Boss Fights

[Sudowoodo]

I loved Half Life 2's boss fight, for multiple reasons. It perfectly captured the type of character that Breen was, a coward. Many developers could have easily fucked this up but his character stayed true, and instead of fighting you he tried to escape and have others do the fighting.

Honestly I'd much rather games have just a well thought out, sensible, climactic ending than have a typical Boss fight. For example Another World, or The Neverhood.

 

[MaltesePigeon]

It's Causality!
Maybe I'd put on some nice clothes if anime jiggle physics weren't so good.

Besides, my mom said I look handsome in this shirt, and she wouldn't lie to me.

 

[L4hlborg]

Boss fights aren't always that bad. I mean a Zelda game without bossfights seems like a really stupid idea. Or a Mario game without fighting Bowser. These are games I just can't imagine without bossfights, probably because they were some of the first games I've ever played.

But if the bossfights aren't absolutely necessary, it's best to look for an alternative solution. I liked HL2's ending, because of the same reasons mentioned in the article. More recently, RDR managed to surprise me with a pretty great ending (I'm talking about the actual ending, not the side mission ending).

On the other hand, I'm wearing a ugly green t-shirt with splats of white and gray paint on it, so my oppinion probably doesn't count.

 

[duchaked]

HA! I'm not wearing a shirt right now >

hahaha but no seriously, really enjoyed the article

it's interesting how ZP pointed out the lacking final bosses of Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II, but actually praised the considerably less of a final boss fight (interactive cutscene) of Gears of War 2 haha
but then again, "you get to kill armored dinosaurs with orbital lasers!" so I guess that's ok lol

 

[crimsonshrouds]

I'm not wearing a shirt HA!

Anyways i have to agree some boss battles just don't make any damn sense or they are fucking annoying.

I remember starfox64 boss battles hit the enemy where the yellow squares are repeatedly...

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Shamus Young juuuust beat you to it this time.

Not really. Yahtzee commented about the boss fights in the ZP for Alpha Protocol before the Stolen Pixels comic was up. This article (and the whole idea behind Extra Punctuation in general) is so that he can flesh-out his point a little more.

 

[ghostrider409895]

I see I am not the only one confused by little guys having huge health bars.
I understand if a giant guy has a larger health, and I can understand why a guy suited up in armor would have a large health bar. Both of those guys have something preventing me from killing them with simple shots. Yet, I do know of games where there is this guy with a giant health bar, yet the only difference between him and the other hoards of expressionless people I have slaughtered is his style of clothing. I think, if he is a small guy, he should not have a huge health bar. Rather than do that, take advantage of the fact that he is normal and make him hide and blend in with the crowd.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

The Hitman series did boss fights up right for a shooter game. They were always normal enemies who could be killed exactly the same as other baddies, except they were often aware of you (so no stealth approach).

In Blood Money, for example, you meet another contract killer like yourself. He's also in disguise and challenges you to a battle to the death. You follow him into a warehouse to which he has the key. There are tables of guns laid out for you to grab. After a few seconds (enough time for you to load up), the lights go out. I should mention there are crates, boxes and those big metal racks they use in the back of the grocery store (in the employee-only area) all over the room. There's a maze of chain link fencing so you can't just run up to the guy and shoot him. He positions himself carefully, keeping cover between you and him. He doesn't have that much more health than an ordinary guy (chalk that up to Kevlar). It's realistic, tense and awesome.

But what's even MORE awesome is that Hitman doesn't betray its roots by forcing you into this fight. While it's true there are guards everywhere in this club (except said warehouse) you can STILL pull out a big freaking .357 Magnum and shoot this boss in the head, KILLING HIM WITHOUT ALL THIS NONSENSE if you want to. You just might also blow your Wanted level and ranking. But hey, at least you have the option.

Blood Money is one of the best games around. This is a small example of why. In fact, most of these Extra Punctuation complaint articles could probably be countered with "Hitman: Blood Money."

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Nicer clothes? Excuse me, I'm wearing an xkcd shirt and white trilby thankyou very much Yahtzee!

 

[MazzaTheFirst]

Ahhh, good old boss fights. Takes me back to the days where I'd play Planescape: Torment. I usually always build an Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma character focusing on magic and persuasion. The best part in that game is the final boss where...

Spoiler: Here be the spoilers.

You'd finally confront your mortality and he'd insist on fighting you. If you built a combat character you could fight him to the death. (Good luck to anyone who can do that, he hits like a truck transporting other trucks.) However, if you built a very wise character you could convince him to rejoin with you, thus ending the game. I felt that was much more satisfying that I had built my character to the point where I could accomplish that.

Good times. But if it isn't an RPG then I damn well demand a good, tough and satisfying final boss. Something to test my mettle against. Depends if the game is more story focused or game play focused mind you.

 

[AvsJoe]

So basically, the biggest problem here is you. Yes, you, in the stupid shirt. Sort yourself out, for god's sake. And buy nicer clothes.

No. I like my stupid clothes. You go buy better clothes. Nyah!

 

[Resurrectionist]

Outstanding.
You have outdone yourself with this particular expository.
Ever honing your craft to an even sharper insight & wit.

 

[ggamer2]

I can't change my shirt, this are my working clothes, and I'm at work!

 

[daftalchemist]

But I'm naked...

Anyway, there was an article I read a while back that said something along the lines of gamers need boss fights as a sort of milestone in what they perceive to be their awesomeness, otherwise they get the feeling of toiling away for hours with no real accomplishment. That makes sense to me. We have milestones in our own lives, after all. Graduating high school could practically be considered a "boss fight", after all. But I also agree that we've gotten a little too narrow-minded about them.

I don't think we always need the big guy with the big health bar to beat the shit out of. It's also cool to just make a tense situation that you have to fight your way out of, and then you're in the clear. For instance, the scene in Beyond Good & Evil where Jade is literally just running for her life away from the main bad guy. That was one of the most amazing things I've ever played through. I was freaking out the whole time and loving it, and you never even hit a guy once.

The point I'm trying to get at is that we can make boss fight-esque situations without having it actually be a boss fight. I also think that games could become a lot more interesting if we found ways to move away from the classic boss fight because, honestly, eventually we're all going to know how to handle every boss fight and they just won't be a challenge without having the AI actually cheat.

 

[Infernai]

I'm perfectly comfortable with my dress sense thank you.

Honestly though, i remember when boss fights used to be a challenge that relied on SKILL rather than whatever stupid power you bought earlier on and remembering its attack pattern to an almost balletic performance.

Take Shinobi for the PS2. The game mechanics were deceptively simple and yet the bosses were still hard and challenging enough that i was all 'FUCK YEA' when i finally managed to cut them in two.

I CALL FOURTH THE ICY TOUCH OF DEATH!!!

 

[DTWolfwood]

We need more games like Shadow of the Colossus.

So the entire game can be nothing BUT tedious boss fights?

yes and my friend there was nothing tedious about it then again i like a bit of a challenge in my game.

At least it knows what it is and doesn't hit you with a brick wall as mentioned here.

 

[bificommander]

While I didn't like the half-life 1 final boss, I did like the tentacle and big-bruiser mini-bosses. That's what I missed in HL2. I don't need a traditional endboss, but HL2's 'bosses' were either striders or gunships, and the tactics against them were always 'Run untill you find the infinite rockets crate (because you could carry tons of weapons, but not enough rockets to bring down a single strider or gunship), then shoot it', and that got boring after the second or third time. Only the helicopter-mine spam offered some variaty, and fortunately episode 2 had at least a more entertaining final battle against the striders. If the original HL2 offered some of that, I wouldn't have minded the lack of a final boss.

And I must disagree that turning the gravity gun into an instakill BFG was a locial extension of the gameplay thus far.

 

[ALPHATT]

Half Life 2 isn't exactly a good example for game designers to follow.

How so? I thought that the Half life 2 series is a shining example of good game design, even with all it's flaws. It's like their STEAM service. Steam is also very flawed, but still, one of the best (pc) gaming services out there.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I love the inclusion of boss fights, but Yahtzee is right, it shouldnt be a random boosted up enemy as a boss with little reason, it needs to act as a bookmark to a chapter of the game, and test the player on the skills they've built up.

I wasn't aware people felt Half-Life 2's lack of a boss was a bad thing...I personally couldn't see it working if they threw a boss fight in at the end. It was quite a satisfying ending level in my opinion.