Why are there no more epic boss battles?

[OniaPL]

Am I the only one who misses these?
Nowadays games just feel like a gray, bland mass. Back in the good old days there were so many awesome games which had epic boss battles which sent shivers down your spine, which made you feel anger and joy, and immense satisfaction when you finally won the fight.

Nowadays it's just pew pew, kill everyone, pew pew, strong monster, hit weak spot, pew pew, dodge attack, hit weak spot, pew pew.
Or alternatively in RPGs, smash that one attack until the boss dies.

I realize how blinded by nostalgia I am, but I still long for the good old days with games like Final Fantasies, Suikoden and such.
Just give me back these great moments.

(Whinepost over)

Guess I'll just boot up the emulator, pick up the controller and replay Final Fantasy IX or something.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

I've looked at Dragon's Dogma gameplay and the boss fights look pretty good. I wouldn't know though cause I have yet to play it.

There are plenty of newer titles which have good boss fights, they're just harder to find nowadays.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

I've looked at Dragon's Dogma gameplay and the boss fights look pretty good. I wouldn't know though cause I have yet to play it.

Oh, I was just about to point that out. xD

Dragon's Dogma has some of the most immensely satisfying boss fights that I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. However, the fact that I cannot think of anything else at the moment may be a bit disconcerting. It may just be the time of night though. :3

 

[OniaPL]

I recently played Dark Souls, and the boss fights were great, but I still miss the story context the boss fights used to have. They were built up and foreshadowed enough, so that when you actually had to fight this boss, you were all like "Oh shit! OH SHIT! This is it! The time is now! D: ".

Games like Dark Souls kinda missed this, and from what I've heard Dragon's Dogma did too.

I may give it a whirl though.

 

[lapan]

Because FPS games still dominate the market and it's hard to pull of a boss fight in a realistic military setting.

The other genres still can do pretty entertaining boss battles, especially RPGs.

 

[OniaPL]

Because FPS games still dominate the market and it's hard to pull of a boss fight in a realistic military setting.

The other genres still can do pretty entertaining boss battles, especially RPGs.

Well, fuck military shooters.
Besides, Gears Of War had boss battles, and they sucked.

But even in RPGs it just doesn't feel the same for some reason; too often it boils down to you smashing attack and occasionally blocking the laser attack the boss wil charge up. They just don't make you feel the same emotions as in the good ol' times D:

 

[lapan]

Because FPS games still dominate the market and it's hard to pull of a boss fight in a realistic military setting.

The other genres still can do pretty entertaining boss battles, especially RPGs.

Well, fuck military shooters.
Besides, Gears Of War had boss battles, and they sucked.

But even in RPGs it just doesn't feel the same for some reason; too often it boils down to you smashing attack and occasionally blocking the laser attack the boss wil charge up. They just don't make you feel the same emotions as in the good ol' times D:

Final Fantasy wasn't that different in that regard, except round-based. Yet you mention it as examples of good bossfights.

Another example for good boss fights for me is the Monster Hunter series, though that one is made almost purely of boss battles.

 

[Drizzitdude]

I've looked at Dragon's Dogma gameplay and the boss fights look pretty good. I wouldn't know though cause I have yet to play it.

Oh, I was just about to point that out. xD

Dragon's Dogma has some of the most immensely satisfying boss fights that I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. However, the fact that I cannot think of anything else at the moment may be a bit disconcerting. It may just be the time of night though. :3

I agree with Dragon's dogma having great boss fights

 

[Tallim]

Nier had some cracking ones.

A lot of Dragon's Dogma fights actually managed to feel 'epic' even when they were just regular "if somewhat rarer" monsters. DD really doesn't have that many actual boss fights.

Vanquish pulled some good ones and more recently Lollipop Chainsaw.

 

[RedLister]

Getting haunting memories of the Lost Number boss from ff7 coming back to me. Least i think it was the name of that bloke/thing. Damn git hit like a monster truck. (yeah i fought him momment i got to nibelheim)

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Spoiler: *ahem* Gentlemen?

Gotta love SpaceChem. It does just about everything except your mum - including epic boss fights.

 

[Scrustle]

Yesterday I finished Skyward Sword, and that game has some really awesome bosses. Some of the best in the series in my opinion. The final boss was kind of easy and straight forward, but through the game there was some really cool stuff.

Speaking of Zelda, why not try Darksiders? That also has some really cool massive bosses with interesting ways to take them down. Darksiders 2 looks like it's going to build on that pretty well.

And there's an obvious answer in Shadow of the Colossus. That game is nothing but bosses. They're all really cool, even if most of them have very similar ways of being taken down.

 

[Dansen]

I recently played Dark Souls, and the boss fights were great, but I still miss the story context the boss fights used to have. They were built up and foreshadowed enough, so that when you actually had to fight this boss, you were all like "Oh shit! OH SHIT! This is it! The time is now! D: ".

Games like Dark Souls kinda missed this, and from what I've heard Dragon's Dogma did too.

I may give it a whirl though.

It didn't miss it at all. The fight with the dragon is built up the entire time and my god is it epic. I don't think dark souls completely lacked this aspect either, you kill all the primordial lords, and they were kind of a big deal, the last boss is Lord Gwyn for crying out loud.

 

[OniaPL]

I recently played Dark Souls, and the boss fights were great, but I still miss the story context the boss fights used to have. They were built up and foreshadowed enough, so that when you actually had to fight this boss, you were all like "Oh shit! OH SHIT! This is it! The time is now! D: ".

Games like Dark Souls kinda missed this, and from what I've heard Dragon's Dogma did too.

I may give it a whirl though.

It didn't miss it at all. The fight with the dragon is built up the entire time and my god is it epic. I don't think dark souls completely lacked this aspect either, you kill all the primordial lords, and they were kind of a big deal, the last boss is Lord Gwyn for crying out loud.

Yeah but to be honest, the story in Dark Souls was rather meaningless and a side dish for those who sought after it. I never cared about the story, so to me at least they were just big monsters with no story context.

 

[Cranky]

I missed the boss battles, though the ones I'm most associated with are Crash Bandicoot ones, which are either freaking easy or painstakingly hard.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I'm sure there ARE Bosses, you just have to look past all the shitty realism shooters

 

[TheRussian]

Want some truly EPIC boss battles?
Here's a list:
Portal 1+2
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Il-2 Sturmovik (if you like fighting WW2 aces)
GTA series (mostly)

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

...sounds like somebody hasn't played Lollipop Chainsaw!

 

[rob_simple]

...sounds like somebody hasn't played Lollipop Chainsaw!

Sounds like someone hasn't played a single game in the last ten years. (I mean OP, not you.)

OT: As people have pointed out there are still epic boss battles to be had, so I think it's safe to assume you've just become more jaded as a gamer, which I think happens to most of us the longer we play games. Personally, I can't be bothered to play the new Zeldas anymore. Even though I'm sure they're solid games it's all things I've seen before and I find it impossible to get excited about them.

The other problem is that changes in hardware make it more difficult to create bosses of staggering size (this was also cited as one of the main reasons a FFVII remake is never going to happen) becaue the bigger they are the more detailed they have to be and the less you can make them do, a good example being the visually astounding Cronos battle in God of War III that basically amounted to a bit of climbing and hitting certain spots.