Shadow of the Colossus - Defeated the ninth Colossus

As I moved into the later colossi, the challenge level is ratcheting up. For the first time, while fighting the eighth colossus, I died. But I knew what to do so I tried again and was successful. The ninth colossus though, just kicked my butt many times. From projectiles that were near impossible to totally dodge to ground shaking footsteps that damaged me, I required many tries to overcome it. Heck, even once I'd figure out what I had to do in order to even get on the damn thing, doing so proved difficult. Getting to its weak point even more so. I wonder if I can expect taking multiple tries to defeat colossi from now on.