This game is unbelievable, but I think the Viper boss may be too difficult for how early it is

I don’t think the boss is bad at all, I just think it comes too early in the game. I’m talking about Nameless puppet levels of difficulty coming in the first 20 character levels. The biggest issue is you only have 4 heals (unless I’m missing something) at the time.

He has two phases, can hit relatively hard, and mixes his combos between quick movements, and staggered/delayed attacks. The problem is that by the time you get to the second phase you can’t really survive long enough to properly learn his new attacks. I got to the last 20% of health in his last phase and I didn’t know the new attacks and just died because I had no heals.

I personally really like the boss, just think it’s far too early in the game to have him. For most players it’s going to be the roadblock that stops them from playing the game. If they’re happy for that to be the case then they can keep it. I’ll eventually beat it like I do with all the other souls games I play, but I’m sure this is where a lot of people may stop.

EDIT: Right after making this post I actually beat the fight on my next attempt. It doesn’t change my opinion as my issue wasn’t that it was BS or unfair. It’s that for most people it might cause them to put the game down and never try it again.