And I'm now...done. The hunter at the end of Eileen's quest takes 98% of your health on a visceral, 50 vitality, on NG++. I'm not exaggerating, 98%. He also can do this basically whenever he wants. It's on AI scheduling, not balanced anymore. Worse is if he is late, you are guaranteed dead from a two hit R1 with hit stun. I can beat him but it's like rolling the dice. If the AI feels like killing you? You are dead. Plain and simple, no other way to look at it.
The more I play the game past the first play-through, the more I keep finding combat flaws all over. And for those who say that the game is "fair" with its deaths? That applies to your first play-through and maybe NG+. Chalice dungeons are so-so. You forgive major issues with the combat since you don't die. You pop a vial and move on. You don't question too much how that attack hit you when you weren't even close.
NG++ is a stupid grind. You don't get that many souls so your leveling is boring. And you end up wanting so much to skip stupid sections of the title, which makes you just gradually speed run. The bosses are actually the easiest part, it's the rest of the game that is full of complete bullshit. All those wonky hit-boxes and stupid damage mean deaths. And I'm not even dying a lot in NG++, just in very dumb ways. Getting stuck on a 5 pound rock leading to my death, enemies who magically hit behind them with side strikes, 90% damage from unexpected sources (RE4 heads in FW), dogs who for some reason have collision walls on movement the size of a broad street, etc...
Great game but I wish I stopped at NG+, even though BoM are fun. I absolutely wreck bosses. The more you dig into the game though, the more the flaws are magnified, and the less fun the game is.
EDIT:
Hit almost 100 hours. All major chalice, up to NG++. Money's worth, check.
