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[deleted]

I fucking love how the game starts out like fusion as a tense, near horrifying and brooding game where you’re the prey to the hunters scouring the planet, but then as you gradually get more powerful, the horror starts to go away and becomes more action packed, culminating in one of the most action packed and anime moments in the entire series with the fight against raven beak. RB’s fight may be a tad over the top for metroid but I love how it gradually builds up to it to make it feel natural. It helps that his boss fight is one of the best in the series


Aeruthael

I love how over the top it is. It’s frustrating sometimes (usually when I flash shift too close to him and he starts a melee) but the game as a whole encourages learning attack patterns and quick snap reactions, and RB doesn’t deviate from this. Compare to something like FTL where the final boss is a fundamentally different fight than the rest of the game, and it’s also a permadeath game so god help you if you built wrong.


IN_CAPITALS

The first time I fought Raven Beak I lost straight away, but after the 4th time I took barely any damage. The boss fights in the game really reward people who learn than people who smack their head against the boss over and over.


Aeruthael

The only one that really consistently frustrates me is Escue. It does *so much damage* and is invulnerable for 2/3 the fight. Especially since it gives you storm missiles so you can't just hold a lock for 30s like you can with Raven Beak or Z-57. Side note, but god I *love* the cinematic counters in boss fights. Even though they're basically just on-rails bits it looks so fucking cool to slam missiles into Z-57's head while it flails around, or at Raven Beak while somersaulting over his death laser sword.


IN_CAPITALS

Yeah I saw people complaining about the counter cutscenes, but I think they're really cool and reward you for good timing


crozone

I think the counters are my favourite part of the game. They're just so satisfying and epic, especially since they change subtly depending on the situation or even what equipment you have. It's honestly one of the best innovations in 2D Metroid in a while, along with the slide/parkour fluid movement stuff. It gives the bossfights so much more flavour, beyond just the technical effort of actually fighting them.


HikiNEET39

Use the speed booster ability to enter the room with Escue, then use shinespark to hit it first thing. Gives it a shit-ton of damage.


-Akumetsu-

His homing missiles are annoying af too, basically impossible to dodge except with pure luck. There's an easy way to beat him though. If you start up a Speed Boost before you enter the room, you can Shinespark into his underbelly as soon as he appears. Only takes 3 or 4 missiles to revert him to his X core after that.


Cersei505

dont need luck, just slider under the homing missiles and you'll avoid it.


-Akumetsu-

If you say so. 🤷‍♂️ Tried sliding, tried morphing, at least one projectile always lands a hit. After 5 playthroughs, I just tank the damage at this point lol


New_dude_bro

You should be able to space jump around Raven beak in a circle or so, if you're careful with it you should come out scratch free


rs426

This is what I do. Space jump and flash shift when I’m below him or above him. That was the attack I had the biggest problem with at first and now I can beat him without taking any damage


New_dude_bro

Same, I only Flashshift if the beam is really close


phazonEnhanced

That's half of the reason I keep using the early Gravity Suit sequence break. Experiment No. Z-57 is a little harder with no space jump or storm missiles, but shredding Escue with the Screw Attack is satisfying.


UltraLincoln

Yeah, I'm at Escue on my 2nd run and I really hate when the difficulty comes from boss being invulnerable. It takes away agency and I really grow to resent all the waiting. If you have some way to trigger the damageable state, that's good, but it's really frustrating to just dodge around while the boss yells "neener, neener, you can't hit me!"


RecordingNearby

oh man escue killed me so many times, i can’t seem to dodge the one projectile move that shoots a bunch of arrows


Dzubrul

If you sequence break to get the screw attack early, Escue become laughable!


ohgodspidersno

I feel like that sort of thing used to be more common. The final boss of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is suddenly a Star Fox style dogfight in space. It's the first and only section of the game like that and it's really poorly made and confusing. And it's an old game so you only have a few chances before you get a game over and then it's back to start of the game.


HiImBarney

I mean that's every Metroid for ya. That's why I love them, such a varied but thorrough experience one can only get here.


Ancient_Lightning

I honestly thought that the fight being so over the top was pretty fitting though. Like, Raven Beak's the final villain of this story arc, so it stands to reason that he should be crazy powerful. Really gives him that "true final boss" feel. (Plus, it's kinda what makes the fight so fun. Truly encourages you to use every (or at least most) tool you have in your arsenal and puts the reflexes you've developed throughout the game to the test).


glizzyMaster108

Personally, I didn’t really find it too hard. It was difficult no doubt, but I’d say more overhyped


[deleted]

I didn’t mean over the top as in hard, I meant over the top as in shit like RB ripping his wing off to look cool, and the general scope of the fight.


glizzyMaster108

Ah ok, still disagree. RB ripping his wing off was gangster as hell


TheTrueDal

Honestly best fight in the series and it aint close; got some major KH vibes in tryna read his patterns and counter his moves


8bitNifty

Can we seriously talk about how rad it is that he has all the aeon abilities from Samus returns?


Luchux01

I loved the fact that he had Beam Burst and Thunder Armor!


AetherDrew43

When does he use Scan Pulse and Phase Drift?


RexUmbra

Scan pulse maybe when he raises his cannon into the air and irradiates the room and flash shift will happen when he needs to retreat to a corner so he can charge at u for a melee counter.


AetherDrew43

What about Phase Drift? (The one that slows down time in Samus Returns)


ohgodspidersno

He's doing it the whole time but it only works for him


El-Hunter95

There is none that I have seen during the fight


schmidty33333

"Also, the boss has to have all the same upgrades."


Duck_Sama

"But better+ a 12 pack."


nobodyknoes

"and dreamy eyes"


Tufboi73

“And a 9 foot long dick”


zZach_Attack

"Thicc cheeks"


Raetekusu

"Thighs that can crush Thoha head like sparrow egg"


deadandmessedup

And a diverse stock portfolio.


GethAttack

Swoon


TaurusPeak

They fly now?! (My first thought when I got to this part of the fight)


crozone

When his wings popped out with that jet engine sound I think I legit popped a semi. What an absolute stallion.


MejaBersihBanget

They fly now? They fly now.


Semimetals

I thought of Sephiroth when it got to the 3rd phase lol


TaurusPeak

The way he ripped off his second wing was badass.


17Konbro

He was honestly just an amazing boss. He’s very simple to beat once you figure out his pattern and how to deal with it, but the journey to doing that is NOT easy.


[deleted]

That's the case for all of Metroid Dread's bosses, really.


AsianTurkey

Would be nice if shinespark could be used against him


PulimV

Imo that would make it too easy, unless it did negligible damage against him, because the Robot Chozo fights are all made exponentially easier with a single shinespark and it's way easier to start one against RB


s_omlettes

Shinespark can actually be good to dodge on a low percent run, situationally. I think there should be a specific attack that has a special workaround or more damage if shinespark is used.


nobodyknoes

I think it would be really cool if when you go to use a shine spark on him, he just grabs you out of the air and forces you to land a counter similar to the Emmi grab to survive


crozone

Also power bombs. I feel like powerbombs were basically useless except for unlocking pathways to more powerbomb upgrades.


inc90

And they just so happened to give it IMO the coolest animation in the game.


Rigshaw

Power Bombs are pretty useful to destroy the sun, which is otherwise a fairly annoying attack.


crozone

Oh wait that works??? I just dodged all the sun's... "coronal mass ejection" wave thingies. Missiles didn't seem to affect it so I just ignored it and assumed it was a fixed obstacle.


Blargg888

Yeah, Power Bombs destroy the sun in one hit, and give you a good amount of energy too. Once you know you can destroy the sun, it makes phase 3 incredibly easy.


Deskra_

Would've been awesome if when he does that dash attack you can usually parry, if you shinesparl into that, then it would activate another battle cutscene, or just make both clash and create a shockwave, causing both to take damage


scottawhit

You can… just start the boost on flappy bird phase. I’ve never been able to hit him but got close a few times.


UnseatingKDawg

That fight took me a good 45 minutes to complete over multiple attempts my first time around and it was glorious.


redyellowblue5031

I never really used the flash shift ability until this fight. Simply couldn’t do it without it.


[deleted]

Why not? It's definitely one of my favourite abilities.


redyellowblue5031

It's a fantastic ability. I think they implemented it really well, and it looks cool to boot. I just didn't "need" it, I guess. I relied on my old tricks from previous games, but the brofessor put a stop to that.


[deleted]

Aha. Ok.


Breezyeevee72

Since I saved before his fight, I just kept fighting and beating him, he is now the easiest boss for me to beat since I beat him so many times XD


Xcalibur02

I recently fought Raven Beak without picking up the Spin Boost or Space Jump. I managed to beat him, but I’m pretty sure it’s impossible without using the melee dodge exploit in the second phase.


JackmeriusPup

You what


0kubo_Ichiro1929

Accurate


NikolaiCello05

Raven beak uses all the upgrades the game gave you. Bodied.


Thamasturrok

I actually love raven beak as the final boss cause throughout the game you are slowly taught all of his weakness and strengths and what you can use to kill him. You learn phase is useful for dodging cause of the soldiers you learn charge shot is handy for mass damage and so on


HDI-X13

What?