A lot of skill goes into parrying the attacker's shot with your shield and getting your own hits in when they let their defenses slip. Unlike a lot of games, you cannot simply slap the attack button over and over again while fighting the bosses. There is also no pre-set pattern to the attacks. You must study your opponent and learn his style of fighting. These are important factors in fighting the boss monsters.
Elves get to live in elaborate treehouses.
By pressing different directions on the analog stick while attacking, you get different swing styles. As mentioned above, this is very important during the boss monster fights in order to land your attacks. By doing a series of specific attacks, you will do more and more damage to a target. The third in the series will activate a super move of sorts, which does a lot more damage than any previous attack, and usually gives you the kill. The game's GD-ROM fits nicely inside your Dreamcast.