Boss Battles

[Kvich]

My most memorable fight, gotta be the desert optional super boss in FF7, Ruby Weapon I think it's called...

I didn't have neither Mime nor Knights of the Round, lost two characters fairly early, but cracked on with Cloud, and ~8 hours later, I finished him with limit breaks and double potion cheat.

My most recent boss fight I remember, is the Pyro Pete raidboss from Borderlands 2.

He took me 3 hours of combat because of gear issues and such, but was fun.

I personally switch between slightly longer boss fights, and shorter tactical ones.

The longer fights are usually between 20-30 rounds, but more forgiven on "mistakes" while still challenging for the players, and takes at least a healer and some sort of tank.

The shorter fights, are fights that I tend to script round for round, with certain attacks, and such happening at certain rounds, mistakes a less forgiven, and are more about learning the fight and executing a plan, than have a tank take damage and a healer healing him.

Those fights are around 12-17 rounds.

 

[JAD94]

Yes!!! Ruby weapon and emerald weapon from ff7! I honestly loved and hated those bosses. Ruby weapon was all about luck to be honest. Cuz he'd randomly knock a party member out of the battle. Ah man good times

Now I feel like playing it again!

 

[Dragnfly]

I'll just come out and say that I plan to never have fights that can only be won with a single specific method executed perfectly or fights that can take hours boil down to 50+ uses of the same ability or 50+ instances of total good luck, all for pointless rewards. I strive to always have good rewards (no strongest monster in the game giving you the strongest weapon crap). They'll give rewards in the form of bonus rooms, galleries, etc or items that change gameplay in some way.

 

[Kvich]

I'll just come out and say that I plan to never have fights that can only be won with a single specific method executed perfectly or fights that can take hours boil down to 50+ uses of the same ability or 50+ instances of total good luck, all for pointless rewards. I strive to always have good rewards (no strongest monster in the game giving you the strongest weapon crap). They'll give rewards in the form of bonus rooms, galleries, etc or items that change gameplay in some way.

I wholehearted agree mate, no real fights should take such time, or such effort.

But take a quick example, a boss will at every 5th round make a attack, that will kill a lesser protected character in one hit, but the designated tank can soak the damage, both from armour and high HP.

The player can then either just let it kill someone and revive, or take measures that the tank will get hit, a taunt like effect.

Or buff everyone defensively and debuff the boss offensively.

Another example:

A dragon will every now and then make a breath attack, and put everyone on fire, dealing at start a low amount of damage, but continuously grow stronger, until the character die, or the fire is extinguished, through spells or abilities, or have a skill that the team learns before the fight, and is removed after, where (s)he runs under a waterfall, putting him out of the fight that round.

Having challenging and interesting boss fights, I think, is half about providing the right tools for the players, and half about being creative.

Having a boss fight last 15 rounds, where the only thing the players have to do is casting a heal spell, and else use the best spells and abilities they have available, and not really worry about what will happens, is in my opinion not really interesting.

I agree with a fight that either is high luck depended, or about using the same abilities over and over and over... Is not fun either.

I think that creating interesting, challenging and fun boss fights, is perhaps one of the hardest things to do, but also one of the most interesting and fun aspect of making a game.

(Making a game that uses the fight mechanics and have boss fights)

 

[Dragnfly]

I used to have a `burning' status that could be cured by being hit with water magic in addition to the usual cure methods. But being on fire prevented that character from using water spells so they couldn't cure themselves. Thanks for mentioning the burning thing because I want to re-introduce this mechanic and the other element ones but I forgot about them.

Another thing I'd like to mention about good boss battles is what to do when they're over. I employ a (usually very over-the-top because LOL) cutscene finisher. Rather than the boss just going away in the battle screen. At one point I wanted to have it select a finisher scene from a couple to cover anyone who was KO'd in the battle but that's more work than I'm willing to do so the person just snaps out of it if they were down when the fight ended.

Omnislashing human Sephiroth (especially if you were like me and that was the first time you saw omnislash) or Dart always getting the kill in Legend of Dragoon were pretty cool memories for me. Though I do wish they'd made more than just Dart's animation.

 

[DarthVollis]

Ruby Weapon was about setting up one party member to be able to wipe the floor with Ruby. It took some figure but I had it where I would counter with the best magic I had.

 

[Dragnfly]

HtoL#NiQ, although I liked it overall, gives me another beef to mention here about bosses. For those unaware, HtoL#NiQ is a Limbo-style survival puzzle game with more in-depth mechanics and 50x the difficulty. The bosses are: 1 light puzzle and chase boss, 1 timing-based puzzle boss, 1 timing-based puzzle boss... 1 carnival game random chance boss and the final boss is a... tower... defense... game.

I'm just saying I freakin hate it when games do that. You play 55 hours of a jRPG with turn-based battles and then the final boss is a bullet hell shooter? You play an adventure game and think this final puzzle room will be where you'll use that tuna you've been carrying since the start of the game? NO because the villain challenges you to Gran Tourismo like it's King's Quest Racing! We can all say it'd be awesome if you beat Sephiroth at the end of FF7, only to have to then beat him in Dance Dance Revolution's hardest mode but in practice that idea really sucks.

So yeah, added to the list of things I'm not doing and I think nobody else should ever do. My final bosses will always require the skills my players have been building up all game.

 

[bgillisp]

@Dragnfly: I remember Two Worlds 2 doing something like that. I go through the entire game as a melee fighter, but to win the final boss fight I have to suddenly play as an archer? What's the point of letting me then be all big and strong and squish everything if the only way to even hurt the final boss was to shoot it with a baslita? Might as well had me challenge it to DDR then at that point, or Guitar Hero.

 

[Dragnfly]

I'm of course fine with it if it's for minigames. And I'm fine with it if it's a slight or gradual variance on the existing system like when FF6 had those Commander Defense battles (actually I loved those) But for a final battle it should stay whatever the player has been made used to all game.

Even the Jojo Bizarre Adventures PSX fighting game, which included countless different play styles for levels, was still a fighting game at the end.

 

[Warpmind]

We can all say it'd be awesome if you beat Sephiroth at the end of FF7, only to have to then beat him in Dance Dance Revolution's hardest mode but in practice that idea really sucks.

...You know, it'd be kind of hilarious to publish a game with a DDR mat included in the game box, just to mess with the buyers' heads... and a DDR clone bonus game included on a disc hidden inside the game box somewhere (perhaps hidden between two extra-stiff pages in the manual or something)...

 

[Julien Brightside]

In Donkey Kong 64, the final battle is resolved through a boxing match.

(A very unorthodox one though.)

 

[Lord of Doom]

My most memorable boss fight? Let me contemplate on that for a second......


Ok. I personally like boss fights on Pirate101, they are challenging and strategic at the same time. So, lets say the boss has the "Quick Draw" and "Overwatch" abilities, if a Musketeer fires at them, Quick Draw lets the boss shoots first, if a unit comes into shooting range of the boss, Overwatch lets the boss fire at the approaching enemy, however, neither of those things would protect the boss from Witch Doctors, who use magic and can generally attack from farther distances with their spells than Musketeers can with their guns. And, lets say your Witch Doctor has "Cowards Bane", if the boss tries to retreat from the Witch Doctor, the Witch Doctor would attack the boss with Cowards Bane before they got out of range. Pirate101 fights are ALL about strategy, without strategy, you are not gonna get anywhere. There are many other skills bosses can have, such as "Return Fire" or "True Grit", if a boss has BOTH of these skills, they will retaliate if you shoot and hit them(True Grit) or shoot and miss them(Return Fire). There's also hilarious dialogue the bosses say sometimes, and there are references to stories, movies, and history(like Hawkules. Eh? Eh?). It's actually pretty hard to forget the bosses on Pirate101, really.


The point is, I don't like "straight-forward" bosses(the final boss of Sonic and The Black Knight comes to mind...), I like bosses that require a mix of strategy and brute force to beat, no matter what game I'm playing.

 

[bgillisp]

...You know, it'd be kind of hilarious to publish a game with a DDR mat included in the game box, just to mess with the buyers' heads... and a DDR clone bonus game included on a disc hidden inside the game box somewhere (perhaps hidden between two extra-stiff pages in the manual or something)...

Maybe my next game should be the most random collection of mini-games, mixed up in an RPG. Get to the first boss, play a card game to beat. Second boss, DDR to win. Third boss, Guitar hero for the win. Fourth boss, time to play snake.

 

[Kvich]

Maybe my next game should be the most random collection of mini-games, mixed up in an RPG. Get to the first boss, play a card game to beat. Second boss, DDR to win. Third boss, Guitar hero for the win. Fourth boss, time to play snake.

Ohh god! I better find my old Nokia...

 

[Dragnfly]

Maybe my next game should be the most random collection of mini-games, mixed up in an RPG. Get to the first boss, play a card game to beat. Second boss, DDR to win. Third boss, Guitar hero for the win. Fourth boss, time to play snake.

Call it "Video Game: The Game."

 

[Wavelength]

Maybe my next game should be the most random collection of mini-games, mixed up in an RPG. Get to the first boss, play a card game to beat. Second boss, DDR to win. Third boss, Guitar hero for the win. Fourth boss, time to play snake.

Oh please.  No one reads the manuals anymore.

 

[Wavelength]

...You know, it'd be kind of hilarious to publish a game with a DDR mat included in the game box, just to mess with the buyers' heads... and a DDR clone bonus game included on a disc hidden inside the game box somewhere (perhaps hidden between two extra-stiff pages in the manual or something)...

Oh please.  This is 2015.  No one reads manuals anymore.

 

[Warpmind]

Oh please.  This is 2015.  No one reads manuals anymore.

Why do you think I'd hide the bonus game disc there?

 

[Wavelength]

Why do you think I'd hide the bonus game disc there?

You... YOU SADIST!!