-Review- Deathbird/Death Rite Bird - No Damage, No Summons, No HUD, No Magic Tricks

Deathbird reminded me of something but I couldn't quite put my finger on it then someone mentioned Oceiros, the Consumed King from Dark Souls 3 and I do notice the similarities but unfortunately it's not a better fight in the slightest. This boss doesn't want you to learn how to fight it because the move set prevents you from punishing anything and the only solutions are to either exploit it with the tools of convenience or not target locking, staying behind and hoping for the best. Both fights were never satisfying to me because the design philosophy is so screwed up here that it prevents any sense of skillful achievement and I don't blame anyone for disliking a Deathbird.

Another comparison I'll make is the Titanite Demon from Dark Souls with it having similar attacks and brutal hit boxes so this concept has existed for a while now so I guess it was their mission to make it super annoying as possible along with other concepts in the series.

Death Rite Bird is the advanced version and it's an improvement but I will say that I enjoyed this one more only because it's Ghostflame attacks are visually appealing however still poorly telegraphed just like everything else. There are some subtle tells but it's part of the design issue I've address several times already which is the always being prepared for a massive attack which is the entire fight basically. You have a fraction of a reaction time to properly move away from an attack and what's funny is that the grab attack is one of the most generous attacks to avoid but still requires you to be in right place at the right time.

Overall there is a strategy that has somewhat of a consistency but it still lies in a design that punishes you for reacting properly with weird and inconsistent hit boxes that doesn't make the fight enjoyable. This goes back to Radahn a fight that's circled around gimmicks but if you want to fight him one on one without tools of convenience then it requires methods that doesn't feel satisfying to use. Imagine if the Deathbird had the same gimmicks as Radahn and replaced him entirely, would the fight get as much praise? It's definitely something to think about. One more final thought is that this boss would have been significantly better if the attacks were parryable and it would have complemented the design so well.