BOSS MONSTARS

Music and length are the two biggies. An epic track that fits well makes a battle memorable, and bosses should always have at least 10x the HP as the average enemy in the dungeon (note: at least), and major bosses should almost always kill the player the first time (final bosses SHOULD kill the player the first time PERIOD). These are easy ways to make a good boss fight, but a remarkable boss fight requires you to pit the player into certain circumstances that force them to use certain strategies, and that takes some skill in game design.

Of the 2 boss battles in Catastrophe so far, neither of them are really all that memorable. The first one, Aaron (one of the main characters that joins you about 5 minutes and 1 battle later into the storyline), has 9000 HP, a move that stuns you which he rarely uses, and a more powerful move that he uses once his HP gets low. It's a good first boss since you have 4 characters in the first dungeon before you get reduced to one, I guess.

Dracula, the second battle, is a bit different. He himself isn't all that powerful; he has a basic physical attack and a magic Dark attack, but neither do much damage. He does, however, have two bats that poison you on a regular basis and can kill your healer in a turn with Dracula's help if they gang up on her, so the only real element of strategy is having your healer defend while Kenneth and Aaron take out one of the bats. Once I get the battle events to stop being retarded, Dracula will call another bat when his HP gets below 50%, and he can do damage while healing 300 HP. (If there's any way to make it so that he heals the same amount he takes with battle events/database skills, let me know!) So essentially, the first part of the battle requires you to endure attacks from the two bats and Dracula while taking out the minions and staying in good shape, while the second part requires you to keep whittling away at Dracula's health once he gets stronger and more independent. The first part is harder as of now, but I plan on fixing that.

My game Memoria makes sure that the player requires the use of strategies in order to defeat bosses and enemies that aren't considerably weaker then themselves.

One of the bosses has three components. For reference, Memoria's battle system doesn't use a traditional MP system. Each ability costs 1-3 charges, and a character may only have 3 charges at once. Characters must spend a turn idle in order to gain charges.

Anyway, monsters use this exact same system. However, this boss who can bust out some very powerful elemental spells at you. The two extra components in the fight constantly restore his charges to max. The strategy is to destroy the two extras in order to prevent the boss from barraging you with spells (which will inevitably lead to your death no questions asked). Here's the thing... the extras can't be destroyed so easily!

They must be hit with elements in the correct combination (Fire, Air then Water or Fire, Fire again then Water etc) in order to destroy them. Once they are destroyed the boss must rely on the standard system of gaining charges again and the battle is much easier.

So in essence... what makes a good boss? Not being afraid to use battle events to program a good one. They are bosses, afterall, and they only happen once. Its not like you have to put all this effort in every single time.

Bosses in rpgmaker games tend to suck. Let's change that!

author=Max McGee link=topic=1985.msg40710#msg40710 date=1225302553

Dracula will call another bat when his HP gets below 50%, and he can do damage while healing 300 HP. (If there's any way to make it so that he heals the same amount he takes with battle events/database skills, let me know!)

Uh...just click the little box that says "Absorb" when creating the enemy skill?

...Oh shit.
Thanks.

I'll describe a boss fight in my game.

Game: 1873

Boss: "Cal" and Posse.

Story Relevance: A bounty to be brought in for cash. That's all there is to it. Hey, he's the first actual boss. (Although most people die at the mini-boss with the Man in White.)

Stats (don't look unless you've beaten him already or you are stuck):


Attack Pattern: Cal himself doesn't do much beside take A LOT of damage. His saber can be dangerous early on, though, as it has a chance to inflict bleeding, adding even more damage per turn. AND DAMN, do you take damage.

His lackeys are the major threat here - two with shotguns, and two with rifles. Alone, they're bitches - 6~7 damage a turn, either on one target or spread between both Mardsen and Larsene. Add them together, and one ally can take around 22 damage each round of firing. Add in Cal, and that can hit ~35 damage. At this point in the game, your HP is between 37~40; and in 1873, if one ally dies, it's game over.

Victory Strategy: Be liberal with your Medicine, first and foremost; at this point in the game, it's a full-heal. If the enemy gangs up on one ally, it's your chance to strike - heal with one character and attack with another. At this point, Larsene has higher attack from using a rifle, so heal with Mardsen.

DON'T ATTACK CAL. No, there is no counter-attack or whatnot, it is simply WASTEFUL. Your ammo is better spent on his minions. Early in the fight, the key is to reduce the damage you take each volley and give yourself some breathing room.

One two of his lackeys are deceased, HEAL. RELOAD. Put yourself back into top fighting condition. Nothing changes, but you don't want to die here after getting through the hardest part. Once you're comfortable with your HP and ammo levels, plow down his two remaining homies. With this done, the fight becomes a normal tank-n'-spank. Enjoy.

One more thing: Pay attention to your HP at all times, even after dispatching his outlaws. I often forgot to do this in testing - I'd be pounding away,let a party member's HP fall under 15, and then that guy would die by a well-placed musket shot.

author=Max McGee link=topic=1985.msg41241#msg41241 date=1225563544
takes a deep big breath to begin a rant about how incredibly bad a boss fight design that is and then doesn't bother, because he doesn't want it to seem like he's picking on chaos today, and he figures someone else will probably get around to it anyway.

I know it's no good, but this is the only way my limited intellect could think of to make the battle more than attack-attack-attack.

And I don't care if you feel you're picking on me or not. You're doing more harm than good by withholding your feedback. I know better than to expect positive reviews.

And you can't harm somebody's feelings if they don't have any. ;)

It's a good thing you lowered Cal's HP... I actually decided to play the demo all the way through yesterday, and I fought Cal (and lost due to neglecting to heal). It was actually fun up until I killed all the henchmen. Cal himself takes a bitchload of damage to kill, and I'd already used up Take Aim on one of the goons at the start of the battle (and of course, when I got Russian Roulette charged up, I missed). After that, it was just attack, attack, attack, attack, heal, rinse, repeat.

While we're on the subject, I figure I'll ask everyone's opinions on one of my game's bosses.

I just finished working on the first boss of Four Sided Triangle Revival.
Haven't added any skills for the heroes yet, so they won't be doing much. This just shows the routines of the boss itself.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TGNVacxuQVU

author=ChaosProductions link=topic=1985.msg43373#msg43373 date=1226545629
The real danger is your aim - the four hostages are placed in front of Billy in the MonsterGroup. Thus, whenever you select an action that targets a foe, it highlights the hostage first. You have to cycle through targets in order to target Billy. Lastly, killing a hostage means instant game over. This is a bit into the game though, so the player should have the hang of this by then.

Which doesn't have much of an effect for people like me who always set the battle system to turn-based when playing 2k3 games.