Games with the best Boss Battles
Boss Battles are a testament to games that act as a sort of "test" to see if the player has earned the skills or knowledge to get around tougher challenges and move on to the next level. So which games do you feel have the best boss battles? The type that serve as a highlight of the game.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
Offhand:
Final Fantasy VI - Final battle
Yoshi's Island - Baby Bowser
Super Metroid - Mother Brain
Suikoden II - Luca Blight
I'm sure I'll think of more.
The Genocide Heart in SaGa Frontier comes to mind.
Xenosaga Episode III - all the Testaments, Yuriev, T-elos...so many great ones.
Final Fantasy VIII - the final boss gauntlet was amazing when done properly.
Metal Gear Solid 3 is the only game that I feel where boss battles feel unique. In most games boss battles are all the same you usually have one of these 3: A boss that sends a wave of weaker enemies at you 2. A boss with a weak point that may or may not already be exposed, but once you find it hit him there three times to kill him. 3. A simple boss with no weakness, but with a clear pattern that you have to watch for so you can get an opening hit.
In RPGs usually the boss just hits hard and on occasion throws out a status ailment. Most RPG bosses feel the same to me.
The End, The Boss, The Fury and Mr. Freeze on Hard are the best boss battles to me. Laughing Octopus was good too from MGS 4, but it ended too quickly for me. Actually now I think about it the Mr. Freeze boss fight reminded me of the The Fury boss fight from MGS3. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Rocksteady got their inspiration from that fight because think about you have two guys in specialized suits that you're fighting using stealth. One uses fire while the other uses ice. Mr. Freeze has a cold heart and The Fury is hot with rage.
World of Warcraft
Shade of Aran best boss fight omfg
♫ I will not move when Flame Wreath is cast or the raaaaaaid bloooooows uuuuuuuup ♪
Nice call on Octopus, that was a really intense and unique boss fight.Originally Posted by Depression Moon
While MGS3 has some outstanding fights indeed I find the Pain and the Fear completely forgettable. The Shagohod battles work, although they don't excite me as much as REX or RAY. Ocelot, the End and the Fury are the highlights for me.
The Boss... I find this boss didn't achieve it's full potential due to shaky CQC. The game really builds up to using CQC in this fight, but the mechanics are way different against the Boss as compared to what we've been using against soldiers so there's no way to learn how to fight her this way. Tbh, I find that a bit of a let down.
MGS1 is definitely up there as game with best boss battles. They're really diverse and not a single one grew tedious even after 10+ playthroughs.
Of course I need to mention Dark Souls, although I must admit there are some misses in there too. The DLC probably has the most solid line up in boss encounters, so I'd nominate that.
Ace Combat Zero belongs in this thread too. All the boss squadrons are cool and unique but the whole thing climaxes perfectly in the fights versus Wizard/Sorcerer/Gault squadron in mission 18.
I disagree. CQC is not only the best and most efficient way to fight the Boss, it's also the most fun. Countering her moves and then slamming her is awesome.
All of the MGS games as previously mentioned, and I also want to throw Shadow of the Colossus in there too.
Don't know man, snow camo + sniper is pretty darn efficient. I've never been able to effectively CQC the Boss and I don't blame myself. Throwing an unfamiliar complicated part of an otherwise simple mechanic in the final boss fight without ever introducing or teaching the player beforehand is - imo - simply bad game design.I disagree. CQC is not only the best and most efficient way to fight the Boss, it's also the most fun. Countering her moves and then slamming her is awesome.
Boss battles should be the ultimate test where you fight with the skills you have mastered throughout the course of the game. CQC countering was not one of them.
Not true, it's based off countering other melee attacks by enemies and works on the same principle, besides, once you get the hang of it, it makes the battle like 100x more fun and interesting. Sniping her to death just feels weak and cheesy compared to beating her at her own game and it really sends home the message that Big Boss has surpassed her. Technically it wasn't even new as you have to often pull similar "counters" in order to CQC some of the other bosses like The Fear and Volgin.
Generally Metal Gear has some of the most fun battles in gaming and while I may get some flak for this, I also feel Zelda is pretty damn good too since it's usually requires a combination of exploiting a weak point and learning a boss pattern to pull off. The battle against Fyrus in the Goron Mines in Twilight Princess was a pretty clever fight with link having to trip the guy up on his chains and the fight required using several tools in tandem to win instead of the typical "wait til it's weak point opens".
When I created this thread the game I had in mind was Shin Megami Tensei III, because it has some of the most ingenious boss battles to grace a JRPG and I love the fact many of them are based on thinking outside of the box or making a tough choice about a fight that is nearly impossible to go into without being handicapped. The game really showed me how much the JRPG has fallen as an engaging experience for the player and how modern games coddle the player far too much as some of the crap the game pulls is stuff more common in older games. I still feel the optional boss battle against Ongyo-Ki was just incredibly clever even if some people might whine about how it doesn't seem fair because winning involves thinking outside of the box. Games should being teaching us to not have to rely on instruction and instead look at a problem at every possible angle, not just with the information handed to us. It's why I love this game.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
Every Played Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword? This has my vote for the best boss battle
Why? Bog standard regular fight for the most part, Use your weapons to avoid his swinging axes, removing his arms reveals the weak spot on his chest. Pretty standard for a boss fight from the Zelda Series, using the weapons in the dungeon to beat the boss.
Then after 2 rounds it changes. Koloktos is no longer stationary, and his 6 hands each hold one sword with the intent of messing you up.You follow the same process as before to disarm him, but this time is different. He leaves the weapons behind, and you get to buypass the need for using the dungeon's weapon. You get to literally tear the bosses arms and legs off using his own weapons.
It is amazing.
Those encounters are still boss battles. I don't think a single normal enemy features CQC counters, hence I feel like the game doesn't give you a chance to learn proper CQC duels. Please enlighten me if this is not the case.
As mentioned before I think boss battles should be tests where you use skills you have mastered. Entering the boss fight I use what I have learned and in MGS3's case there are many more situations teaching you smart camo, gunplay, long range sniping, and sometimes even throwing food as opposed to almost no CQC duelling. Heck, they even waste two perfect opportunities to learn by making the first two Boss encounters cutscenes. If only these were playable and unbeatable, at least we'd get a chance to get the hang of it. Considering the ratio it's no surprise that I use poisoned food for the Fear, a shotgun for Volgin and sneaky camo for the boss.
On a side note I totally agree that sniping the Boss = cheese, but I was discussing efficiency and not fun or challenge.
Last edited by Pete for President; 05-11-2014 at 10:01 PM.
Just coming in to say MGS2 had good boss fights.
Vamp, the RAYs, Solidus...
Metal Gear Solid and Zelda have already been mentioned. I'm going to say Batman Arkham Origins. I liked how diverse all the boss fights were in that game and it was one of the game's finer points. Although they could have cut out that second Bane fight or improved it somehow since it played the same as the first.
Last edited by Ayen; 05-11-2014 at 11:13 PM.
I don't doubt it, but all the speed runners CQC her. It's actually very easy, you just hold down O when an exclamation point appears above Snake's head, then perform your CQC move of choice (slam ftw!) to finish her off and pop her full of tranqs when she's down.
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