Phew, just finished the game with the patch on Hard. Last boss was kicking my ass. I seriously do not remember him shooting those balls up at you when you are trying to float up to shoot his head. So many times I would do good, just to have him do the shooting ball attack five times in a row, or not put his hands where you can hit them, and you end up trying to dodge lasers, gouts of flame, and balls of death, doom, and destruction.
I manage to get to the third phase of the battle, doing real good, with about 240 HP left, and I get cheated, and somehow get sucked into the vortex thing. Which took me down to 30 HP. Yeah, I am just not *that* good at dodging the other attack at that phase, 30 HP is NOT enough to survive the rest of the way.
Finally managed to take him down though, with 10 HP remaining.
So, then I go ahead and just try the normal version on Boss Rush. A *lot* easier than I remember. Took down the normal difficulty version without even using the spirit necklace. Must have really picked up some extra skill through the hard mode runthrough, although "C-2" still gives me trouble, even on the normal bossrush. (Probably because I was a higher level at that point in the actual game, than the game gives you for the boss rush. I'm just NOT good at that guy.)
Game was just as much fun as the first time I played it, and I was suprised that I didn't have more trouble overall with the bosses, considering how much trouble I had on normal. Perhaps due to knowing the bosses this time around even though the last playthrough was a while ago, or just the extra skill acquired by having to actually dodge the attacks of the regular enemies this time around. =P Seriously, I was expecting to have a lot more trouble than I did with some of the bosses, although some of the ones I beat quickly on Normal, gave me a lot of trouble on Hard. (Both bosses in the Lava Zone gave me some trouble, though that second one I always hated. First boss in the mountains gave me a lot more trouble this time around as well.) Others, I beat through sheer luck, getting that final hit in right before I died. Definitely a more intense experience this time around though.
I highly doubt I'll play through the game on Nightmare. I don't think I'd be able to do it without grinding a lot. Too bad I'll miss out on those 'hidden' bosses though. =/
I'll just say great job on everything. It was a total blast to play, and it was nice to play the game in English this time, and actually understand what was going on. =P It's interesting seeing how they changed the game from the original Ys III.
