Poll: Stylised boss fights

[koga88]

I've heard how some people have disliked how the boss fights in certain video games are really simple, or happen to be quick time events.

Wet
The ending of Wet consists of a quick time event boss fight, and another small series of quick times after wards. However if the fight had been stylized any other way, I think it would have taken away from how great it looked to see the fight and the ending as it unfolded. Otherwise the fight would have been jumping around fighting a "teleporting" opponent with guns. Not much different than a normal enemy.

Batman: AA
Yes the Killer Croc and the battle against Joker were weak, but would it have been better if you were to fight them full on? Fighting killer croc, yes, but the makers designed it in a way to possibly be spooky. As well as the fight might have just devolved into another bane/supersoldier fight. While the Joker could have put up a small fight as he was normally, then used the serum on himself. Though the fight would still have been the same, instead they had you fight different men and just yank him down while he's taunting the helicopter.

TLDR version: Would you rather have a fight that you could fully control or attack an enemy head on? Or something stylized? Why would you rather have one or the other, factoring in the storyline?

Also if you have any other examples, feel free to share them, I just thought of the most recent ones I saw.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I actually prefer puzzle bosses. Metroid Prime did this well. You'd fight a boss head on as means of distraction or lure, before using techniques to really damage it.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

I thought the only good quick-time events were God of War, because they were visceral, satisfying, and they related to your on screen movements.

 

[Ibanez887]

I want to be 100% in control of the character during boss fights
Its in my nature to be in control of whatever possible, so I want to be the one who kills the final boss in a game, like Bioshock

 

[koga88]

Another good example is this one

Oblivion
You fight through waves of foes, defending an npc that can not die and only get knocked out. And the real boss towers above you and, unless you have a mod or something, you can't kill. The only thing you can do is make it to the temple and watch the final boss fight on the side.This fight actually was pretty amazing to watch albeit a short one.

Personally I like the types of fights that, as long as it makes sense, are stylized. Otherwise if we just have to sit there and watch the ending boss fight happen, it is disappointing.

 

[Void(null)]

Oooo.... Oblivion's Ending pissed me off so much, Beth did the same thing in Fallout 3:

Spoiler

with "Take it Back!". The final chapter being a epic battle... fought for you by a giant robot and unkillable NPC's, and the last "boss" character dieing in a single shot... before your character is forced into an instant death situation to martyr themselves, despite a cast of NPC's that are not only Immune to radiation BUT ARE HEALED BY IT being with you at the time.

I am the one that paid $60 for a game, I am the one that just spent the past 40 hours playing it... I SHOULD BE THE FUCKING HERO AT THE END OF IT.

If it wasn't for mods, I would have never touched Oblivion or Fallout 3... what happened to the Beth that made Morrowind and Daggerfall? That told story's where the player saved the world? They were not very good story's, but at least the player was involved in their conclusion.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Mix. I want a super-hard bossfight and then a ridiculously easy QTE for the finishing blow. That way, I still feel like a badass for killing the guy by decapitating him with a toothbrush, but I don't have to start the whole damn 30 minute bossfight over if I happen to look away for an instant.

I'm looking at you, Resident Evil 4.

 

[koga88]

Agreed, sometimes just running around shooting or stabbing an enemy doesn't always translate well into an awesome scene in the end. I remember older games that it would just result in the boss falling over. Although if the game incorporates some type of finishing move that you can use, and show the result of that, it would be interesting.

The best boss fights that I've ever fought were in SW TFU. They're long, intense and have a few QTE's that you don't need to do to finish off the boss but they add a very awesome scene to it that makes it just the more badass.

I also remember that you can mess up the QTE and it'll still let you do it again even, sometimes without even having to hit the boss again.

 

[Satin6T]

The best bosses ever were Shadow of the collosus
done
I'm Winrar!

 

[zeplon]

I agree with shadow of the colossus. It was a brilliant use. boss fights need to share some sort of epic feeling that you brought down some huge titan, or even in some cases just someone with the same odds. if its all quick time events, you really arn't controlling the fight, your just watching a movie, and that's a problem. They do add a slight bit of immersion because you are "controlling" it, but not really. "Press A to kill person" isn't really doing much. I think a good example of a good boss fight was that of No More Heroes. NMH had brilliant, quirky boss fights, where i got a decent sense of that equality feeling aforementioned above. afterwords they would play an epic cutscene, and that was that. You did the work, cutscene made it epic. and it worked well.

 

[effilctar]

By stylised fight I'm assuming you mean that the fight cunningly makes you fight a certain way or involves many quicktime events. I always prefer my own style unless the quicktime events have been perfected such as in God of War.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Oooo.... Oblivion's Ending pissed me off so much, Beth did the same thing in Fallout 3:

Spoiler

with "Take it Back!". The final chapter being a epic battle... fought for you by a giant robot and unkillable NPC's, and the last "boss" character dieing in a single shot... before your character is forced into an instant death situation to martyr themselves, despite a cast of NPC's that are not only Immune to radiation BUT ARE HEALED BY IT being with you at the time.

In reference to the

Spoiler

NPCs being unkillable, I actually lost all of the Lyon's Pride except of course Sarah. Gallows and Vargas were unkillable too for some reason. The moral here is that you should never travel through an area filled with many explosive cars. A rocket blast went stray, and a massive explosion rocked the area.

I survived with two crippled legs only because I was standing slightly away from the epicentre. All the unkillables were knocked out, and there was no trace of the rest of the Pride, oddly enough. I searched and searched, and found no corpses, and no weapons. I never saw them again, and still wonder what the hell happened.

On-topic, I usually enjoy taking down my bosses in a one-to-one fight, though if it was done significantly well (Rule of Cool http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool), then I would love a stylised fight.