I'm stuck at the Last Judge boss...

Probably one of my favorite bosses so far. Like, once I learned the patterns, I locked in, didn't even have to use any items. It's a bit cheesy, but the safest strat is to just focus on dodging and only attack when it does its little jumping slam attack.

You can go around through the sinner's road, you'll get the parry if you do.

Legitimately almost cried after this moment. I loved saying hi to pilby every time I passed!

It's funny, I see everyone get attached to Sherma because "Haha, cute singing bug, I would die for her!", but like Pilby has one hell of an arc. Like, duder is afraid to set out on this journey that is supposed to be this spiritual event for him, and he's all down on himself, and after talking with Hornet enough, he starts questioning what it even means to him and if it's what he actually wants from life. He decides to set out on his own and move past his fears and the uncertainty after finally confiding his name with Hornet... And then he gets crushed to death by a monster that we weren't able to stop in time. Like, the guy has such an amazing arc that I feel like most people didn't even see.

And even fewer people know that it IS actually possible to save him. The attack on Bone Bottom only occurs when you sit on the bench after killing the first Skull Tyrant in The Marrow, but if you talk with Pilby enough during Act 1 to make him want to continue his pilgrimage, he will actually do so when Act 2 begins. This means that so as long as the second Skull Tyrant doesn't attack Bone Bottom during Act 1 (either by completing the wish but avoiding the bench until Act 2, or delaying the wish itself), Pilby won't be there to die.

It goes even further though, because you can then meet up with him again in Pilgrim's Rest (I think he shows up there after you get the double jump) where he can potentially be killed or saved again depending on whether you released the big rhino beetle from the cage, and/or broke the door mechanism for the inn. If he survives past this point, he'll eventually depart again, though his fate after that is uncertain. One person claimed that they ran into him somewhere in Bilewater later on, but I don't think anyone's managed to verify that.

Team Cherry weren't kidding when they said they loved including stuff that many people likely wouldn't find on their own. The game is absolutely crammed with little details like this, like how if you don't buy the white map quill from Shakra right away, you can instead find and take other quills in different colors (red or purple) later in the game for free, or how defeating the Moorwing before moving the Flea Caravan to Greymoor will result in them collecting its corpse and roasting it for dinner later, but moving the Fleas first and saving the Moorwing fight for later will result in them cooking some other random smaller bug instead.

git gud

ULTIMATE GUARDIAN