Summary
With so many of the major bosses inDemon’s Soulscapable of being broken down into their individual gimmicks, Maiden Astraea is unique in how straightforward her fight can be. This is best seen when players choose to ignore the name above the health bar, and instead focus their efforts on Astraea’s bodyguard Garl Vinland in a simplified version ofFromSoftware’s classic PVPencounters.
Standing as the final boss of the Valley of Defilement, one of the last areas that many players will clear throughoutDemon’s Souls, Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland act as a final test of the basic combat mechanics before jumping into the real endgame. This is because to get through this encounter, players will either need to have their DPS through the roof to kill Maiden Astraea outright or have mastered the parry to get past Garl Vinland.
Garl Vinland’s Great Hammer Bramd VS A Buckler
Potentially the Easiest Boss in Demon’s Souls
Maiden Astraea has the potential to be the easiest boss inDemon’s Souls, as long as the player is able to pull off a handful of consecutive parries and ripostes against Garl Vinland. This is because when Garl Vinland is killed, Astraea essentially gives up the fight, meaning that only one of the two enemies needs to be defeated in order to come out victorious. Given the history of theparry mechanic in theSoulsborneseries, that should come as little surprise for most of the regular enemies fought throughout the game, but it does strike as strange against a major boss.
As strange as the utility of the mechanic is, however, challenging Garl Vinland alone on a ledge leading into the arena proper can give players the opportunity to parry almost every single one of his attacks and beat him without taking a single hit. There are naturally a few caveats to this strategy, such as when Garl Vinland heals himself periodically or forgoes attacking with his slow, heavy hammer in order to cast God’s Wrath instead. This does mean that the fight isn’t completely free as long as the player can get the parry timing down well enough, but it does put ahandful ofDemon’s Souls' weaponsabove the others if they have extra critical damage and can maximize on every riposte.
All Shields are Equal to Stop the Great Hammer
UnlikeotherSoulsborneparries,Demon’s Soulsdoesn’t differentiate the parry frames between different shields, although thrusting swords do have a slightly extended window to manage the maneuver. While this doesn’t necessarily give a player an advantage on the timing while using a lighter shield, it does mean that the buckler is equally qualified to stop the Garl Vinland’s massive hammer as anything else that might have a heavier impact on equip load. This can make for an empowering fight for the player, and a demeaning one for Garl Vinland, as the quick swing of a buckler is enough to carry fans towards an easy win.
Maiden Astraea as a Blueprint for Parry-Vulnerable Bosses
The parry has evolved greatly throughout theSoulsborneseries, elevating from the most formidable tactic to use against regular mobs, to a full-fledged boss killer in later games. To a degree, Garl Vinland is the blueprint for these types of bosses, which includes endgame opponents likeDark Souls' Gwyn or even encounters as recent asElden Ring’s final boss Radagon. This ability to parry some bosses into submission has previously been seen by some fans as a strange choice, given how it can trivialize some otherwise impactful fights. However, as the systems of the series have elevated sinceDemon’s Souls, so has the utility of parry mechanics on bosses. So, in the long stretch of FromSoftware’s history as a developer, Garl Vinland and Maiden Astraea have become the first step toward some of the best bosses in the series.
Demon’s Souls
WHERE TO PLAY
Entirely rebuilt from the ground up, this remake invites you to experience the unsettling story and ruthless combat of Demon’s Souls.From PlayStation Studios and Bluepoint Games comes a remake of the PlayStation classic, Demon’s Souls. Entirely rebuilt from the ground up and masterfully enhanced, this remake introduces the horrors of a fog-laden, dark fantasy land to a whole new generation of gamers. Those who’ve faced its trials and tribulations before, can once again challenge the darkness in stunning visual quality with incredible performance.In his quest for power, the 12th King of Boletaria, King Allant channeled the ancient Soul Arts, awakening a demon from the dawn of time itself, The Old One. With the summoning of The Old One, a colorless fog swept across the land, unleashing nightmarish creatures that hungered for human souls. Those whose souls were stripped from them, lost their minds – left only with the desire to attack the sane that remained.Now, Boletaria is cut off from the outside world, and the knights who dare penetrate the deep fog to free the land from its plight, are never seen again. As a lone warrior who has braved the baneful fog, you must face the hardest of challenges to earn the title “Slayer of Demons” and send The Old One back to its slumber.
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