Those sneaky mimic chests...

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So, mimic chests! Those little bastards who sit there looking all nice and innocent in disguise, promising rewards and riches beyond your wildest dreams, but then have the cheek to jump up and bite your head off when you try to open them. These guys are in a TON of different games, mostly dungeon crawlers and the like.

I made this topic mainly because I recently finished my first Dark Souls playthrough. For those who don't know, the mimic chests in this game basically one shot kill you with an unavoidable grab attack if you try and open them. I basically died on every mimic I encountered before I learnt how to recognise them.

I find them quite interesting as a game concept. It adds a new layer of player awareness, whether it's learning to recognise the signs and always being on guard, or having the reflexes and experience to realise that something isn't quite right and taking action before it's too late. They also have a unique way of baiting players in. They remind me of a tropical carnivorous plant that lures insects in with scent then traps and eats them alive.

So what are the most memorable mimic chests or derivative of the concept you've encountered in your gaming time?


Captcha: uu dd lr lr ba

Captcha either just came back from the dentist or forgot it's meds...

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

I love the mimic chests in Dark Souls. They take you completely unawares the first time (unless you've already resorted to a guide by Sen's Fortress like I did) and they add another level of paranoia. NOTHING is safe in Dark Souls. I hit every chest I encountered from then on, and about half of them were Mimics.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Oh man, after that first mimic I encountered in Dark Souls I started attacking every single chest I found to make sure it was safe. Fortunately I was tanky enough to survive their insane grab attack. At least they have a massive weakness in that after hitting them they take a long time to prepare for combat, I was able to kill them before they could make an attack.

Probably the most memorable mimics I ever encountered were the ones in the original Golden Sun, I'm pretty sure that was the first time I ever encountered a mimic in a game and I remember it giving me a jump when the game played the monster shriek sound and started a battle instead of giving me that sweet loot.

 

[Isshiresshi]

.... yeah I got nightmares from those damn chest in Dungeon Siege 2! I'm scared for life. Q_Q

 

[SonicWaffle]

So what are the most memorable mimic chests or derivative of the concept you've encountered in your gaming time?

Clearly I haven't encountered many memorable ones, as the only thing coming to mind is Gyromancer, and that was just a normal chest that popped open and went "Aha! Monster in a box! Fooled you, sucker!"

Then I killed the monster, because this was only on the third stage and I'd already gone back to grind levels and chests on the first two stages, so my creatures are about ten levels over the average enemy. Stupid chest. Thinking it was badder than me. I'm the very baddest of dudes.

 

[Tallim]

I've had many a nethack run end due to mimics :/ At least the Dark Souls ones actually move while sitting there, the lid rocks up and down very slowly.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Too bad you can't get one as a combat animal. That'd be fun.

Bad guys: The splinters! Oh the splinters!

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

I always remember the Mimics in Dragon Quest VIII. I mean they were obviously tough monsters, as always, and I don't think there was a way to recognise them if I recall correctly, but what I remember most about them is the fact that there's a super one that's a boss not all that far into the game and it really, really took me by surprise. I mean, it doesn't just look like a normal mimic, where it opens up its lid and has teeth instead of delicious loot - this one tears apart its lid to form crushing fists and a freaking skeleton monster thing pops up out of the chest top. Unconventional, but memorable.

 

[Alhazred]

The mimics in Final Fantasy XII are pretty unusual. Rather than wooden chests, the mimics in this game are four-legged insectoid creatures disguised as metallic canisters. The boss of the area they're found in (Barheim Passage) is a queen mimic about ten times the size of a normal one.

Interestingly enough, their metallic appearance and four legs lends them similarities to Omega, one of the series' infamous optional bosses (his incarnation in FF XII is called Omega mark 12), and some of the bestiary entries seem to suggest Omega and the mimics were made by the same creator.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Monster-in-a-box(tm)!

*VOOSH*

Looks more like box-in-a-monster to me.

The tradition is to always have them be tougher than most opponents in the dungeon, sometimes tougher than the boss. This continued into Super Mario RPG, where the last of the 'fake-box' monsters had HP equal to Smithy's first phase. Not the biggest fan of having lots of these since it discourages exploration unless you have a great reward to make up for it.

 

[lechat]

.... yeah I got nightmares from those damn chest in Dungeon Siege 2! I'm scared for life. Q_Q

yeah those were brutal
you could run through slaughtering enemies then you open a chest and BAM!!! full party wipe

 

[DoPo]

I find them quite interesting as a game concept. It adds a new layer of player awareness

Yes, the "shoot every chest before you open it" gameplay. Which is boring and tedious. I remember doing it in Nox, oh how well I remember - you enter a room with, like 10 chests and if playing a warrior, you have to use the hookshot skill on each of them. And hookshot has several seconds of cooldown so I would be better to just grab a cup of coffee/tea and sip it while I go over all of them only to find the one, or maybe two, that are mimics.

I don't like mimics in games. Yeah, they are interesting for a total of one time, maybe two, after that it becomes a chore "Oh, another chest..*sigh* let me do my chest opening ritual now".

 

[Insanity72]

In Dark souls, I just attacked every chest I saw, before I even know about the mimics....

 

[sanquin]

My most memorable encounter with a mimic chest was in D&D tabletop. We weren't high level yet, and were already weary of a chest just sitting there in an unlocked room. And then it attacked us when we approached...we barely made it out of that fight alive.

 

[Arcadian Legend]

Ah the mimic. One of the most prominent forms would have to be the FFXII variation with their half inorganic half insect design. Nowadays I always go to attack/open them regardless because I'm crazy like that. The last mimic I stumbled upon was in Tales of Graces f, after beating it I got a small cutscene and one of the main cast gained her third Mystic Arte. (Essentially a Limit Break in FF terms) But then I tried the Trials mimic fight which simply said "Mimic" as the enemy list and I was unexpectedly set upon by over 20 of the things.

I was torn to pieces in seconds.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I always remember the Mimics in Dragon Quest VIII. I mean they were obviously tough monsters, as always, and I don't think there was a way to recognise them if I recall correctly, but what I remember most about them is the fact that there's a super one that's a boss not all that far into the game and it really, really took me by surprise. I mean, it doesn't just look like a normal mimic, where it opens up its lid and has teeth instead of delicious loot - this one tears apart its lid to form crushing fists and a freaking skeleton monster thing pops up out of the chest top. Unconventional, but memorable.

Yeah I loved those guys! I kept one on my Monster Team to fight at Morrie's. I seem to recall it wasn't just because I liked it as a pet, it was actually a decent addition to the team. Just don't remember HOW it was valuable.

 

[Xariat]

The mimics in Dark souls are easily spotted, just look at the chain.

Spoiler: picture related

I stumbled across this image way before I tried Dark souls so I never had any problem with the mimics.

 

[thesilentman]

I attack every chest in Dark Souls now just because of those bastards. Having mimics does heighten the suspense, but not one in every other corner, which thankfully Dark Souls avoids.

 

[NooNameLeft]

I find it really cool that the Mimics in Dark Souls actually breath. This is a great example of the devs thought about everything.

 

[Genocidicles]

I think the only time I ever liked the 'chest monster' thing was in Castle Crashers.

Basically every time you kill a boss, a giant chest falls from the sky and crushes their body, and then it sprays money everywhere.

Then you beat the final boss and he gets crushed by a chest. You open it and the boss (who has turned into some floating spider monster) comes flying out instead of money.