Same goes for Matador, he was the definition of "USE DEBUFFS AND BUFFS!" something most JRPG players never did since they think stat ups are a waste of time.Batadon said:
Games that know how to do boss fights
- Thread starter Daystar Clarion
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The one on one fight against Doku in Ninja Gaiden is a classic for me, the fights against Genshin in NG2 were good but not AS good.
MGS boss battles: The End is a classic cat and mouse fight, I really enjoyed The Fury (even though it was pretty hard with the 360 controller), the fight was so tense and I felt very vulnerable. The use of camo in the fight was cool and of course The Boss. This fight in particular had been hyped up alot, I only finished MGS3 when the HD collection came out but it was marvelous. The use of camo, the mix of CQC and gun combat and the heartbreaking finale made it a classic.
I enjoyed the lambent berserker from Gears 3, Scarab battles from Halo 3 and Bayonetta's bosses all get honorable mentions too.
Vanquish, now that I think about it, had some awesome bosses too
MGS boss battles: The End is a classic cat and mouse fight, I really enjoyed The Fury (even though it was pretty hard with the 360 controller), the fight was so tense and I felt very vulnerable. The use of camo in the fight was cool and of course The Boss. This fight in particular had been hyped up alot, I only finished MGS3 when the HD collection came out but it was marvelous. The use of camo, the mix of CQC and gun combat and the heartbreaking finale made it a classic.
I enjoyed the lambent berserker from Gears 3, Scarab battles from Halo 3 and Bayonetta's bosses all get honorable mentions too.
Vanquish, now that I think about it, had some awesome bosses too
Senator Armstrong (MGR:R), Vergil (DMC 3 and Dmc), Jubileus (Bayonetta), Ninetails, Orochi and Yami (Okami), Adam the Clown (Dead Rising 1),Poseiden (GOW 3) and my favorite boss of all time, Chakravartin the Creator (Asura's Wrath).
They shot themselves in the foot putting that right at the start though. It was simply too epic, too early.Fiz_The_Toaster said:
OT: I don't know if Shadow of the Colossus counts, seeing as all it is is Boss fights, but the amount of direct contact you have with them is still unmatched.
I would certainly have to chime in agreement on the Metroid Prime bosses. Meta-Ridley and the Omega Pirate both make for smashingly good battles, especially the first time you encounter them. The last time I'd played that game, I went through it on Hard Mode (since I'd beaten it a long while ago) and was completely blown away by those later boss fights.
Some turn-based RPGs have actually blown my mind with bosses before, of course not due to twitch factors but mostly due to the overall atmosphere of the fight (i.e. music, etc..) . The first that comes to mind is the Yunalesca battle (and various intermediate Seymour battles) towards the back half of Final Fantasy X. For me, those battles ended up being more decisive and memorable than the ones that followed at the very end of the game. I would guess it's because of the 'Challenge' theme that blind-sides the player with a very aggressive effects-laden sound palette, a piece of music that is essentially all about ramping up tension...no nice Uematsu melody to soothe you along or give you hope.
Others that come to mind are several of the battles in Skies of Arcadia Legends. I always liked the way the music in those boss battles would change according to how the battle was going, at turns becoming either excruciatingly tense and panicky or uplifting and triumphant. As such, the more tricky battles like the optional bounty hunts probably made for the most nerve-rending and exciting fights.
Finally, I'm about 15 hours into playing Grandia II for the first time and have really enjoyed the few major boss battles that have occurred. The battle with Valmar's Eye was a particularly chaotic delight, as you're forced to wrangle a small swarm of those annoying eyeball bats that fly every which where, all the while having to remember that the boss is also there to whip your ass with brutal status assaults, etc.. The battles may not be that hard, but the atmosphere of them is delightfully frantic and exciting. As well, the nature of the fight puts a lot of weight on your turn-based decision-making. While an action-RPG like Tales of Symphonia may look the same on a superficial level, I always thought that the A.I. spamming and fighting-game mechanics made the boss fights in that game pale in comparison.
Some turn-based RPGs have actually blown my mind with bosses before, of course not due to twitch factors but mostly due to the overall atmosphere of the fight (i.e. music, etc..) . The first that comes to mind is the Yunalesca battle (and various intermediate Seymour battles) towards the back half of Final Fantasy X. For me, those battles ended up being more decisive and memorable than the ones that followed at the very end of the game. I would guess it's because of the 'Challenge' theme that blind-sides the player with a very aggressive effects-laden sound palette, a piece of music that is essentially all about ramping up tension...no nice Uematsu melody to soothe you along or give you hope.
Others that come to mind are several of the battles in Skies of Arcadia Legends. I always liked the way the music in those boss battles would change according to how the battle was going, at turns becoming either excruciatingly tense and panicky or uplifting and triumphant. As such, the more tricky battles like the optional bounty hunts probably made for the most nerve-rending and exciting fights.
Finally, I'm about 15 hours into playing Grandia II for the first time and have really enjoyed the few major boss battles that have occurred. The battle with Valmar's Eye was a particularly chaotic delight, as you're forced to wrangle a small swarm of those annoying eyeball bats that fly every which where, all the while having to remember that the boss is also there to whip your ass with brutal status assaults, etc.. The battles may not be that hard, but the atmosphere of them is delightfully frantic and exciting. As well, the nature of the fight puts a lot of weight on your turn-based decision-making. While an action-RPG like Tales of Symphonia may look the same on a superficial level, I always thought that the A.I. spamming and fighting-game mechanics made the boss fights in that game pale in comparison.
That's what I was coming in here to do, gush about Metroid Prime.Terminate421 said:
They're all great but I have a special spot reserved for Quadraxis from Metroid Prime 2 which, like all of the series' boss battles has an incredible soundtrack, as well as being one of my personal favorites.
I love the Persona 4 boss fights. They're always built up throughout the entire dungeon and perfectly executed. Plus it's worth going through just to see how crazy the next boss is gonna look.
Oh and you know what? The Vergil fight in the new DMC remake. Yeah. I'm saying it. It was GOOD. REALLY good. It captured the sort of thing DMC3 did yet with its own sense of style. Mechanically it's near identical to the Vergil fights in DMC3.
Then again, i'm the crazy guy who liked the remake and thought it was actually better than old DMC. I was actually surprised when Dontay and Vergul fought each other at the end, even though it should be obvious as hell. The new DMC is just that separated from the old DMC I guess.
Oh and Unlimited Hazama in BlazBlue. He hits critical troll mass in the final boss sections where you "beat" him in game, turns out he wasn't even trying and he practically gives your character a mark out of ten for how entertaining you were before booting them off the stage. Literally in Carl's Bad Ending if I remember correctly.
It isn't even cheap AI tricks really, his new moveset is just flat out overpowered. Let's make Eternal Coils of the Dragon Serpent a spammable super guys! Balanced!
Oh and you know what? The Vergil fight in the new DMC remake. Yeah. I'm saying it. It was GOOD. REALLY good. It captured the sort of thing DMC3 did yet with its own sense of style. Mechanically it's near identical to the Vergil fights in DMC3.
Then again, i'm the crazy guy who liked the remake and thought it was actually better than old DMC. I was actually surprised when Dontay and Vergul fought each other at the end, even though it should be obvious as hell. The new DMC is just that separated from the old DMC I guess.
Oh and Unlimited Hazama in BlazBlue. He hits critical troll mass in the final boss sections where you "beat" him in game, turns out he wasn't even trying and he practically gives your character a mark out of ten for how entertaining you were before booting them off the stage. Literally in Carl's Bad Ending if I remember correctly.
It isn't even cheap AI tricks really, his new moveset is just flat out overpowered. Let's make Eternal Coils of the Dragon Serpent a spammable super guys! Balanced!
The quadraxis fight comes in at #2 as my favorite boss fights in the metroid games but that remix was terrible. The first few seconds roboticized where fine but they lacked the "Metal Terror" that I got from The original theme, you don't remove the clanking that is heard throughout the original, it's like removing the beat from Ridley.torno said:
"Favorite Bossfight" always makes me think of FF9. The bossfights in FF9 always forced me to use everything and unleash the full potential of my party. They were the ultimate test, if you party is strong enough for the given point in the game or if you had to grind some more or change tactics abilities and whatnot.Daystar Clarion said:Share your favs
Also I liked the music very much, and you are 110% right that a awesome soundtrack can bring a good bossfight to a whole new level of epicness.
There's alot of games I could mention, new-school or old-school, that have been great work for boss fights, but I'd like to spotlight one game in particular. What it is...is it's own kind of genre, a game that moniters health and thirst, an strength of weapons and even using QTEs in the fairest way possible. An adventure game, a puzzle game, a dungeon crawler - utilizing several characters whose abilities all become necessary. The game I speak of? Dark Cloud.
Oh, well, I liked it anyway.Terminate421 said:
I know this probably is a bad way to get you into it but if you haven't checked it out, here's the entirety of Harmony Of A Hunter and HOAH 101% Run.
http://www.harmonyofahunter.net/download/
Maybe you'll find something you do like in there.
I'd say the closest Dark Souls got to Demon's Souls was actually Gwyn. Giving you another way of beating him without telling you was pretty awesome, even if it made him a bit too easy (But then again, nobody ever complained about Dragon God or Maiden Astraea being too easy.alphamalet said:
I'd say my favorite boss from either game was Flamelurker; it's the same sort of grindfest you dismissed, but it works for me because he's so freaking dangerous and you have to give it your all. I beat him by the skin of my teeth on my second try, and learning the timing to hitting him and dodging his explosions was some of the most fun a Souls game has ever offered me.
I don't mind gimmick bosses, but I like it when a gimmick has more impact than just being a gimmick. Priscilla, Dirty Colossus, Leechmonger, Pinwheel, Storm King, and the Bed of Chaos are too gimmicky for me, but I love Maiden Astraea, Armored Spider, Dragon God, and Old Monk.
I third that. Henry Hatsworth was a great game. A great blend of puzzle and platformer, challenging, and fun. The final boss was insanely difficult; I'm surprised I even beat it.AC10 said:
Even though I already posted, I'll post again and add another game I feel does boss fights really well:
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The MGS games have always been good with boss fights. But the ones in 3 really stood out to me.
You have a fight with a century old sniper out in a large forest divided into three sections, a battle with a crazy cosmonaut with a flamethrower in a dark tunnel, a mysterious spirit who forces you to walk down a long river walking by the ghosts of all the people you killed over the course of the game, and of course, The Boss.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The MGS games have always been good with boss fights. But the ones in 3 really stood out to me.
You have a fight with a century old sniper out in a large forest divided into three sections, a battle with a crazy cosmonaut with a flamethrower in a dark tunnel, a mysterious spirit who forces you to walk down a long river walking by the ghosts of all the people you killed over the course of the game, and of course, The Boss.