Aldrich Down

 Aldrich is actually a fairly simple boss on a ranged character, but simple doesn't mean easy. If you stay away from him, he does basically three things: he summons the little purple missiles that lock on and shoot at you, he does his big magic blast (usually two in a row, though one time I got eight) and he does his arrow barrage. His various melee attacks only come into play if you get near him.

That said, it's not an easy fight. The arrow barrage is extremely nasty, but mostly because it can distract you. The big magic blast is what killed me on almost every attempt, and when you're casting Great Heavy Soul Arrow, you need to be damned sure he's not starting this off when you start casting yours (or drinking an Estus Flask) because it will hit you.

With both Yhorm and Aldrich down, I was summoned to the room where the Dancer of the Boreal Valley is fought, though I decided it was time to let my heart rate slow down (and allow my roommates to use the TV).

I've actually been looking forward to getting to Lothric Castle, which I think is a pretty cool area of the game. One of the really intimidating things about that area is all the heavily-armored knights, but on this Sorcerer playthrough, I've found that, well, actually, those types of enemies aren't actually that hard to deal with.

I'm trying to recall my general mental map of Lothric Castle and the Grand Archives, but I think that I'll be focusing on at least getting to the Twin Princes before I head into the Painted World. I suspect Prince Lothric is going to be tough give how long it takes to cast spells and how quickly Lorian teleports around the room. Of course, if I can get Oceiros down, that'll open up a few other avenues of exploration in addition to the DLC stuff. I'm hoping/expecting that I'll start finding significantly more Titanite Chunks in Lothric Castle, which will allow me to finally let my Court Sorcerer's Staff catch up in rank to my original Sorcerer's Staff (though in terms of Spell Buff, it's already ahead, and so it's the one I've been using.)

Oh, and I took out the Old Demon King, which I was profoundly over-leveled for. I didn't take a single hit, and I think probably got him down in like 4 or 5 casts of Great Heavy Soul Arrow. And he didn't give me enough souls to level up once, so... yeah. Poor guy.

I don't really like the Demon Ruins - they're sort of generic and same-y. I guess they're supposed to be a bit of a labyrinth, but especially given that you come there right from the Catacombs of Carthus, it's a bit... dull.

I am really curious to see if we some day get a much easier Souls-like game (probably from a different studio) with a very different visual design. To be fair, that might exist already, but I'm not aware of it.