Bosses that you JUST. CAN'T. BEAT.

[Alrom]

I don't remember any boss right now that was so hard or cheap that I completely gave up.

But there is one boss that I do not wish to fight ever again in the same conditions and whatever I think about it I just shiver and have the feeling to just turn the game off.


That would be Alatreon G-rank solo in monster hunter 3 ultimate. I managed to kill that thing after burning a lot of items. The game gives you 50 minutes and 3 lifes to kill that thing.

I killed it with 4 minutes remaining and had already died twice.


I know there are people out there that can kill it withing 6 to 28 minutes solo but I'm not one of those people.

 

[Mr Companion]

The only boss I have never beat is that f**king Cerberus Breeder from God of War 3. Ive killed every boss in Dark Soul's, even Four Kings and Kalameet and all that good s**t. Ive beaten Sephiroth from Kingdoms Hearts.
But none of it
None of it compares to the Cerberus Breeder on Titan mode! Hades was hard but he died with persistance. But the Cerberus Breeder is so f**king hardcore its not real! Within seconds the arena becomes a profane orgy of explosions and enemies. A pair of ninja Satyres leap out of his severed head stumps to rips your behind like a paper bag! He has attacks with nano-second frames that take your health off like its nothing. Forget Kratos, son of Zues, this bastard is hell made flesh to torment you!

Did I mention this comes right after the hardest falling minigame in the game and you don't get a save point so any damage you take remains for the boss? I almost killed this bastard, almost! His last head proved too strong and he killed me.

Cerberus Breeder, the one who got away.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Gonna have to contest that bit about the Drakekeepers though. If anything I found them to be pushovers. Ignoring the fact that they are incredibly weak to fire (the regular firebomb does 200 damage to it and costs 200 souls apiece) most of their attacks are readily telegraphed and easy to dodge or block. The great hammer ones (I'm guessing these are the ones you are referencing specifically) also become trivial if you either keep a wide berth or get right in their face. The flurry attacks will pass harmlessly over your head half the time while the ones that do land are easily blocked or dodged through, giving you the opening to land a hit.

I'm pretty sure he meant these guys

who are fast and annoying to fight "fairly" because they seemingly have no limit to the number of hits or dodges they can do in a row.

Not these guys

who are easy as hell.

The Dragon Knights? Still big pushovers as long as you have a decent shield. Not only do they have the same inherent weaknesses of any humanoid enemy (eg. 2-handed Demon's Great Hammer strong attack), they also tend to over dodge and show their back to you long enough to set up back stabs and other combos. At one point I got tired of farming them with my Claymore so I just ditched the sword+shield and went with power-stancing whips or caestuses and practicing my parrying.

 

[scorptatious]

The only boss I have never beat is that f**king Cerberus Breeder from God of War 3. Ive killed every boss in Dark Soul's, even Four Kings and Kalameet and all that good s**t. Ive beaten Sephiroth from Kingdoms Hearts.
But none of it
None of it compares to the Cerberus Breeder on Titan mode! Hades was hard but he died with persistance. But the Cerberus Breeder is so f**king hardcore its not real! Within seconds the arena becomes a profane orgy of explosions and enemies. A pair of ninja Satyres leap out of his severed head stumps to rips your behind like a paper bag! He has attacks with nano-second frames that take your health off like its nothing. Forget Kratos, son of Zues, this bastard is hell made flesh to torment you!

Did I mention this comes right after the hardest falling minigame in the game and you don't get a save point so any damage you take remains for the boss? I almost killed this bastard, almost! His last head proved too strong and he killed me.

Cerberus Breeder, the one who got away.

Ah yes, that battle was a ***** for me as well on Titan Mode.

Fuck satyrs. They've always been a ***** to deal with in the God of War games. At least the first three and CoO, I haven't played the later titles.

 

[Dragonlayer]

I don't know if you'd count it as a "boss", you probably wouldn't but the torture sequence in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. I can't do it, I can't hammer the button quick enough. I gave up, had to stop playing the game. I've also never been able to beat the torture sequence in Metal Gear Solid on anything higher than easy.

I could *never* pass the torture sequence in Metal Gear Solid for the PS1, I used to have to call my dad over if I wanted to get the "Save Meryl" ending. The microwave hall in MGS4 was passable but felt like I had broken my thumb!

 

[Dragonlayer]

The snake plant lady from Devil May Cry 4 (I think) and the dude who turns himself into an angel from the same game: Graaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

 

[JagermanXcell]

This quickly turned into the "Ancient Dragon from Dks2 as the boss I JUST. CAN'T. BEAT." thread.

Yeah I'll throw my hat into the ring on that one too. He's an unjustifiably cheap broken boring boss that makes even Bed of Chaos look intentionally good.
FromSoft B Team... never touch a Souls game again please.

OT:
For the longest time I can remember, the hardest boss I just could not conquer for weeks on end was phase 2 Peace Walker in MGS: Peace Walker.
The game really amped up the difficulty at that point, throwing a boss that has an insanely huge moveset, could potentially one shot you if you don't have rations equipped, can actually do stamina damage to you (ONE OF THE RARE TIMES STAMINA DAMAGE MATTERED TO YOU), could actually drain you of supply markers, and had a time limit attack where if you don't have the proper weapons that can deliver enough DPS... you lose. GG. Start over. This boss actually made me SWEEEEEEAT

You actually won? Congrats! Here's two optional harder versions of her. LAUNCHING S MINES LAUNCHING S MINES LAUNCHING F***ING S MINES.

MGS: Peace Walker. And underrated masochistic paradise of epic proportions.

 

[Easton Dark]

FTL, the f#@king flagship.

This, I have a screenshot of that bastard bristling with NINE active drones in what feels like an absolute brick wall of "screw you." where I can't imagine the kind of massively overpowered ship I'd need to have a chance against something that can block everything and meanwhile scupper you in about three rounds.

Cloak level 1

No damage

*Jazz Hands*

For me, no boss I haven't been able to beat, but I stopped playing Witcher 2 at Letho. I concluded from that fight that the controls really weren't working for me with keyboard and mouse, and I wanted to start over with a controller, but it's been a few months since I stopped.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Ooh, though I beat him eventually, I did have trouble with Deus Ex:HR and the battle with Jaron Namir because... yeah, I fell for the upgraded chip thing. I knew it'd screw me over, but I figured the game would force you to take it one point or another, so... thought I'd just get it over with. Turns out, for once, a game let you make a choice and then didn't immediately nullify any consequences it might have. Won that battle by constantly moving around and getting in potshots when he was jumping over the walls. Turns out the guy's aim is awful. Still though, not a fun (Or short) battle, when your Jensen's made of glass and all you've got is a sniper rifle and all those tranquilizer darts you've been stockpiling.

I've never legitimately defeated him, even without the rigged chip. Here's a strategy that is extremely cheap and also immensely humorous:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6I47DXmzI

Also, on the second boss you can perpetually stun lock her with the taser and finish her off with a rocket, an equally cheap strategy in its own right. I love Deus Ex: HR and being able to play Adam in a Bladerunner-esque basically dystopian future but those boss fights really are a detriment to the rest of the game.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

.

OT: I was never able to beat Sephiroth in Kingdoms Hearts 1 no matter how many times I tried. Poor controls combined with his massively damaging attacks and ridiculously large HP bar meant I never even got close to beating him.

I can assist you if you wish. KH1 Sephiroth is difficult, and honestly I got lucky against him on my LP of Final Mix (the original PS2 one). He got off a Heartless Angel on me, and didn't teleport behind me, while giving me enough time to use an elixir. The gaming gods were watching me that day I guess. :/

Yeah if you've got some advice for me I'm more than happy to take it on board. It will be awhile before I attempt him again though. I've got the HD remake but I haven't got far into it yet.

 

[GeneralBigG]

Yeah, I get to say something unique!

OT: The fucking Egg Viper on Sonic Adventure. I've only ever beaten that bastard once, when I first got the game. On the Dreamcast.

I've come so close so many times, even actually getting him down to zero health but being killed by his death throws.

I hate that dick so much...

*sits in the corner and cries at the memory*

 

[Saetha]

Snip

I've never legitimately defeated him, even without the rigged chip. Here's a strategy that is extremely cheap and also immensely humorous:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6I47DXmzI

Also, on the second boss you can perpetually stun lock her with the taser and finish her off with a rocket, an equally cheap strategy in its own right. I love Deus Ex: HR and being able to play Adam in a Bladerunner-esque basically dystopian future but those boss fights really are a detriment to the rest of the game.

Well, I actually played the Director's Cut, where they added in resources for non-combat characters, so the boss battles weren't too tough for me. The second one was actually the easiest, since she disappears and gives you so much time to just hack stuff. Problem is, you can't use any of that against Namir if you got the chip (And the takedown cheat was taken out, too) so I had to get creative. As a stealth-focused, mostly pacifist Jensen with low-powered ammo, that one took a while.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I'm honestly a little surprised no one brought this up earlier: Musclefoot from Starfox Adventures.

I think my game was glitched or something, because I couldn't beat him with a TURBO CONTROLLER!

For anyone unfamiliar: there's a point in Starfox Adventures where you wind up in a dinosaur village and have to do a couple tests, one being a test of strength where you have to mash A on the gamecube controller to shove "Musclefoot" into a poit (via some double-ended paddle contraption).

I never got past that. I swear to God. Turbo Controller.

I used to roll a pen over the A button to gett past this part.

OT:

Syrian Darklord in Serious Sam Next Encounter: Tons of armor, a whole bunch of respawning minions and he could only be damaged after you removed all the armor, which he regained after doing a certain amount of damage.

Dunno, for some reason I never beated him.

 

[Alarien]

Since half the thread is about the Ancient Dragon, I'll add some thoughts.

1) He's not broken. He's badly designed, in my opinion.
2) Being badly designed makes him exactly the same as most of the dragon/drake bosses in Demon Soul's and Dark Souls. The red and blue dragons in Demon's Souls were nothing but a "stand here and spam arrows for 20 minutes" fest. The Hellkite Wyvern in Dark Souls 1 is, in my opinion, one of the worst enemy designs in the entire series. All of these fights involve hiding/standing in one spot and constantly exploiting the AI or geometry to avoid damage. I am not sure why From really enjoys making these dragons stand out as "ugh" compared to the rest of their enemies.
3) Ancient Dragon is actually a pretty easy fight once you understand how to bait out his attacks. It can be done consistently with very little threat.
4) Kalameet is infinitely better designed than any other dragon/drake that I've met in the Souls series. You can fight him up close/far away, melee, ranged, whatever and there's good balance for that fight.

If you are having trouble with the Ancient Dragon, there are several strategies you can use, but I'll post my two (blocking, and non-blocking) methods that both significantly reduce any randomness, so you can kill him and get back to the actual fun bosses.

Blocking (requires 32 STR)


Any Class, no blocking


In the future, if I block, I'll be doing a mix of the two, where I don't block and circle, but block and move straight away from the head and straight back in, a la video 2. It is the least dangerous method, imo, with the least randomness.

I think the hardest enemy I've faced in a game was Melissan in Baldur's Gate 2's Throne of Bhaal expansion. For the most part, that fight boiled down to having to exploit very short saves in order to get good outcomes from portions of the fight. I almost don't see how that fight was possible in a clean/no-save method without a significant amount of luck.

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

Seth from Street Fighter 4. I know it's a cop out but he is literally not fair or balanced at all. You basically have to know the character you are using inside out, and on top of that memorize his insane patterns. I can't even beat him with cheap tactics on easy. Shits hard bro.

 

[Raddra]

Star Ocean 2: The last boss with his limiter removed.

Saga Frontier 2: There was this boss that has an all party hitting 100% petrification attack.

 

[Erttheking]

Black Dragon Kalmeet in Dark Souls 1 for the longest time.

It was only with my second playthrough as a more tankey character that I finally did it.

Yeah, can't beat him either, same goes with Manus from the same game. I think the problem is that I rely to much on slow characters that rely on blocking when these bosses can overwhelm them. I think on my next playthrough I'm gonna try a more speedy dexterous character and try my luck again.

 

[lee1287]

Virgil in The new DMC reboot, On Hell and Hell difficulty. ONE HIT? Get outta here.

 

[Alarien]

Black Dragon Kalmeet in Dark Souls 1 for the longest time.

It was only with my second playthrough as a more tankey character that I finally did it.

Yeah, can't beat him either, same goes with Manus from the same game. I think the problem is that I rely to much on slow characters that rely on blocking when these bosses can overwhelm them. I think on my next playthrough I'm gonna try a more speedy dexterous character and try my luck again.

You don't need to do that. Manus and Kalameet are actually a lot easier if you have a blocking method. Get a good shield (frankly, nothing beats the Greatshield of Artorius for blockers) and make sure your character has decent endurance. Keep your weight under 50% so you can maintain mid roll and *be patient*. Kalameet's abilities are almost all completely blockable at close range except for the telekenesis. The long range swoop in needs to be dodged, but everything else can be blocked while walking backwards. He's most vulnerable after his *two* neck swipes and when he sits up to either firebreath or telekinesis.

Manus you just need to watch his tells and count his attacks. Once you recognize his combos, you'll be able to tell when his comb is over and you can usually get in several hits. The only thing you need to be seriously aware of is when he launches dark magic straight up and away (the ones that come in from behind you). For this you just need to unlock target, turn around and walk away blocking until the magic passes.

 

[Kukakkau]

Can't really think of any bosses I've downright gone "I can't do this, I quit"

But I guess recently it would have to be Black Dragon Kalameet in Dark Souls on New Game +. I had been noting down boss attempts between NG/NG+ on a table and it went from something like 2/1 for a lot of bosses to 5/fuck knows for him. I think it was most frustrating because I knew how to do it, but if you mess up at all you are trouble fast.

Pretty sure the end result was 30ish attempts and a wasted evening of determination to beat him.

That goddamn move where he runs over you breathes fire backwards still haunts me...