I think I’m pretty good at Jedi: Survivor. I played Fallen Order on Jedi Master difficulty and found it to be pretty manageable. I started Jedi: Survivor on the same setting, and though it took me a little time to remember the controls, I haven’t gotten tripped up by much. Even the first Force Tear, which is a real doozy of a fight between you, two battle droids, two raiders, two B2 droids, and a purge trooper all at the same time, still wasn’t too much trouble for me (ladies).
Last night I hit my first real hurdle. While investigating a rumor of some prospectors that got lost in a mine on Koboh. Lo and behold, the mine turns out to actually be a Rancor nest, and the giant troll-thing is looking to do to Cal what it already did to the prospectors, i.e., crush all of his organs into jelly and use his spine as a toothpick. Unfortunately for me, that’s exactly what he did, over and over and over.
The Rancor fight is stupid hard. Not only are you trying to manage the space between you and a big monster in a tiny arena, but it doesn't even have the weaknesses you’d expect a big monster to have. It isn’t a slow, lumbering beast that telegraphs its attack with a big wind-up as big boys often do. Instead, it unleashes multi-hit attacks quickly that have incredible reach, and it can instantly jump anywhere in the arena with almost no warning. On top of that, it has multiple stomp attacks that deal massive damage - one in an area of effect around it and another in a big cone that projects outward across almost the entire arena - and an instant-kill ability where it scoops up Cal in its leathering hands and chomps down on his back like a dog with a dehydrated pig’s ear. You have to play perfectly (or out-level it significantly) to defeat the Rancor, because one whiffed block or failure to dodge will give the Rancor the opportunity to immediately smash you beneath its heel.
I don’t mind hard fights, even when they represent a sudden difficulty spike. A single unforgiving battle that requires multiple attempts will teach you more about your moves and playstyle than a hundred easy fights. Difficult challenges also tend to be the most memorable experiences too. As frustrated as they get me in the moment, I still understand the value of a tough fight and appreciate them, usually. Rancors don’t piss me off because they’re hard, they piss me off because they’re unfair. Their attack variety and power level force you to employ a hit-and-run style of combat that isn’t satisfying to me, and doesn’t feel like a good fit for the game either.
Like most brawler-style action games, Survivor’s combat reaches its peak whenever you can get into a flow state. When you’re smoothly countering incoming hits, deflecting off-screen laser shots, and executing combos without taking hits, Survivor feels amazing. In those moments when you find your footing and fights become a ballet of swirling light saber blades, Survivor is incredibly cinematic. These are the moments when the game makes you feel like a real Jedi. It takes focus and practice, but this is the feeling you’re chasing at the start of every fight.
The Rancor sucks because it offers no opportunity to find the flow state. It's obviously unwise to run at the monster’s face and hack away at it with reckless abandon, but even if you nail the timing of your blocks and dodges and try to keep the pressure on, there’s no way to overcome the Rancor’s range and ferocity. It will break your block with a swing of its giant arm, then kill you in one hit while you’re staggered. Its stomp will deal damage in such a wide radius that, even if you predict it and dodge away as quickly as possible, it will still hit you, stagger you, and give the Rancor time to rush over and kill you. The only way to fight this monster is to poke at it with your force abilities and occasionally run in for a quick hit to recharge your force meter. Jamming its jaw with a bone is possible, but again relies on Force and finding one quickly while at a safe distance is needlessly fiddly. You have to stay as far away from the Rancor as possible and whittle it down slowly, because you just can’t survive even a single hit from some of its attacks.
This is not a fighting style befitting a Jedi, and it feels terrible to play. Both Fallen Order and Survivor struggle when it comes to fights with oversized enemies, but the Rancor especially puts a spotlight on the shortcomings of Survivor’s combat. The jittery movements, the imprecise hitboxes, the unpredictable physics, and the awkward animations that occasionally detract from Survivor’s combat flow are all on full display when fighting the Rancor, and I found no satisfaction in fighting it at all, even when I did eventually slay it.
I’m sure there are more Rancor ahead of me, and I’ll probably just drop the difficulty down if they give me any trouble, because fighting them for a second longer than I have to is going to be a miserable experience. As impressed as I am with the vast improvements Survivor makes over Fallen Order, the Rancor fight is still a huge bummer.