Of course that's the endgame, but it's still an impressive chunk of content. And this was really the only thing I wanted to say, the rest of the post will just be discussing for discussing's sake.
???
Usually I complete an area before moving on to the next one, so I finished exploring the mountaintops of the giant before using the medallion (which gives access to the big optional guys). For the same reason, I explored all of Liurnia before taking the first lift... would you say there's no reason to not have explored Altus Plateau before the Caria Manor?
You're not the first person I hear saying something like this and I can't understand how this could be true for anyone who has ever extensively played other souls before. The platforms you can drop onto aren't hard to spot and, once you reach the last one, you just have to walk around and notice the prompt that pops up. I see how someone who doesn't autistically explore every corner of the map might miss it, but I assume that anyone who actually spends time posting on the prestigious RPG Codex forum has to meet the autism requirements. Especially since 99% of the time there are clusters of messages on the ground where you need to go.
He is a pushover, but he isn't nearly a joke as DS1 joke bosses. His HP are low and he is easy to overpower like any other NPC in the game, but if he catches you unprepared he can actually kill you with his constant spamming of spells. On the other hand, Ceaseless Discharge has THREE (3) attacks and you'll see two of them at best during the entire fight, while Pinwheel gets two-shotted by anything in the game if you don't face him unreasonably early.
