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Forums - Gaming - Your top five boss battles in gaming, one per franchise

Nem said:
SvennoJ said:

Boss fights are like annoying cutscenes you can't skip and have to watch over and over. There are some exceptions, like SotC, yet most of the time they are just there to interrupt the fun and take away your freedom to play how you want. The thing I can't stand the most is boss fights with stages, start from beginning after failing at the last stage. In rpgs I usually become so overpowered first, they're meaningless anyway.

I have much better memories of the worst boss fights. Uncharted 2 end boss, Beyond good and evil end boss, Skyward sword thing in the pit/quarry you have to fight 3 times, Dark souls Capra demon, Botw Thunderblight Ganon, Windwaker boss with the hands, Ratchet and Clank remake end boss, Gears of war RAAM, Bioschock infinity final boss etc. Boss fights usually ruin my intention to replay games. I would more often if you could skip them on a second playthrough. Instead -> trade in, so if any devs are reading.....

They are nothing like cut-scenes. What are you on about? They are portion of the game when the story or level comes to a climax and mixes up things for you. Where you have to discover a pattern or weak spot or dodge powerful attacks. It makes you think and strategise. It's great.

Would you rather some more of the same enemies just pop up again with bigger life bars or something? Ain't that super lazy and boring?

Now, of course, bad games are bad games. If a game makes a bad boss fight its probably a bad game to begin with. I don't think it's the boss fight that will make it so. I don't agree with many of those examples btw. I didn't play any of those except Uncharted 2, and i thought the final boss was good.

For example TLOU had no final boss when the boss was right there. Clearly a rushed and incomplete game that left me unsatisfied. If you aren't willing to change things, your game becomes predictable,boring and unsatisfying. You don't get that sense of accomplishment you'd usually get. I still remember going: What? That was it? It's over? Completely unsatisfied. I felt robbed.

By being like cut scenes I meant provoking the same set of emotions in me like cutscenese, dread and disengagement.

I loved the ending of TloU, perfect way to end a game, played it 3 times. Uncharted 4, horrible last few levels and ending, traded it in. The first 10 levels or so were excellent but the end ruined it.

Boss battles are usually very restrictive. They ruined Deus Ex HR, I didn't even feel like getting the sequel anymore. The rest of the game was excellent and let me strategise and play the way I wanted to. Boss fight force you to play them like a qte, find the right time / place to hit, just wait and dodge until then, boring.

Anyway I never get a sense of accomplishment from beating a boss, just relief that's over with and look for a save point asap so I can continue with playing the game.

I don't mind hard battles though. I usually fight normal enemies way above my level in RPGs, much more fun than a restrictive boss battles and a lot more challenging. The best fight I remember are early fights against Lynels in BotW, going back to the start dungeon early in Dark Souls for a long half hour fight dodging between pillars against some of the enemies there or taking on high level monster hunts in TW3. Much better than any put in your way boss battle.



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Nem said:
SvennoJ said:

Boss fights are like annoying cutscenes you can't skip and have to watch over and over. There are some exceptions, like SotC, yet most of the time they are just there to interrupt the fun and take away your freedom to play how you want. The thing I can't stand the most is boss fights with stages, start from beginning after failing at the last stage. In rpgs I usually become so overpowered first, they're meaningless anyway.

I have much better memories of the worst boss fights. Uncharted 2 end boss, Beyond good and evil end boss, Skyward sword thing in the pit/quarry you have to fight 3 times, Dark souls Capra demon, Botw Thunderblight Ganon, Windwaker boss with the hands, Ratchet and Clank remake end boss, Gears of war RAAM, Bioschock infinity final boss etc. Boss fights usually ruin my intention to replay games. I would more often if you could skip them on a second playthrough. Instead -> trade in, so if any devs are reading.....

They are nothing like cut-scenes. What are you on about? They are portion of the game when the story or level comes to a climax and mixes up things for you. Where you have to discover a pattern or weak spot or dodge powerful attacks. It makes you think and strategise. It's great.

Would you rather some more of the same enemies just pop up again with bigger life bars or something? Ain't that super lazy and boring?

Now, of course, bad games are bad games. If a game makes a bad boss fight its probably a bad game to begin with. I don't think it's the boss fight that will make it so. I don't agree with many of those examples btw. I didn't play any of those except Uncharted 2, and i thought the final boss was good.

For example TLOU had no final boss when the boss was right there. Clearly a rushed and incomplete game that left me unsatisfied. If you aren't willing to change things, your game becomes predictable,boring and unsatisfying. You don't get that sense of accomplishment you'd usually get. I still remember going: What? That was it? It's over? Completely unsatisfied. I felt robbed.

I would consider a game without boss fights to be anti-climatic.



HomokHarcos said:
Nem said:

They are nothing like cut-scenes. What are you on about? They are portion of the game when the story or level comes to a climax and mixes up things for you. Where you have to discover a pattern or weak spot or dodge powerful attacks. It makes you think and strategise. It's great.

Would you rather some more of the same enemies just pop up again with bigger life bars or something? Ain't that super lazy and boring?

Now, of course, bad games are bad games. If a game makes a bad boss fight its probably a bad game to begin with. I don't think it's the boss fight that will make it so. I don't agree with many of those examples btw. I didn't play any of those except Uncharted 2, and i thought the final boss was good.

For example TLOU had no final boss when the boss was right there. Clearly a rushed and incomplete game that left me unsatisfied. If you aren't willing to change things, your game becomes predictable,boring and unsatisfying. You don't get that sense of accomplishment you'd usually get. I still remember going: What? That was it? It's over? Completely unsatisfied. I felt robbed.

I would consider a game without boss fights to be anti-climatic.

Most obvious example: Mass Effect 3.



pokoko said:
Boss battles are a thing I kind of wish would go away from many genres. I really don't like them most of time.

I think I'd like to see about a 50% reduction in boss battles across gaming.  I think there already has been a 50% reduction in the last decade or so.  I want that to continue.  



I must have fought hundreds, maybe thousands of bosses over my lifetime. I can't even begin to rank them. I will say that recently I've enjoyed many of the boss battles in Destiny, especially the final battle of the second raid - Oryx.



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1. Ultimecia FFVIII
2. Persona 5 final boss (No spoiler)
3. Nameless King Dark Souls 3
4. Heigan the Unclean World of Warcraft
5. Mid boss Disgaea



1. Elektricitie (Gravity Rush 2)

2. Dark Samus (2nd fight, Metroid Prime 2)

3. Adam (3rd fight, Nier Automata)

4. Ryuji Goda (Yakuza 2)

5. Eleanor Hume (Tales of Berseria) a bit of bias for this one



                                                                                     

I wouldn't call it one of the best boss fights, but this is definitely one of the best boss fight songs ever.



I don't like boss fights. Some are alright, but I can't think of any right now.



Mike321 said:
1. Elektricitie (Gravity Rush 2)

2. Dark Samus (2nd fight, Metroid Prime 2)

3. Adam (3rd fight, Nier Automata)

4. Ryuji Goda (Yakuza 2)

5. Eleanor Hume (Tales of Berseria) a bit of bias for this one

Ryuji Goda was awesome. Metal Gear and Yakuza have my favourite boss fights.