Boss Fights

[Whataface2]

Well I have created my first boss fight. Nothing spetacular, you hit him he hits you. Until one of you dies. I'm just trying to come up with some ideas for really good Boss fights. I just don't want to make them all he hits you and you hit him. Here is what I have so far:

- A boss that is immune to physical attacks but weak to magic or status affects

- A boss where you have to solve a puzzle such as a riddle or bringing him an item he wants

- another one I thought of is a boss that has high attack power but horrible accuracy. But when he hits look out.

- Another one and I have to thank Spoom and Dray for this is a monster that only dies when one of it's stats is drained to zero. Like maybe strength or mp.

Any other suggestions?

[Lord_Mofop]

Re: Boss Fights

I always found bosses that cast Reflect on themselves annoying. I found it more annoying when they cast Reflect on your whole party afterwards.

This may be complicated, but a boss where damaging attacks heal him, but healing moves hurt him. So your healers would be the biggest damage dealers.

[1ce]

Re: Boss Fights

One type of battle I enjoy is one where a boss is protected by an object, like a mini-boss, so the main boss takes no damage. You have to defeat the mini boss first to hurt the bigger boss.

Collateral damage is always fun. How about a boss that you can't harm yourself, and instead must use the envoriment as a weapon? In House of the Dead 4, there's a boss that absorbs your gunfire, so to kill it you have to drop a big antenna dish on it's head.

[Whataface2]

Re: Boss Fights

Thanks guys both sound like really good ideas. 1ce i'm not really sure how I would work the object idea using the default battle system, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

I have also come up with a boss fight where there was more then one boss and each boss had their own expert skills and each would compilment each other. For example maybe a Knight would do the main combat, Chimera would do a lot of elemental attacks and status affacts, and finally a Priestist who would be the main healer, but could also use holy attacks.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Boss Fights

You want good boss ideas? Look no furthur than games like the various Mario RPGs and Chrono Trigger. Here's a few ideas that are interesting, though they'd be hard to pull off.

Bodyguards/backup. They don't necessarily have to block damage from the leader. But getting rid of them could result in some temporarily relief while you focus on the leader, until more backup dudes come in to fight.

Playing on the backup idea, maybe attacking the leader would result in the backup counter-attacking. Or, alternatively, you could make it so the leader charges up for a powerful attack if you defeat all the backup (the strategy would be to get rid of the worst backup, but leave one so you have an easier time with the leader).

It can be helpful if a boss has a specific attack pattern. Once you figure it out, it can make it easier to plan your next move.

An enemy that changes weakness. This could be done in a few ways. Maybe if an enemy uses Ice, it'll be weak against Fire. Then when it uses Lightning, it's weak against Water, instead. Or maybe it can change its strength and weaknesses depending on what you do. If it finds that you're focusing physical attacks, it switches to a mode with high physical defense. (I'm suddenly reminded of the fight with Bowyer. By far the most unique fight in Mario RPG.)

One idea I'm doing for a boss is a speed demon. It's one demon that move so fast, it appears as though there's six of him. You defeat one image, they automatically revive the image with low HP (enough to get knocked back out in one or two hits). While at first the fight would be tough, what with a boss hitting you six times in one turn, eventually it'll become more frantic reviving it's images (which is explained by "regaining speed") that it'll spend less turns attacking, leaving you more opportunity to attack.

[Whataface2]

Re: Boss Fights

How about a monsters that has a high evasion rate, strong defense and physical attacks, but low hp? This would force the player to use a lot of healing items and magic. Or would that be too tough of a battle. It would be a matter of luck if you could keep the party alive long enough too kill him.

[Ωbright]

Re: Boss Fights

Yeah, that one seems a little shaky. Maybe still do-able, but not if it's just a 1/100 chance of 1-hit-ko. Maybe if there was a way to knock the boss enemy's agility down in-game?

I like bosses that start out a kind of blank slate, but have a wide variety of status up/down skills. What they use is random, and by the 4th or 5th round or so you might have a boss that's really quick with a really strong physical attack, or a boss with stronger defense and magic, or a boss that just happened to use att-down to your party twice in a row. The advantage of that system is that the battle is different each time you play it, and it keeps things interesting. The DIS-advantage is it's difficult to play-test all of the possible combinations. It might be that some of them render the battle way too dificult. Giving a boss status clear may be annoying when your slow or poison goes away, but the boss just used a turn to do it.

Other than that, having a wide variety of straight damage spells can also be a good thing, as far as keeping things interesting.

[Ryner]

Re: Boss Fights

You can do better than just "an enemy with one/two really high stat(s)." Think outside the box, go beyond what we've come to expect from RPG battles.

[Whataface2]

Re: Boss Fights

You can do better than just "an enemy with one/two really high stat(s)." Think outside the box, go beyond what we've come to expect from RPG battles.

Thanks Ryner. Boss fights are really hard for me cause I just made my first boss fight ever with rpgm2. It is just never racking cause I'm not sure if I will be able to script them properly.

Once again thanks for all the help you people have given me. I apperciate all the ideas given.