Something hilarious happened to me the second time I played the demo: I lured the boss past the energy-wall and set it alight, and the boss died in one hit. WTF!. I think he died because I hit him in the privates 
Ooh ooh - so it's actually possible to kill him in fewer than three hits if you target them right? That might conceivably let me actually get past this encounter one of these days.
I've fought that damn creature about 15 times now (at least -- maybe more) and can never manage to get him in the beam a third time. I can lure him right into where it should be, but even if I'm holding down the right button while I'm swimming to tempt him, so that theoretically I should be able to blast the pearl instantly by letting him go, it's not fast enough. He can pull back faster than the energy blast can go off. It's so frustrating. I think the only way to kill him is to know when he's going to strike before he actually does it, or makes any move toward doing it, or thinks about doing it.
But since my psychic abilities are not that advanced yet, maybe I'll just try hitting him in the privates.
