Skyrim: Now THAT'S a boss fight!

[Zydrate]

Today, I've begun a proper mage playthrough. I've had trouble with mages [http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1341625-help-casting-is-too-difficult-to-level/page__fromsearch__1] before, but this character Is basically clearing various dungeons, moreso than my other characters (Warriors who just level naturally and my rogues who can still level up and earn money in cities).
So, it's been moderately successful thus far. That was just some backstory.

I'm still fairly squishy mind you, but that's par for the course for mages.

I had my eyes on the Dawnbreaker [http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrimawnbreaker] as my chosen "mage" weapon (Though I'm not sure recharging adds to enchanting skill?) because an artifact is better than anything I could find or craft, and will probably hold me for a long time.

So I began The Break of Dawn [http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Break_of_Dawn] right at the requisite level of 12. Damn first part made me go through hell and back in order to get the beacon (Had to go through a dwarven ruin where it drops you - the falling rocks instakilled me several times, even a mere touch).

But again, that's just some backstory.

Finally doing the quest proper, and I come across this bastard [http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Malkoran]. I'm level 12 on novice, mind you.
First go, he one-shots me with a ranged snow spell. I reload the autosave at the door, so I kill a couple of the shades again and save in front of the boss plus his backup.

I die about five more times, each surviving more and more. During though few times I find that I happened to have some resist frost potions, dropped from a few Ice Wraiths I killed in my travels. That helped me survive his usual one-shot spell (though I learned to try to not get hit from it to begin with, as this fight pretty much kills all my health potions).

Anyway. Funny part is, I finally get him after an Impact perk spell staggers him, and I -rush- in and slap him with Flames+Melee, not even bothering with the four shades that support him yet. For some reason he didn't employ his one-shot spell in melee range so I survive, with a lot of healing still.
Thankfully his little popup shade when he dies wasn't as difficult.

Now, that's a lot of text for the point I'm getting at:

THANK YOU, Skyrim. THANK YOU for giving me something that actually felt like a freaking boss.
I admit I sometimes go into autopilot when playing Skyrim (Powerlevel this, do this quest, get that artifact, beat this questline for that piece of armor, etc) but this really forced me to think, and it brought back the feelings of accomplishment. The kind in other games where a boss kills you a few times while you figure out how he works - the perfect amount of challenge. I found myself not even MINDING the deaths because I would just think, "Okay, so let's try this..." rather than "GOD, AGAIN?!"

So, thank you.

To keep this thread alive (hopefully?), you may post your own memorable experiences regarding difficult fights or whatnot.

 

[Terminate421]

I had three dragons appear. No console commands either. That was intense.

Ironically, Mass effect 1's ending boss, Saren, was definitly a hairy fight, I blame the fact that hearing my shield's siren go off can make things intense while reviving Wrex and Garrus over and over again.

Gears of war 3's horde mode bosses can be intense with the right set ups. Wave 50 against a god damned Brumak?

 

[Zydrate]

I had three dragons appear. No console commands either. That was intense.

Neat, I thought the max was 2 at a time, one usually flying around while the other shoots at you, and they alternate.

I've only encountered two at a time, a single occasion, but I killed one and the second just kept flying around and I just left the area.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

And while we're on the subject of hard RPG bosses, how about Minamimoto/Leo Cantus in The World Ends With You?

[raises JRPG flame shield]

-Can't be damaged at all for the first minute or two
-Very high defense, making the fight marathon-length
-Only able to be hit by one character at a time
-Attacks hit hard and are hard to avoid if you go overboard with attacking
-Teleports, usually when you're attacking (there's a trick to this but I'll let you work it out yourself)
-Whole bunch of smaller enemies bothering the other character

And trust me, it's unbelievably cathartic when you finally win. It might be annoying to get to that point, but it's completely doable without any luck.

 

[Zeema]

i like Final Fantasy 9 Boss fight's. i don't know why i just really like em

 

[Diablo2000]

Doesn't anyone encounter that teleport dude in skyrim? That guy is freaking hard if you are low level.

And by the way some bosses in the Persona series are impossible without the certain personas, like the final boss would be impossible for me without the Trompeter(I guess that it's his name) and Chie with max out social link and very high level.

 

[Zydrate]

Doesn't anyone encounter that teleport dude in skyrim? That guy is freaking hard if you are low level.

Do tell?
My random encounters are minimal. I fast travel too much, I think. Unless I'm on a character with specific plans to explore. But even then I don't do enough quests to activate various encounters.

 

[evilneko]

Pfft. You're not a real mage unless you're naked and dual-wielding spells.

 

[Diablo2000]

Doesn't anyone encounter that teleport dude in skyrim? That guy is freaking hard if you are low level.

Do tell?
My random encounters are minimal. I fast travel too much, I think. Unless I'm on a character with specific plans to explore. But even then I don't do enough quests to activate various encounters.

It's a "boss" that you encounter in some ruin, can't tell you exactly which one. You can trigger Meridia's quest in there so I though that you already gone past it...

 

[MrBaguette]

Megaman x boss was insane, you basically had one tough miniboss and then they throw you a crazy lightsaber wielding dude

 

[Xpheyel]

Heh, if you want to make Skyrim more fun* you can always bump it to Master difficulty.

Probably still ways to break it but I had to go and decide to make a heavy armor + sword & board Nord. Any two things in the room with poison = boss fight at low levels. :|

*Dwarf Fortress Fun.

 

[Goofguy]

Conversely, if you get your Sneak and Archery ability up high with the right perks in each then the unique and challenging nature of some boss fights ends up being wasted. Obviously, it's within my power to take out my sword and shield and make it a fair fight but there's something rewarding in using your best abilities to deal with a situation.

Many a time I had wandered in to large cavernous rooms in dungeons with my final objective clearly in sight. 1-2 seconds to spot the boss and about 2-3 seconds to draw the bow, slow down time while zooming in and release the arrow. In the span of 5 seconds, I had downed the boss without being spotted and his minions had no idea where it came from. Rinse and repeat until the room is cleared.

So what's my point? Nothing really, I just love using that overpowered bow.

 

[Panzervaughn]

Doesn't anyone encounter that teleport dude in skyrim? That guy is freaking hard if you are low level.

Do tell?
My random encounters are minimal. I fast travel too much, I think. Unless I'm on a character with specific plans to explore. But even then I don't do enough quests to activate various encounters.

Oh! that guy for the Galadur Amulet!
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Geirmund%27s_Hall
Taught me to whip out a shield.

 

[ChupathingyX]

My best experience with boss fights was trying to kill Lu Bu for the first time in Dynasty Warriors 4.

Ahhh, I remember all those countless attempts like it was yesterday...

 

[oZode]

Doesn't anyone encounter that teleport dude in skyrim? That guy is freaking hard if you are low level.

Do tell?
My random encounters are minimal. I fast travel too much, I think. Unless I'm on a character with specific plans to explore. But even then I don't do enough quests to activate various encounters.

I think he's talking about the spriggans, or the tree people who teleport. (Edit: Or that guy to. I hated how I had to jump onto that tiny ledge to get to the end in that dungeon.)


Boss fight-wise in skyrim, I recall a dungeon where I was low-level and I had to deal with a deathlord that shot arrows that One-hit killed me!

Tough bastard, but I figured out how to kill him. I timed his arrow shots, then ran in with dual wield swords and charge-attacked him then ran to another hiding place where I saved, then kept doing these hit and runs until the lord of death bit the dust. The bow he dropped was so worth it.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Oh I remember that boss fight (the one mentioned in the OP), that guy was a ***** to fight. I play a sword and sheildy type, so that means I'm extremely deadly at close range between quick slashes and sheild bashes. However, that means I need to get close enough and the frost spell always slowed me down too much. I think I was finally able to get to him using the Turn Etherial shout.

While on the topic of Skyrim, albeit I never got to fight it myself, one of the Bethy developers made a mod that had a massive mubcrab you could fight. The thing was so big that it just tried to step on you. I don't think you can actually find it online, but I'm sure you can find the video of it.

 

[Voulan]

The best way to get boss fights like that is to only very occasionally choose to level up your health, and always aim for magicka. When you get to the harder enemies, they can almost all one-shot kill you from a distance.

My most epic fight was fighting 10 Draugr Deathlords at once. Sure, it was a big area so I could run and dodge, but it took a lot of concentration. This was outside a ruin you get to as part of the main quest.

 

[Volafortis]

Dragon Age Origins on the higher difficulties for PC. It's the only game that has evoked the same, consistent feeling of accomplishment after every major encounter. Every major fight fels like a major fight. You need to properly line up all of your spells and properly place all of our AOE spells (because friendly fire is active). You need to use poisons/traps/resistance pots. You need to position your party carefully. You need to take advantage of the pause and play mechanic. No game has done tactical boss battles as well as it has, in my opinion.

 

[endtherapture]

Dragon Age Origins on the higher difficulties for PC. It's the only game that has evoked the same, consistent feeling of accomplishment after every major encounter. Every major fight fels like a major fight. You need to properly line up all of your spells and properly place all of our AOE spells (because friendly fire is active). You need to use poisons/traps/resistance pots. You need to position your party carefully. You need to take advantage of the pause and play mechanic. No game has done tactical boss battles as well as it has, in my opinion.

Baldur's Gate 2 my friend.

Boss battles are intense and unforgiving easy on easy difficulties.

Bodhi, Lich in Spellhold, Demogorgon, Firkraag, Irenicus, Demilich, Twisted Rune, Slaver Lords. Battle after epic battle. So epic, and so challenging.

Dragon Age did do battles well though.

 

[Asita]

My best experience with boss fights was trying to kill Lu Bu for the first time in Dynasty Warriors 4.

Ahhh, I remember all those countless attempts like it was yesterday...

You mean at Hu Lao gate? I seem to remember him being a nightmare there, despite it being a 2-star mission.


Let's see here...I remember having quite a bit of trouble fighting Flemeth in Dragon Age: Origins (mind you, I had a rogue-assassin character), which was all worth it in the end when I delivered the final blow and was treated to seeing my character ride her head to deliver the killing strike[footnote]That is going to sound so weird to anyone who doesn't know she takes the form of a high-dragon for that fight[/footnote]

I also find that there's something rather cathartic about 'thousand battles', where you face a metric ton of weak enemies. Generally, they're good fun, but one of them is actively nervewracking for me - the one in Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner. Why is that nervewracking? Because your allies can and WILL die fairly quickly if you don't go out of your way [repeatedly] to save them. And I'm the kind of player who will keep trying until I save them all just because I can. And I have. ^_^