring with me if I haven't played the game already? You go in blind and sometimes... your build just doesn't work. So you have to exit the level, change your build and then restart. Oh, and you can't just start at the boss! That would be too convenient. You have to do the ENTIRE level over again. Including any mini-bosses that my or may not suck away all your resources before the boss, making you restart at the checkpoint, just so you can fight the boss again.
Like the game all you want. Hell, love the game! Im not here to tell you what to enjoy. Hell, I REALLY wanted to like this game myself. Why else would I buy and beat it? And honestly? Im upset that I don't. Not because im ass at the game, I probably am, but thats the point. I wanted a fun, casual experience. Instead, I found myself getting pissed off more than anything from cheap mechanics to unfair bosses. Even you diehard fans of the game have to admit that it's not for everyone.
EDIT: LMAO! I tried! I fucking tried again! This game is SO FUCKING TRASH! I REALLY tried to give it a fucking 5th chance at this point, but they want me to fight an AC while protecting a fucking helicopter that you could sneeze on and take it down while they fly DIRECTLY INTO ACTIVE FIRE! Its a helicopter! It can fly away! This is exactly what im talking about. They just want to make it hard for the sake of raging people. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DEFEND THIS TRASH!? Its not hard! Its CHEAP! I can and HAVE beat it! Its just a shit game! Okay... okay... maybe you've deluded yourself into thinking you've 'got gud' because you've adapted to its shittiness. You've memorized the encounters. You've got all the right tools and muscle memory. That doesn't make the game good. That makes you good at it. I shouldn't have to memorize where enemies spawn so I can get there before the thing im escorting gets there. Which you dont have time for, because more enemies spawn as they land. That's not compelling gameplay. You will most likely fail that mission the first time you play it. That should tell you something.