I managed to get through the sea spider boss fight recently and chapter 3 has been like a breath of fresh air. No back to back bosses, no goofy stun mechanics, some pretty fun 2v1 AC fights and even a shitty arms fort in the shape of a ship.
Really wish the game was more of this and less of the Sekiro style boss fights, it feels like it hits that gap between AC3 and AC:FA really well. I've mostly been running around in ultralight builds and having a blast. I feel like most of the people that get stuck and frustrated really should take a break and just rerun the missions they liked, that first tester AC fights has been my stress ball through a lot of this game. The long running missions that are basically a boss fight glued at the end of a mission really annoy the completionist in me, having to rerun a boss because I didn't get a combat log or item box first run through is grating.
Still hoping for FS to release a new regulation or two soon to de-emphasize the whole short-range must-stagger meta a little bit and make mid to long range a bit more relevant if you don't want to main rockets and explosives. The game is good and it'll probably keep me hooked for a while, but I'd like more it if there were more "right" answers to combat that weren't just "lmao just use Zimmermans and Songbirds you no skill nigger".