Gaming for 30 years and Oda is the most poorly-designed boss fight I've come across.

[moros1988]

I know I'm going to be barraged with the chorus of "git gud" [...], but the Oda fight is just plain bad gameplay design.

I'll spare you the whining about my dozen or so efforts to kill him, but after getting wrecked multiple times by the combination of stealth and passive health regen, I can only conclude that whomever designed the fight has never played a video game before. My second to last attempt before I managed to drop him saw me get him to 2% health (playing my first playthrough on hard of course), only for him to pop into stealth, then disappear and jump off into some corner somewhere. He absolutely refused to make an appearance and by the time I hunted him down and hit him with a lucky shotgun blast, he had managed to recover all the way to 59%.

Even after all the "improvements" CDPR has supposedly made, the lack of polish and playtesting in this game is just blatant.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Not sure there is a point to argue... But I never find Oda very difficult to beat, even with very low body (so low health) in very hard, as long as you stay far enough to avoid his melee attacks.
I guess it's kind of you to let Oda healling himself peacefully, but it doesn't seem to me to be the best thing to do...When he decide to heal himself, I always follow him to keep attacking him which interrupt him from heal himself.

But well... if you say so

 

[cartlidge]

prepare.. this is me taking him at lvl 32 on very hard. note how I tag him to keep track of him

roundabout 36 mins into the vid I start preparing. I found the fight excellent and exhilarating

 

[GrimReaper801]

I have to agree with @LeKill3rFou here.

It really sounds like you're just ignoring the boss' mechanics, getting punished because of them and then complaining that it's poorly designed...

I mean, going from 2% to 59%... you left him alone for a long time there. He regenerates about 1hp/second so you left him alone for almost a whole minute? He's not exactly hard to locate when he goes stealth.

This isn't a "git gud scrub" post, it's really just a statement of fact.

 

[-Nailes-]

I have seen bad bosses, the types that stand around and play tank because they are bulletsponges. Oda isnt a bad boss.

Oda is a challenge because he doesnt just stand around. He moves and if you dont pursue or look for him, he'll absolutely use that opportunity to heal. If I was in his placve and my enemy remained passive, I'd do the same. I dont see how you think that thats bad design.

I have beat him with blades, shotgun etc. I usually have double jump. Oda changes weapons depending on where you are. I always move around so even when he goes stealth I cvan usually find him fairly quickly or draw him out. Just pretend you are playing Doom or something.

 

[cammoking123]

I don't know what to say. I found him pretty easy. Maybe try inflicting him with chemical damage, bleed, or some other dot when you get his health low enough that he'll hide. The number above his head should give away his position.

 

[DjSpyder]

For what it's worth, I don't think Oda is all that hard on any difficulty. BUT in the OPs defense, Oda is also the first boss that really has any "Mechanics" so to speak. If you're mainlining the game, and haven't done too many cyberpsychos (not that they're very varied in mechanics either) and don't have some decent iconic weapons, then Oda is probably your first real challenge, so playing devils advocate the game could arguably do a better job of preparing the player for the encounter. The only other boss I could think of the player might have fought at that point with any real mechanics to learn is Sasquatch and only depending on the order they've done the missions in, and even then shes not a very hard boss either, Dodge, stun, hit weak point on back, repeat. There is that whole thing where V is getting hacked mid fight, but honestly if you're quick enough its nothing more than a ticking clock for the sake of it, I've never felt it to be a huge threat.

Having said that, I think Oda is a decently well-designed boss, the problem is, there are so few real boss encounters in CP2077 that you've probably got a situation where what you've always done isn't working this time when it usually would.

But personally, I think the Oda fight is one of the base game's standout moments, especially before the patches and new content. I also think the problem will be remedied in patch 2.0 it looks like the skill tree and combat loop are getting a pretty big rework so most encounters should be less bland and that may encourage players to really learn their build instead of what we currently have which is "When in doubt brute force works"

EDIT: I guess there is also the Royce fight, but again, Dodge big laser attack, shoot weak spot repeat or just grenade spam lol.... and it's a completely skippable fight depending on the choices you make. anyway, point is I love the game, but with a few boss fights as the exceptions combat isn't super varied. Even Smasher is a bit of a pushover with the right build and he's the final boss. So while I don't think it's a bad fight by any stretch of the word I can kinda see how it would be the first big hurdle for someone to hit, it's a bit of a difficulty spike if you're not ready for it.

 

[AikoHayashi]

Apart from complaining, you don't provide other information like your stats, gear, level, etc.
Oda is not that hard to beat compared to bosses in other games. He is a cyber ninja and not supposed to stay in one place waiting for you to kill him. I never had issues with taking him down (and I'm not a hardcore gamer at all).

 

[BabaBooey88]

I'm not trying to dog pile here, but Oda really is one of the easiest bosses I've had to deal with... in any game. EVER. I will agree the health scaling in this game is BS though, really annoying curve near the end especially on hard. Feels much more like a time sink than a legitimate challenge.

I would argue he's poorly designed in the inverse direction. The atmosphere and set up for this fight are great, but the execution is quite mediocre to be frank. He stands there when he's healing and sometimes will often remain in the same spot while cloaked; dunno if that's a bug or a result of being rushed - guess we'll find out in September.

 

[koalahugs]

For a second there I thought this was going to be an "Oda's too easy" post.

Whenever I fight Oda, I always try to fight him in what I think is the most story-appropriate way for my V. And that means having to go slightly easy on him, because if I beat him too quickly then hearing V horrendously out of breath doesn't feel earned and becomes immersion-breaking. I mean, I've literally reloaded that fight multiple times (not unlike a director getting actors to run a scene again) until the "choreography" starts to feel "right". Anyone else do that? My OCD definitely acts up on this.

So I always start the fight with defensive sword work, followed by a quickhack, followed by running and jumping the fuck away, shooting at distance with some kind of silenced weapon, more running and jumping, and finishing with a blade duel because it's freaking coool.

 

[DonLuzolvaz]

I know I'm going to be barraged with the chorus of "git gud" [...], but the Oda fight is just plain bad gameplay design.

I'll spare you the whining about my dozen or so efforts to kill him, but after getting wrecked multiple times by the combination of stealth and passive health regen, I can only conclude that whomever designed the fight has never played a video game before. My second to last attempt before I managed to drop him saw me get him to 2% health (playing my first playthrough on hard of course), only for him to pop into stealth, then disappear and jump off into some corner somewhere. He absolutely refused to make an appearance and by the time I hunted him down and hit him with a lucky shotgun blast, he had managed to recover all the way to 59%.

Even after all the "improvements" CDPR has supposedly made, the lack of polish and playtesting in this game is just blatant.

Wow... This is the first time I see someone struggling with a bossfight in any of CDPR's games (minus letho from TW2, that one was pretty hard past normal difficulty)
If you think Oda is the most poorly designed boss, then you've never played DS2.
Jokes aside, you can find him pretty easily after he "disappears". I thought Oda was a very easy boss, I actually think they should make it harder XD. Maybe you didn't have the right build or didn't spend your perks correctly.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Wow... This is the first time I see someone struggling with a bossfight in any of CDPR's games (minus letho from TW2, that one was pretty hard past normal difficulty)

I struggled against a boss in a CDPR's game... In Blood & Wines, I never managed to beat Dettlaff in Death March (quite a few attempts since release^^), I always had to lower the difficulty, but it's probably just me.
And Oda is not near (even very, very far) as difficult as Dettlaff

 

[DonLuzolvaz]

For a second there I thought this was going to be an "Oda's too easy" post.

Whenever I fight Oda, I always try to fight him in what I think is the most story-appropriate way for my V.

I always do this too! I try to drag each bossfight even though I know I can finish them in like 2-5 minutes.

I struggled against a boss in a CDPR's game... In Blood & Wines, I never managed to beat Dettlaff in Death March (quite a few attempts since release^^), I always had to lower the difficulty, but it's probably just me.
And Oda is not near (even very, very far) as difficult as Dettlaff

Well I admit dettlaff is not an easy fight on death march but it isn't Kalameet levels of difficulty. That's what I meant by saying I've never seen people complain about the difficulty of CDPR bosses.

 

[bauerkn]

It kinda depends on V's level, doesn't it? When you rush through the main story, your level will be significantly lower than Oda's.. I remember from my first time, that I should make a few levels before starting the parade quest.

 

[GrimReaper801]

It kinda depends on V's level, doesn't it? When you rush through the main story, your level will be significantly lower than Oda's.. I remember from my first time, that I should make a few levels before starting the parade quest.

Well, sure, it depends on your level but then again this is basic RPG mechanics. If you get to a point in any RPG and you're underleveled for that point, it's typically not the game's fault and that doesn't mean a particular boss fight is poorly designed. It only means you should've leveled a bit more.

I always do this too! I try to drag each bossfight even though I know I can finish them in like 2-5 minutes.

Well I admit dettlaff is not an easy fight on death march but it isn't Kalameet levels of difficulty. That's what I meant by saying I've never seen people complain about the difficulty of CDPR bosses.

I still get PTSD from Kalameet. I mean, he doesn't compare to later bosses Fromsoft came up with but damn did he ruin my day back then.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

It kinda depends on V's level, doesn't it? When you rush through the main story, your level will be significantly lower than Oda's.. I remember from my first time, that I should make a few levels before starting the parade quest.

@GrimReaper801 already said it, but yeah... If you rush the main story, still use the first weapon you get at the beginning of the game and didn't buy any cyberwares (or anything which is provided by the game) and find this fight difficult/impossible, it's not game's fault... And it's like that in most RPGs

 

[Notserious80]

I found him hard the first tiem i meet him since i was specced like shit and playing on hard and i was low level, 30 something. Second time i made him my b.... with a katana and sandivistan. He died in like 10 secs. But the first fight i hade issues with him untill i started using granades and cheesy tactics.

 

[Bogmore]

I just make a load of grenades and throw them about and double dodge. I also use an SMG in every slot. When one is empty use another slot until he runs away then reload them all.

I can't remember if you can hack him.

 

[Spectral_Warrior]

I wonder. If you feel like Oda is a badly designed boss, but then you seem to completely fail to react to whats going on... Who's fault is that?
If you see his health regenerate but fail to act and put him under a debuff... That aint the boss' fault.
Him going stealth can be annoying, but not more so than the myriad of other bosses in all other games who have that ability.
(Stalkers in Horizon for example)
He has a powerful burst attack, so hide behind one of Many walls.
If you cant beat Oda on a normal/hard difficulty for over 10 times, then the problem is you, not using all the tools at your disposal nor reacting to whats even going on.

Post automatically merged: Jul 5, 2023

. So while I don't think it's a bad fight by any stretch of the word I can kinda see how it would be the first big hurdle for someone to hit, it's a bit of a difficulty spike if you're not ready for it.

If we're sticking to "firsts"
I made the mistake of thinking I could handle a 'small' squad of Mailstrom in citycenter near where you could retrieve one of the purchaseable cars.
That ultimately lasted 1 hour and I got killed because I became careless and slipped up just enough for them to get a look burst in with that Ajax or whatever assault rifle they carry.
I've not ever felt that insurmountable of a wall in Oda, even during my very first run back in 2020 where I also mainlined the story. (Mailstrom encounter was from that same run)

 

[Tokenn77]

Oda is a serious challenge...but the REAL challenge is beating him while keeping him alive.