The Last Faith: A Record of 19 Boss Fights – Choosing Weapons and Weapon Arts, and Assessing the Game's "Bite"

The player introduces the game as "a work depicting the downfall of a certain faith." The land where it takes place is filled with a mysterious power, and people can take it into their bodies. But once they do, they come to crave the power, and eventually they transform into beasts. Even so, there is no end to those who seek it, and beasts have overrun the entire city. The role given to the protagonist, Eryk, is to do something about this situation.

The protagonist begins the adventure by escaping from a gloomy facility. The first boss, "Gigantic Patron," is defeated by simply slashing away at it nonstop. Afterward, the protagonist visits a mansion sheltering survivors and catches their breath with the women there who offer advice. From here on, the mansion becomes the base of operations for the adventure.

With no time to rest, bad signs begin to appear in the protagonist's body. Aware that he is being eaten away, the protagonist sets out to find a researcher who knows about this power.

"Winged Mourners," encountered along the way, are a gargoyle-type pair. The player explains that since the two each have their own separate hitbox, you can take advantage of this by luring them well so that they overlap, letting you damage both with a single swing. Since both of them come toward you, it's easy to create situations where they overlap.

The researcher finally found, Dr. Ridley Hermann, was the only hope for curing the protagonist's symptoms. However, perhaps sensing danger to himself, he injects himself with a drug and turns into a monster. Based on the traces of what looks like human experimentation depicted in the background, the player reads that Hermann seems to have been pursuing research not to ease the symptoms, but to gain even more power.

In combat, in the first phase you can hit the enemy freely when it goes down. In the second phase, the enemy hides in blood, so there are fewer chances to attack. However, it periodically shows its face, so you aim for those openings. Here, the player introduces that in addition to melee weapons, there are also guns and magic that consumes MP. The power of each changes depending on how you allocate your stats, so the way you fight changes depending on your build. The player says that in games of this kind, they usually go with a pure strength build, and that swinging a heavy weapon around feels more comfortable to them than slashing with a katana. That said, since stats can be respecced, they also say they want to try out various builds.

Realizing that the research is useless, the protagonist continues exploring toward a new goal. The next boss, "Shadowscourge Horror, Edwin," is the largest opponent yet. The player says that both technical fights against humanoid bosses and impressive fights against large bosses like this one are good, and feels that the design of the overall game experience, including the order in which the bosses appear, is well done.

In this fight, the player introduces weapon arts. Every weapon has its own unique weapon art, and against a huge opponent they can hit multiple times and rack up a large amount of damage. In this battle, the weapon had been imbued with ice, so a single hit was dealing around 1,500 damage. The player says that since the effective tactics change from boss to boss, finding them in your own way is one of the ways to enjoy games of this kind.

During exploration, the protagonist rarely encounters a human, but not one who can be reasoned with. A massive religious organization has taken root in this land, led by a man named Radak. There is a resistance against Radak, who does whatever he pleases in pursuit of power, and this "Starborn Nighthunter" appears to be one of its members. According to the player's explanation, the protagonist was originally created as one of Radak's soldiers, but it didn't work out, and he was locked up in the facility from the opening. The player speculates that this background is probably why he is being attacked by hunters.

In front of the target room, the protagonist fights "Egor & Lena," a duo made up of a man who uses melee attacks and a woman who uses ranged attacks. The player took the approach of defeating the ranged woman first. Using a fast weapon, you can land two hits in situations where other weapons would only land one.

Here, the player explains a technique for reducing the recovery of ground attacks. When the protagonist swings a normal attack on the ground, there is fairly long recovery, but it can be canceled with a roll. There is also recovery after the roll, but that can be canceled with a jump. So by chaining "ground attack, roll, jump," you can devote more of your time to attacking.

The protagonist came here to obtain a "heart." According to the women at the mansion, gathering the hearts located throughout the land will grant the power to defeat Radak, who is running rampant in the church. The player reacts skeptically: "Yeah, right."

From here, you have some freedom in where to go. The player heads to the snowy mountain area, prioritizing retrieval of a powerful strength weapon, and defeats the mini-boss "Voracious Horror."

Against "Burnt Apostate," which guards one of the hearts, the player fights with the newly acquired weapon. The weapon art used at the start of the fight was so powerful that it nearly whittled down the entire first phase on its own. In the second phase, flashy big attacks are added, but most of them are derivatives of the first phase's moves, so you can basically deal with them using the same movements. The player likes this design. They believe that in games of this kind, mastery leads to fun, and they like that the first phase plays an "educational" role for the second. Partway through, the boss enters a flame-based break period, so the player recovered MP there and finished it off in one go.

Exploring further, a hunter appears again. According to the player, the hunters are augmented humans and apparently have more resistance to that power than ordinary people. Thanks to that resistance, they can use strong powers such as magic while keeping their human form. The protagonist also has a special resistance, and someone has taken notice of that and is guiding the protagonist as a pawn in a proxy war. The player puts this topic off for "later, bit by bit."

"The Starlight Beast of Irigarth" is a boss unrelated to the main story, but since it drops a fun weapon, the player took a detour to defeat it. Its health is fairly high, but you can whittle it down steadily with a strength weapon. The player says that against large opponents that are easy to keep hitting, strength weapons currently stand out above the rest, but adds the caveat that this only applies when the opponent lets you attack. Since the next boss is a different type, they say they plan to use the weapon obtained here.

The humanoid hunter after that, "Liesa," can be completely immobilized by freezing her. The player explains that this is why they needed to obtain this weapon.

Against the furry beast "Manfred the Cursed," the player uses a new weapon with a weapon art that lets you attack while moving forward. Since this boss gradually backs away while idling, attacking while moving forward meshes well with it, letting you fight from a position where you can just barely avoid its claw attacks. With other weapon arts, attacks tended to fall slightly short or the dodge wouldn't come in time, making the fight tough. In the second half, follow-up attacks from clones are added and crush your chances to attack, so if you keep swinging you'll get hurt. The clones only pass through along the ground, so you just need to escape into the air. The player also says that learning the air dash along the way made it easier to attack and dodge.

On the snowfield, the protagonist fights the "Cold One Beast," a beast that seems to be a former resident of this town, muttering something as it devours humans. Its attack patterns aren't anything special, but the player says that the way the shape of the world is drawn out through presentation like this is what makes RPGs interesting. The second half begins with six ground slams, and the attacks are powered up and turn purple, but the motions are nearly the same, so it's no problem as long as they don't hit you. After attacking for about three turns, you can knock it down. The player has put just enough points into Mind that their MP runs out right around here, so they recover MP and use the weapon art again.

Next, Lena, fought earlier, appears again, this time alone without her partner. According to the player's explanation, the protagonist was originally supposed to take up this position too, but after various twists and turns, he is now gathering hearts and growing stronger. The player figures that from Radak's side, this must be a big deal. In the second half, blades with hitboxes appear at the edges of the screen, so you need to be careful not to get hit by them when advancing with the weapon art.

Against "Nyctharos, the Eerie Creature," which guards a heart deep underground, the player uses a weapon whose weapon art spreads over a wide area. If all hits land, it deals considerable damage. The player rates this weapon highly because its power scales with three different stats. In this game too, as in many Soulslike games, the more stats a weapon scales with, the more it tends to keep growing into the late game. However, the player also says they'll probably finish the game before it reaches its full potential, and positions it as a weapon "with the potential to be among the strongest."

In the second half, after clearing out zombies that rise from the ground and destroying a glowing object, the main body reappears. The main body's attacks are almost the same as in the first half, but with small tweaks, such as two-action turns becoming three-action turns. Since almost all of the protagonist's actions can be canceled with a roll, the player suggests that in uncertain situations, a good approach seems to be to throw out the weapon art anyway, then cancel it into a dodge when the enemy starts an attack motion.

After wandering underground, the protagonist finds himself standing in a mysterious space and enters a battle with the "Nightmare Harbinger." Since the player had used only melee weapons up to this point, they switch things up and use dark sorcery. This sorcery keeps producing a hitbox at the point of impact, so it can deal heavy damage to this boss, which doesn't move much. The boss always lowers its head and waits after acting, so if you time it to that, every hit lands.

In the second half, the attacks, which until then came from only one of them per turn, come from two at once. Some patterns are almost impossible to dodge, and the player says all you can do is pray they don't come. Here, the player introduces the light blue gauge below the MP gauge. You can consume it to parry or guard; even beams from the side can be blocked just by raising your guard, and it's easy to move into an attack right afterward. However, it can only be used about three times, so this time the player used it only in the second half of the fight.

After the battle, it turns out to have been a dream, and as a reward the protagonist obtains an item that lets him see the truth.

On the top floor, the protagonist faces Radak. The player describes him as the head of the most powerful religious organization in this land, a typical RPG pope type who seeks to gain even more power and become a god. At first, he underestimates the protagonist, doesn't fight seriously, and runs around.

In the second phase, he gets serious, and his fast attacks become troublesome. If you carelessly get close, you won't be able to escape. Each time you take off 25% of his health, the boss leaves the fight, and there are three periods in total when you can't attack him. While he's gone, mini-bosses reappear, the first of which uses fire magic. You carefully deal with the second while dodging the lightning he sneakily fires. When the boss comes back, you finally resume attacking him, but he soon leaves again. The player pokes fun at this: "He keeps ducking out as often as a boss on a smoke break." In the end, the player dragged him down and defeated him.

When the protagonist returns to the mansion that serves as his base, it is strangely silent, and the residents have vanished. Noticing that the statue in the center is glowing, he enters another space, where the women who had been looking after him ask him to take the throne. When the protagonist refuses, a battle begins. According to the player, their aim was to guide the protagonist and have him gain great power, destroy Radak's faction, and then set the protagonist up as the king of this land.

In the second phase, the two work together. Here, the player again uses the magic that was also effective in the Nightmare Harbinger fight. Since it can be placed in advance, it increases your opportunities to attack even while the enemies are invisible. The player says that battles where enemies disappear tend to get boring, so it's nice to have a technique that fills the time. They acknowledge that you could just take your time defeating them, but they strongly want to avoid the video dragging on, and as a result they end up giving it their all every time. On top of that, they say that setting your own goals is important for enjoying a game to the fullest, and that the motivation of looking back on it by making a video serves as a good guide for setting appropriate goals and enjoying games for a long time.

On the story side, the player reads from the flavor text that this land has had a connection to the cosmos since ancient times, and that much of its power and many of its creatures, as well as the faith in them, were brought from the cosmos. The two women were probably devoted to that faith, which is why there was a fishy atmosphere around them.

Suddenly, a voice echoes from somewhere, and the final boss, "Medea, Voice of the Cosmos," appears. In the player's interpretation, since the two who heard the voice of god were defeated, the founder of the faith has finally come out in person. Ordinary people can't even perceive this being, and if you challenge it without proper preparation, you'll be killed in an instant. That's why it was necessary to take a detour, defeat the boss, and obtain that eyeball beforehand.

The player explains that for the residents of this land, the cosmos was not merely an object of faith, but a familiar and real concept from which they could actually gain supernatural powers. While saying it's unclear whether the cosmos side intended to take over this land, they also speculate that perhaps Radak was desperately trying to gain power in order to take sovereignty back from the cosmos for humanity.

In combat, the player says that the easy way to deal with the attack where it flies around left and right is to jump at the edge of the screen. When it deploys ice, attack little by little from a distance. It has a lot of health and even puts up a barrier, making it a tough opponent. The player points out that in games of this kind, the protagonist's options tend to increase toward the end so things gradually get easier, and in many such games, building your character seriously turns the bosses into pushovers. With that in mind, they say that this game keeps its combat challenging right to the end, and that they personally like that difficulty.

Defeating Medea brings the long-running power struggle to an end. The people are freed from a faith steeped in deception, and a new era comes to this land. The player praises the decadent, gothic-horror worldview and the carefully crafted pixel art as worth seeing on their own. They conclude that simply being able to move the protagonist freely through this world made for a very satisfying experience.