Bosses that don't mess around

[Luminous_Umbra]

Bosses. We've faced our fair share of them.

But sometimes, bosses go above and beyond other bosses for their fight.

Sometimes, bosses pull nonsense like this.


One of my personal favorites is from Bravely Default's final boss...

Spoiler

Ouroboros, who destroys parallel versions of the planet. Not to attack, but to heal. And does so multiple times throughout the fight.

So, Escapists, what are some of your favorite over-the-top tactics used by bosses, final or otherwise?

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

I'd have to go with Shao Kahn. So many quarters spent until finding his exploitables. Not the best example but who can forget getting pounded with a shoulder charge, triple sledge and groin kick to end the match in about 5 seconds lol

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Sans? Sans!
Firstly he's suddenly attacking you with his strongest move upfront, which will kills most people the first few tries before they even get to the real fight.
Then he starts using the Interface against you. Then he has a final move that's also ridiculously hard to dodge and then he has a even more ridiculous special attack, where he traps you within his turn (It's turn based combat) and you've to figure out how to get out of it.

Shao Khan was already mention, so i go with Inferno/Soul Edge from the Soul Beat 'em up series. I think the first time i fought this fucker he nearly perfected me. He's fast, he hit's like a truck and can dash across the whole arena in the blink of an eye. I hate him.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I was actually doing the Twin Princes boss fight in Dark Souls 3 again last night. I still can't get over Lorian's annoying teleport spam. He doesn't look like he's particularly fast when crawling out of the side room during the cutscene before the boss, but then he teleports behind you and ruins your day...and he doesn't stop doing it for the whole fight.

Other bosses might teleport, but not very many bosses teleport TO you to attack. Most, like Aldrich, teleport away from you to set up their attacks. Lorian often teleports mid-combo just to screw with you.

And it works. God, I hate that fight more than the Nameless King.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I was actually doing the Twin Princes boss fight in Dark Souls 3 again last night. I still can't get over Lorian's annoying teleport spam. He doesn't look like he's particularly fast when crawling out of the side room during the cutscene before the boss, but then he teleports behind you and ruins your day...and he doesn't stop doing it for the whole fight.

Other bosses might teleport, but not very many bosses teleport TO you to attack. Most, like Aldrich, teleport away from you to set up their attacks. Lorian often teleports mid-combo just to screw with you.

And it works. God, I hate that fight more than the Nameless King.

Huh, it always interests me what bosses give different people problems. Once I was finished with the game I would hang out outside the Twin Princes and wait for coop summons so I could farm up some souls before starting NG+. For me that was one the easiest fights in the game and I could do it in my sleep. Sullivan was my big roadblock. And I guess that's who I would nominate. Pontiff stands up and then just immediately leaps toward you and starts wrecking your shit. That was when DS3 got serious for me.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Not necessarily the most over-the-top for all time, but try finding a fighting game boss more over-the-top than this:

Spoiler: KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER

I like this vid but it does make him look much easier than he actually is. Spheres of fire and ice demonstratably more powerful than the Hadouken (or any other projectile) are nice to start with... then you have Meteor Storm (exactly how it sounds), Seraphic Wing (six angel wings and a pretty rainbow of instant death), and Resurrection. I don't think there's any other boss in a fighting game who essentially gets a second 'life' for each round they are fought in. At least it leaves him wide open.

Even Seth has nothing on this guy's showy-ness.

Outside of fighters, I remember being wowed by how insane everything that Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts comes at you with: Tearing apart his own custom-built world to get you, hurling skyscrapers, giant mecha-dragon, laser barrages, double lightsabers, paralysis spell coupled with forcibly extracting the main character's heart, multiple flying clones shooting more lasers and lightning, giant laser dome...

It helps that he started out as an optional uber-boss in the previous game then expanded out from there with only his life-depleting curse spell being nerfed. However, Master Xehanort has probably already surpassed him in that category during the spinoffs (tornado of thousands of Keyblades, time reversal...), or he will in the third game.

 

[Glongpre]

Everyones favourite difficulty spike in Diablo 2, Duriel.

Small arena. Super Aggressive. Holy Freeze aura. No fun allowed.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The TerrorCrawler from Broforce! Fucker can fire acid to melt the ground, rockets, and facehuggers, all of which are 1-hit kill!
Lost so many bros. Rest if peace, bros.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Pick a fighting game, any fighting game, and just put that boss in this thread. Goro, Kintaro, Shao Khan, M Bison, Akuma, Gill...there are a ton of these guys and honestly, I think it would be a lot harder to find one of them who isn't an ass to fight against.

Other than those, I've just started playing Demon's Souls about a month ago and if it wasn't for random rib-cages and wonky AI/pathfinding, I would have been killed by the Flame Lurker for a third time.

 

[Evonisia]

Snip

Huh, it always interests me what bosses give different people problems. Once I was finished with the game I would hang out outside the Twin Princes and wait for coop summons so I could farm up some souls before starting NG+. For me that was one the easiest fights in the game and I could do it in my sleep. Sullivan was my big roadblock. And I guess that's who I would nominate. Pontiff stands up and then just immediately leaps toward you and starts wrecking your shit. That was when DS3 got serious for me.

I agree with this nomination. Pontiff still gives me hassle even after I think I've got the hang of him, and he really doesn't mess around. You either have to keep your eye on his ghost instead of him, or get absolutely crushed by a berserk Pontiff if you decide to kill his ghost. I'm not bad at parrying, but I just can't do it with him. Gwyn was easier than that. Pontiff is practically a missile made of fire and dark magic and there's nothing you can do it stop him.

No wonder Aldrich rose to power.

 

[wings012]

I was actually doing the Twin Princes boss fight in Dark Souls 3 again last night. I still can't get over Lorian's annoying teleport spam. He doesn't look like he's particularly fast when crawling out of the side room during the cutscene before the boss, but then he teleports behind you and ruins your day...and he doesn't stop doing it for the whole fight.

Other bosses might teleport, but not very many bosses teleport TO you to attack. Most, like Aldrich, teleport away from you to set up their attacks. Lorian often teleports mid-combo just to screw with you.

And it works. God, I hate that fight more than the Nameless King.

There's a ring that increase the dodge window, made life a whole lot easier, plus I've heard that a certain shield makes blocking in that fight broken.

Any of the 100% mitigation greatshields really. I tend to go with Yhorm's but Wolf Knight's works well enough. Though really, greatshields + straightswords in general make a lot of the boss fights a cakewalk.

 

[Ayame Murasaki]

Any of the endgame bosses in Odin Sphere. And when I say endgame, I mean endgame--not the final bosses in each character storyline, the ones you get to pick who you face them with. After about twenty tries with Velvet, I managed to beat Endgame Ingway--and then realized I'd picked the wrong character to kill him. And now she was dead by cutscene.
...Fuck.

 

[Nuuu]

If I wanted to cop out, i'd say Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising, but I didn't think he was that difficult.

To be honest, I would have to go with The Dealer from Hand of Fate

Spoiler

It's a randomized run rogue-lite, so dying means starting the stage over with default items and no guarantee for a better run.
Firstly, you have to get through several floors to even reach his fight, hoping to pick up decent armor and weapons, while not stacking too many painful curses or flat out dying.
Second, when you finally reach his fight, you have to fight all the previous bosses of the game, three at a time. All three Jacks together, all three Plague, Skulls, and Dragons.
Third, inbetween each phase of bosses, the dealer himself does a few attacks. Luckily they are in set patterns and easy to recognize/remember and dodge, but if you are already hurting for health and get hit, it's a big middle finger.

Below is what I looked like beating him for the first time:

Spoiler

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Alma from Ninja Gaiden (any version, really) likes to kick you in the teeth. Then, while you're screaming because your teeth are falling out of your mouth, she kicks you in the crotch. As you sink to the ground, spitting the last of your teeth out in unbearable pain, she smashes your face in with stone pillars and finally crushes the life out of you with her uber grab. I know there are people out there who can beat her without being touched, but I am not one of them.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Every secret final boss of an Etrian Odyssey game. They make the bosses of Bloodborne's deepest chalice dungeons look like the Witch of Hemwick.

 

[AXimilao_Elotus]

I see we've got a lot of mentions of Street Fighter bosses which include Bison, Akuma, Gill, and Seth. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Cyber Akuma from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.

I'm not even going to talk about max star difficulty, he'll still ruin your life on the first star even if you're the best fighter there ever was. Not only are his moves a hundred times more deadly than standard Akuma, he's faster than Ken, more powerful than Ryu, and he features a skill set for literally EVERY SINGLE SITUATION NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM.

I'm a Street Fighter vet (I beat Seth on the hardest difficulty on SFIV) and this guy still rips me to pieces.

Also note that my experience against him is from the PlayStation release that had tagging support characters removed (the arcade and Sega Saturn versions still had this feature). I'm not sure if his skill set changes at all if you're able to tag in (I haven't played those versions) but if not then that would explain why he seems so impossibly hard. Relying solely on Alpha Counters and Combination Ultra moves really won't cut it with this guy.

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

This is Hibachi, from my all time favorite shmup, Dodonpachi:

Spoiler

The real kicker is that you have to clear Dodonpachi on one life. Twice. Then, you get to face this bastard.

 

[Laughing Man]

Well based on a game I am playing just now Crusader Kings 2, I wouldn't call them a boss but they certainly don't mess around. I am in to a hundred and fifty year reign as King Of Ireland, been slowly breaking in to Scotland after taking over Wales with a view to building my forces and land so that I could eventually take on England. I can field an army of 13K right now and after some calculations work out that with Scotland in tow I could field an army that would equal England's 25K, with some mercs I could win the British Isles. Suddenly the Aztecs turn up decide that England is going to get fucked and in the space of 4 months completely take over England. I manage to then keep them on my good side for another 25 years then in the middle of quite a large Irish Civil War they decide they have had enough rock up with 200K worth of troops and utterly crush me inside two months. As 'bosses' that don't fuck about that certainly ranks as pretty high up for me.

I go from holding all of Ireland, Wales and half of Scotland to holding two small provinces at the border of Scotland and what I guess you would have called England but for now is New Aztec.

 

[Raddra]

I have to go with Duriel in Diablo II.

You jump down basically right beside him, he's in a tiny inescapable arena (unless you town portal, which isn't even a certainty), he has a slow aura that slows your movement, attacks and spellcasting speed and he's a heavy melee hitter. And to top it all off? At the time with slower computers and net connections it was very possible to die to him before you even properly loaded in.