If you could create a Dark Souls boss

[Sean Hollyman]

What would you make?

I think a challenging boss would be some kind of giant knight and when it's HP goes 50%, it splits in half and each half does double the damage, but their HP is pooled together into one so each half is easier to take down.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I'd love to fight Pikachu and Snorlax again.

Except, this time...

Awwww yisssssssss

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'd have a boss that started as a normal human sized enemy, and would grow larger, more monstery, and become more and more aggressive the more he's hit. So basically the more damage you do to him the more dangerous he becomes with larger and wider swings that hit more of the stage, giving you less room to run away from him.

The problem with a lot of the Dark Souls bosses is that you learn their move-sets really easily after trading a few hits with them, and if you can manage to survive the first 30% of the fight you're pretty much set to win provided you don't do anything stupid and the boss doesn't throw any random curve balls. This would force people to constantly pay attention because the speed, style, and reach of the boss's attack would constantly change, and just when you feel comfortable attacking, bam, you've slightly changed his attack pattern and have to be careful and feel him out again before you're ready to strike once more.

 

[Mental Cosmas]

I want a sort of sneaky, "wall shadow" boss.

A sort of wolf perhaps, or humanoid. Not that large or powerful, but fast, and the ability to go through walls. The arena is a maze,the creature can strike from any direction, and it's just plain scary.

The main flaw is it doesn't give much incentive to go anywhere in the maze, perhaps a dual boss, with the second one being a large, lumbering minotaur-esque beast, similar to the Taurus demon but larger, probably taking up all of the corridor. You REALLY don't want to get in front of him, you have to take advantage of the maze to get behind, take some swimgs, then start running (he has a pretty slow turning speed, so it's quite viable)

So you got a sneaky bugger striking at you from the shadows, and you don't want to stay too long in one place eyeing each wall for when it strikes, or the minotaur will find you and charge you.

Needs a little more thought and work, but I think the general idea could be cool.

 

[Racecarlock]

An undead scientist. As you fight, he studies you. Studies your weaknesses. Your strengths. Learns how to beat you. Again and again and again. When you think you know his strategy, he changes it up. The longer you fight, the more he knows.

I'm not going to lie. Most of dark souls seems comprised of bosses and traps that are not designed to kill you because they outwitted you, but because they're hard to dodge and nothing more. This is not a good kind of hard.

Look at the 2005 version of Need For Speed Most Wanted. The police in that game used real strategies and real wit to try and bust you. The higher the heat level gets, the faster the cars get and helicopters start chasing you and they bring out the spike strips. They use actual tactics to beat you. You can hear them over the radio and see them forming up to use these tactics. When you're hiding, you can hear them on the radio. Searching for you. Pulling over other cars while searching for you.

You feel like you've pissed off an intelligent network of people, people who are now after your ass and the huge bounty you have on you. The feeling of suspense is real.

Dark Souls uses the same bosses that old arcade games did. Figure out pattern, attack. That's it. The only hard thing is learning what their range is and when to dodge. That's it. After that it's pretty much a waiting game to see when it's the right time to strike and that's it. You don't feel like you're against something intelligent, you feel like you're hitting a stupid robot with a stick. That's not fun.

I'm just out of the northern undead asylum. Because you can literally run past the first boss. I did die a few times but only because I had a broken leg and didn't know you could run past the guy into a tiny doorway like it's a tom and jerry cartoon.

If you want a real challenge, something that will test your skill as a driving game enthusiast, try NFS most wanted 2005. Or NFS Carbon. Or undercover. You'll feel like you're actually outwitting a smart AI system, rather than looking for patterns in lovecraftian monster shaped quilts.

 

[Mimic]

I'd have a boss that started as a normal human sized enemy, and would grow larger, more monstery, and become more and more aggressive the more he's hit. So basically the more damage you do to him the more dangerous he becomes with larger and wider swings that hit more of the stage, giving you less room to run away from him.

I really like that idea.

Maybe something like Shadow Link would be a good idea so you are literally fighting yourself. You step through the fog/light wall and the game loads up a boss with exactly the same stats, equipment, and even levels and equippable items. If there are any phantoms with you it does the same to them. It would depend alot on the AI though.

I like the idea of going through an area and then there being a little bonfire at the end, all inconpicuous and such, which turns out to be a boss, infact if you sit at it insta-kill .. maybe that's a little evil though >.

 

[JagermanXcell]

A Pursuer that actually pursues you.

No really. I'd take the concept of The Pursuer and give it some HEAVY buff when it comes to adaptability. My first idea is 1. He is about your size, maybe slightly beefier for intimidation reasons. I like the pursuer's design, but what that boss really needed was that "rival" look. A sort of Vergil to Dante connection.
2. is where it gets fun...
His appearances are COMPLETELY random, much like invasions. There will be times in which you should be prepared, cause when the signal that he's coming comes, he will swoop in and you will have to stand your ground then and there.
And 3. He gets a completely new moveset every encounter. It can range from being quick, to heavy hitting, to even him going more defensive/able to counter your moves. All that matters is that much like him, you must adapt to the situation FAST.
It's very un-Souls like to be that fast paced, but I believe Souls game's bosses should be a lot interesting instead of just hard for the sake of being hard.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I'd have a boss that started as a normal human sized enemy, and would grow larger, more monstery, and become more and more aggressive the more he's hit. So basically the more damage you do to him the more dangerous he becomes with larger and wider swings that hit more of the stage, giving you less room to run away from him.

I really like that idea.

Maybe something like Shadow Link would be a good idea so you are literally fighting yourself. You step through the fog/light wall and the game loads up a boss with exactly the same stats, equipment, and even levels and equippable items. If there are any phantoms with you it does the same to them. It would depend alot on the AI though.

I like the idea of going through an area and then there being a little bonfire at the end, all inconpicuous and such, which turns out to be a boss, infact if you sit at it insta-kill .. maybe that's a little evil though >.

Come on now... that's just PURE EVIL D:

 

[Riotguards]

i'd make a boss that splits in half every 20%, so you'd fight a total of 5 bosses at the same time

thing is the boss has linked health so you'd have to face all of them

 

[Lovely Mixture]

A golem boss that spreads a damaging substance whereever he walks, the substances takes a long while to go away but to balance this the boss moves extremely slowly.

A boss with a lantern whose attacks are within a cone of light, where the light becomes damaging based on the color ontop of the lantern.

A boss that pretends to be a basic enemy but only becomes hostile if you attack it, upon being attacked it transforms by growing out its lims. There is no fog door so you don't see this coming.

Also this

You break its limbs, but it becomes faster and more aggressive as you do.

 

[Binkan]

I'd make a boss similar to the one in Demon's Soul's where a random invader get to join in due to the boss summoning one.

When entering the boss room you see alot of NPCs fighting it at a distance at this time you can choose to just wait as it would be possible to summon ppl from the signs and even when the npcs die the boss wouldn't aggro you.

When you are getting closer either when npcs are alive or dead he'll take control of one of the npcs and fight you and/or the other npcs, he'll only resurrect them once if they are dead the same works when he controls them so he can only use them once. When they are all dead he'll either stay and take control of your summons and let them fight you or retreat to a room at the end with alot of dead bodies everywhere if you decide to go at it alone.

The first room behind the fog door would be small and long with the last room being quite big and square-shaped.

The boss itself would be quite weak so he won't be hard to kill but he's extremly fast so hitting him would be hard and maybe if you fight the summoned Shades and/or Phantoms he would get a feedback each time they are killed and/or wounded which would make him a little bit slower and/or lose a bit of health.


Haven't thought up what to do with him if the player would fight him with the npcs and/or Phantoms yet

 

[Mimic]

Come on now... that's just PURE EVIL D:

Alright.. it might be. But it was kind of funny when people first came across mimics and after would attack every chest they see (until they noticed the tells), Bonfires feel too 'safe' at times with the possible exception of that weird one in Lost Bastille where you would aggro the enemies almost instantly. Dark Souls creates this weird state of tension on paranoia.. this would add a little to the latter . Plus wasn't there a rumour of mimic bonfires before Dark Souls 2 came out?

 

[Malbourne]

Maybe have a boss who's just a little girl picking flowers? You'd spend a quarter of an hour traipsing through a relaxing plain of daffodils and dandelions, listening to the ambiance of birds, wind, and rustling trees. And then you see a quaint cottage with a straw-thatch roof and an adorable girl outside just picking flowers, and you'd go up to talk to her but she wouldn't respond; she'd merely hand you one of the tulips she found and continue picking flowers, humming to herself. You could go inside the cottage to take a look at her dollhouse or the cute collection of animal dolls. She'd help you light a bonfire if you needed rest, and maybe even have an all-night party with s'mores and popcorn. And then you'd keep walking out of the plains until you reach the next location. Yeah, that's a boss that would ease me into the difficulty curve better.

And on new game+ mode she'd stab you in the coccyx with a gardening trowel.

 

[Alhazred]

Ok, I've got a few.

1. A boss who fights atop a steed. It could be a horse (perhaps taking inspiration from Ocarina of Time's Phantom Ganon) or a dragon. There are lots of ways a fight like this could be structured; the steed might fight alone at first only for it's master to show up later, or the rider could get dismounted and fight you on foot.

2. In a tower-like level full of traps, you fight the boss at the top. However, the boss does something to make the floor fall down, and you have to contend not only with the boss, but with the traps you dealt with on the lower levels.

3. The level takes place in and around a small house that is bigger on the inside. The boss arena is a garden behind the house, without a boss present. However, you hear an ominous rumbling sound behind you; the house itself has become animate, and drags itself towards you.

The house's attacks are determined by an evil light shining from the windows; the projectiles that emerge from the front door are themed around the room it shines from. For instance, the kitchen spawns fire, the sitting room spawns animate, murderous furniture, and the conservatory spawns killer plants.

The house will also try and swallow you; if this happens you have to run through the rooms of the house while traps snap at you from all conceivable directions; you escape by crashing through a window.

Hmm, I think my idea for 3 came from playing Our Darker Purpose the last few weeks. Seriously though, that game has some excellent boss designs.

 

[stroopwafel]

I think it would be cool to have a demon that want to end its life but can?t b/c its nature won?t allow it. Imagine a giant size necrotic human in a large hexagonal chamber with hooks attached to large chains the demon tried to disassemble itself with. In a futile attempt to kill itself the demon built this contraption to tear out its organs hoping it would ultimately succumb to the inflictions. However, the organs started to grow tubes that venture back into the demons body keeping it on perpetual life support in never ending agony.

I would make the level leading up to the boss really disorienting with long hallways filled with tearful statues donning veils that cover everything but their mournful expression. The boss fight itself would consist of killing the subconscious entity of the demon that prevents it from dying, so that means trying to destroy the tubes that connects its organs to its body while avoiding the slashing hooks and the demons nasty grab attack.

For sound effects I would like to have someone screaming really hard underwater to have this ?surreal? sound when you succesfully destroy one of its tubes. I would call it ?The Demon Mourner? or something.

 

[The Random Critic]

A doppelganger with mad sword skill. (he can multiply himself at will, and his ai will be smart enough attempt to trick you, the clones does similar damage to the Doppler but can die in one or two hits.)

A doppelganger that is the base on the player, but alot of them (like that one Mabinogi boss in that shadow dungeon)

A pinwheel fight that isn't shit too easy for high level player, heck make the meant for fight high level player for all I care. No summon, that will be too easy (for more info, see the sword one)

Slimes that multiply on high if hit with the wrong weapon. (regenerates after the multiplication)

Don't know if these idea can get a little frustrating to face against though,

 

[Dying_Jester]

I'd go the opposite of Dirty Hipsters. I'd say start big and become smaller in size(or start the same size as the character), as they become faster throughout the fight.
Hell, make 'em a mirror or even the player character themselves. What's more threatening then a boss that looks like you, has more health then you, is faster then you(and keeps picking up the pace until you can practically only get a hit through counters), gets more girls then you, and is just all around superior to you? I'll tell you what, chickens from LoZ, that's what.

 

[AntiChri5]

Every time you die in the game, it makes a note of your stats and equipped gear/spells. Your entire build.

Then, when you enter this boss's area, it is filled with clones of you with that setup. So the first one you encounter would be the exact build and level you first died at. Really show you how much you have grown. As you progress, you fight more advanced you's. Eventually, you are fighting almost perfect clones. Summons are not allowed. Then you go through the fog and face the boss. Your exact build, only double everything. Double your stats, double your consumable items and so on. Only inside the boss area can you hit up a summon sign. But so can the boss.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

An optional duel boss, one with has immunity to magic/hexes/miracles, the other immune to physical, they then proceed to fuck up anyone who mix/max their stats.
Maybe they would/could be some consideration thought like a mixed stat summonable phantom or the both the bosses being susceptible to status effects like poison/bleed.

Or another where the bosses gain more strength the less etsus flask uses you have, and for added evil have it at the end of a hard dungeon that people would probably need health on. It would encourage players to balance out the need for health and making sure the boss doesn't get op.