Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

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Vostyok
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Vostyok »

In DooM at least, the boss fights were a culmination of all the other skills and weapons demonstrated. Coming across a cyberdemon, even after wading through hordes of hell nobles and revenants in plutonia, still elicits a feeling of "shit just got real", at least for me.

I do agree, boss fights aren't strictly necessary (the battle against Walton Simmons in Deus Ex, or the Nihilanth in Half Life, both felt a bit out of place and unnecessary, for instance). For my purposes though, I want to end on a climactic high, since it's kinda traditional for what I'm doing. It's not always compulsory though.
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Reactor »

You got my point quickly :) Yes, this is what I was talkin' about. A game can be good if it ends without a bossfight. Of course, it needs to be done juuuuust right. A game ending, where you kill one last minion you've killed a thousand of before and then you get the credits roll is pretty dull.
Also, when it comes to final bosses, which solution suits you best? A bossfight, where you kill the evil mastermind, a cutscene where the evil mastermind gets killed, or letting the big bad escape in hope for a sequel?
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Zen3001 »

dishonored (the first one) had an interesting bossfight, the final enemy was a simple guard like everyone else, but the story and the environment arround alone made it feel special.
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Vostyok »

Reactor wrote:You got my point quickly :) Yes, this is what I was talkin' about. A game can be good if it ends without a bossfight. Of course, it needs to be done juuuuust right. A game ending, where you kill one last minion you've killed a thousand of before and then you get the credits roll is pretty dull.
Also, when it comes to final bosses, which solution suits you best? A bossfight, where you kill the evil mastermind, a cutscene where the evil mastermind gets killed, or letting the big bad escape in hope for a sequel?
I wanted three bosses. A recurring boss who's just an obstacle (a really tough one), a slightly weaker boss who taunts you throughout the game and has to be put down to continue. The final "big bad" was just a normal man. Whether you kill him or not is an optional path. Can't say any more...
Zen3001 wrote:dishonored (the first one) had an interesting bossfight, the final enemy was a simple guard like everyone else, but the story and the environment arround alone made it feel special.
Do you mean Daud? Yeah, taking him on head to head was epic. He had the same powers, agility, weapons. It was quite a shock. Even his minions were no pushovers. And the area where you fought him was perfect for multiple different tactics.

Oh and yeah, the best part was, he was just a guy like you. A dagger through the ribs put him down just like that. The trick was getting to him.
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Zen3001 »

yeah daud's fight was nice but I actually ment the ending where you're supposed to save emily, when you were on low chaos you only had to fight a simple guard who had the abilities every other guard you fought before him and on high chaos you had to solve somekind of puzzle to save emily.
It was simple and easy it just felt special because of the story and environment.
It's a good way to create a boss fight in a more story based and realistic game.

same with daud, he was a bit of a bullet sponge(sword sponge) compared to the other guard but he was pretty easy to beat.

Dishonored's combat is about 70% melee based, this might be the reason why the boss fights work so well in it.
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Reactor »

It can also add a LOT if you make the boss something - or someone - special. As I wrote in the Gaming clichés topic, the typical evil mastermind cliché is damn overused by now. Kill you, rule the world, mwhahahaha, stuff like this, nothing special, just another cardboard cut-out boss which gets forgotten right after it falls on its knees. It requires no efforts to come up with such a boss. Use your imagination, spice up the final boss with something, and the whole game will be a gazillion times more interesting!
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Zen3001 »

Another example that just came into my mind is far cry. They had some clear evil guys(hoyt, vaas and that weird monster from the drug trip) which I think I can consider bosses.
I'm only going to talk about vaas and hoyt. You didn't have to do anything thing special, just walk trough hordes of pirats just like every previous missions yet it felt special. Killing vaas was just a cutscene, but the story and his character alone made it feel like a hard earned achievement.
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Re: Boss Fights In FPS - Will it blend??11?

Post by Ichor »

Reactor wrote:Nah, it's not necessary to actually send the player back to level 1 ;)
This is exactly what Super Ghouls and Ghosts did.
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