Hardest first boss in a game

[darkcalling]

So I started playing Lost Odyssey again after picking it up while it was free a few weeks ago and I promptly hit a brick wall. The first boss. Not the big war machine that you fight during the big opening battle. I consider that part of the tutorial basically. I mean Grilgan, the giant griffon-like thing that you fight in the Ipsilon mountains. That thing is ridiculous. only three attacks. a "weak" claw swipe that takes off around a quarter of Kaim's health, Poison Claw which does at least as much damage plus inflicting poison status, and Down Burst, a large flap of his wings that hits the entire party for around half their health.

I remember grinding my way past it before and I guess I'll have to now as well but that's ridiculous.

Anyone else ever felt that a first boss was kinda overpowered?

 

[CaitSeith]

Vanguard from Demon's Souls. That's an overpowered SOB that gets you off-guard, kills you in a couple of hits, and gives you only one try. Welcome to Demon's Souls!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Vanguard from Demon's Souls. That's an overpowered SOB that gets you off-guard, kills you in a couple of hits, and gives you only one try. Welcome to Demon's Souls!

Aren't you kinda sorta supposed to die to it anyway?

 

[CaitSeith]

Vanguard from Demon's Souls. That's an overpowered SOB that gets you off-guard, kills you in a couple of hits, and gives you only one try. Welcome to Demon's Souls!

Aren't you kinda sorta supposed to die to it anyway?

Technically no. If you are good, you can kill it, access some loot, and die soon after in a cutscene with the Dragon God. Realistically tho, how many players got that good at the end of the tutorial?

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

The Asylum Demon in Dark Souls, probably just because the standards of the rest of the game by comparison leaves it much higher than normal by default.

There are some unique story enemies that you fight in Shin Megami Tensei IV before the Minotaur, but he's the first one with the main boss music and utilising the second screen to show his entire body, and potentially the hardest story boss in the game. He almost made me quit the game, but I'm glad I didn't.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Probably Golden Order Sol in Guilty Gear XX Slash.

 

[Hawki]

Diablo I: The Butcher

I can sort of understand why this bastard made an impression on young 'uns who first played the game back in '97, but as an adult, this boss is more a point of contention. In that "ah, fresh meat!" is memorable, but it's basically a jump scare, and you're practically guaranteed to die the first time because once you initiate the fight, there's little you can do to avoid it. So, how do you beat the Butcher? By dying, learning from your mistake, grinding, then do it again, stay in one place, and keep clicking. Part of why I like the D3 Butcher more in that there's far more strategy to it (i.e. you actually need to move).

So, yes, he is worth a mention of "hardest first boss," but for all the wrong reasons.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis: Nemesis

As in, Nemesis, from the game Nemesis. Huh.

Technically, RE3 has four bosses, and three of them are Nemesis forms, but no matter if you choose to fight him before the clocktower, Nemesis is a tough SOB either way. He's easily one of the hardest Resident Evil monsters out there, in that little fazes him, he can move quickly, and if he knocks you down, you're practically screwed. A lot of RE bosses can be beaten without a sweat once you know how to beat them, but Nemesis always remained a challenge for me. So, yes, Nemesis bears a mention.

Bonus Round: Saturos and Menardi from Golden Sun

Only in that they're technically a boss fight (and ergo, the first boss in the game), but it's impossible for you to win, and you'll go down after their first attack as a way of showing you how powerful they are. ^_^

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

Does the Drassen counterattack in Jagged Alliance 2 1.13 count?

 

[iwinatlife]

Iudex Gundyr for me. It had been a bit since I had played a souls game but he kicked my ass mercilessly and repeatedly. I actually had less trouble with my initial asylum demon tries than I did with good ole gundyr.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Recently playing Bloodborne, the cleric beast isn't what I'd class as difficult gameplay wise, but due to using headphones for my gaming audio, the combination of its' high-pitched screeching, constantly wavy ghostly fur animation that makes predicting attacks trickier and its' towering height all create a very intimidating first encounter. It's only the first encounter though. And I have to say using headphones for that game has made it considerably more terrifying. The amount of times I almost shat myself as a hidden oily bird leaps viciously from behind screaming like a chainsmoking banshee into my unprepared ears is more than I'd care to admit. Then there's the music, oh boy.

 

[Sonmi]

So I started playing Lost Odyssey again after picking it up while it was free a few weeks ago and I promptly hit a brick wall. The first boss. Not the big war machine that you fight during the big opening battle. I consider that part of the tutorial basically. I mean Grilgan, the giant griffon-like thing that you fight in the Ipsilon mountains. That thing is ridiculous. only three attacks. a "weak" claw swipe that takes off around a quarter of Kaim's health, Poison Claw which does at least as much damage plus inflicting poison status, and Down Burst, a large flap of his wings that hits the entire party for around half their health.

I remember grinding my way past it before and I guess I'll have to now as well but that's ridiculous.

Anyone else ever felt that a first boss was kinda overpowered?

IIRC, Lost Odyssey's second boss is even worse considering it can spawn enemies as well as inflict tons of damage and status effects.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Diablo I: The Butcher

I can sort of understand why this bastard made an impression on young 'uns who first played the game back in '97, but as an adult, this boss is more a point of contention. In that "ah, fresh meat!" is memorable, but it's basically a jump scare, and you're practically guaranteed to die the first time because once you initiate the fight, there's little you can do to avoid it. So, how do you beat the Butcher? By dying, learning from your mistake, grinding, then do it again, stay in one place, and keep clicking. Part of why I like the D3 Butcher more in that there's far more strategy to it (i.e. you actually need to move).

So, yes, he is worth a mention of "hardest first boss," but for all the wrong reasons.

Oh, man; good call! Though, not exactly a young 'un in '97 (I was 17,) I remember the Butcher being psychologically horrifying.

 

[09philj]

Whichever boss you happen to encounter first in Pillars of Eternity. Pillars of Eternity is hard. The bosses are generally nigh on unkillable. There's no definitive first boss, what with the abundance of side quests and somewhat nonlinear campaign, but it doesn't matter, because whatever you do meet first will probably tank whatever you can throw at it and hit like a freight train.

 

[Aerosteam]

Gotta say Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3. The only first boss I died to when fighting for the first time out of all the souls games. And it was after I played the other two. Asylum Demon is piss easy if I try to fight it now, but for Iudex Gundyr I still sweat a little.

 

[sageoftruth]

Diablo I: The Butcher

I can sort of understand why this bastard made an impression on young 'uns who first played the game back in '97, but as an adult, this boss is more a point of contention. In that "ah, fresh meat!" is memorable, but it's basically a jump scare, and you're practically guaranteed to die the first time because once you initiate the fight, there's little you can do to avoid it. So, how do you beat the Butcher? By dying, learning from your mistake, grinding, then do it again, stay in one place, and keep clicking. Part of why I like the D3 Butcher more in that there's far more strategy to it (i.e. you actually need to move).

So, yes, he is worth a mention of "hardest first boss," but for all the wrong reasons.

Oh, man; good call! Though, not exactly a young 'un in '97 (I was 17,) I remember the Butcher being psychologically horrifying.

For sure. The game does a good job of preparing you to freak out, with the dying soldier telling the horrifying tale of the encounter, and the room full of hanging corpses, and of course the "Ahhh. Fresh meat!" I hadn't learned the value of dexterity as a warrior yet, so he cleaned my clock, and I basically beat him the next time by hiding behind metal bars and plinking arrows at him. It took forever, but as a kid, I was too afraid to face him head on.

 

[Rangaman]

Assuming you're talking about a game's "real" first boss (not something akin to Vile in Megaman X, for example) probably the Taurus Demon. Yes, I know you fight the Asylum Demon first, but even as someone who had never played DS, that boss was a joke and part of the tutorial. The Taurus Demon is your first real taste of just what kind of game you've picked up and it basically forces you into cheesing the boss fight (climb the ladder, stab him in the head, rinse and repeat).

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm also going to say Iudex Gundyr. While he didn't actually kill me, I definitely thought he was the hardest first boss in the series. I've heard many people who were newcomers to the series with 3 say that Iudex killed them more than Champion. For reference, I found Champion Gundyr to be the hardest boss in the game.

 

[StreamerDarkly]

Iudex Gundyr and Asylum Demon are chumps compared to Father Gascoigne. The only thing Iudex has going for him is the weird abyssal transformation which is kind of unexpected for a first boss. I suppose you can quibble about whether Father G or Cleric Beast is technically the first boss in Bloodborne, but Cleric is optional so I give the nod to Father.

 

[Bobular]

The first boss in Aselia the Eternal took me ages to beat, and considering its part of the tutorial and once I learned the fight system I was easily blowing through the mooks I thought it was going to be fairly easy fight.

I haven't actually got up to the second boss yet as I decided to take a brake for a bit after that fight and forgot about the game until I saw this thread and it reminded me.

 

[BrawlMan]

Sonic 2...on the Game Gear. Never has a first bossed killed me so much. It doesn't help that the boss can and will kill you in one hit. If you're playing the Master System version, then it's easier, but the Game Gear port was known for being bad that it's ridiculous. O course, 4 year-old me didn't know about it back in 1994. I've only beaten that version of Sonic 2 twice. Never again.

Phantom in Devil May Cry 1. This guy killed many kids and teenagers playing this. When over at a friend's, his neighbor was being a dick for the first half hour, wanting to see us mess up. His buddy got at least to the 8th or 9th mission by the time we started.

Elvis from God Hand. He killed me about 15 times on my first playthrough.