Yeah, I never got why that fight gets so much praise either, I always thought Bongo Bongo and Phantom Ganon were the best fights in the game.

I know the whole “OoT is actually super overrated” argument has been done to death in the last decade or so, and while I do kind of agree, I’d never say it’s a bad game by any means. I guess back in 1998 it WAS a mind blowing experience, but I just think games like Majoras’s Mask and a lot of the older games were way better with this kind of thing. They at least allowed you (And in Majoras case encouraged you) to experiment and find your own strategies for the bosses, Ocarina was more “Equip this item, repeat this sequence 3 times, boom; you’re done” (Granted; that is most Nintendo boss fights in general lol).
 
Yeah, I never got why that fight gets so much praise either, I always thought Bongo Bongo and Phantom Ganon were the best fights in the game.

I know the whole “OoT is actually super overrated” argument has been done to death in the last decade or so, and while I do kind of agree, I’d never say it’s a bad game by any means. I guess back in 1998 it WAS a mind blowing experience, but I just think games like Majoras’s Mask and a lot of the older games were way better with this kind of thing. They at least allowed you (And in Majoras case encouraged you) to experiment and find your own strategies for the bosses, Ocarina was more “Equip this item, repeat this sequence 3 times, boom; you’re done” (Granted; that is most Nintendo boss fights in general lol).
Phantom Ganon was my favorite. I think Bongo Bongo could've been the best if he didnt go down so easily.

I could never dislike Oot, too many fond memories with it. I certainly can't say its a bad game either but one that on replay has a lot of noticeable big flaws and whos reputation can feel really forced at times tbh.
 
Sometimes style is substance, and i think it is a really cool looking fight.
 
I think the fight against Barinade in Jabujabu's area is also very interesting.
 
For its time it was quite innovative to use real-time laser reflection instead of a delayed one like in a puzzle game.
 
Personally speaking I think Megaman Legends boss fights were considerably better and that game came out a year earlier.

Almost all boss battles in Mega Man Legends are literally just running in the circle around the boss and shooting.
 
Almost all boss battles in Mega Man Legends are literally just running in the circle around the boss and shooting.
You can dumb it down to that if you want, I never said they were the best bosses ever. Thats still more than what you do with most Ocarina of time bosses.
 
We all have been in situation where certain enemies or bosses halt your progress entirely for various reason. Ranging from said enemies uses trick that you are not familiar with, bosses that requires understanding on gameplay mechanic that otherwise be challenging without, and some other simply of significantly harder and faster that FORCE you to be A BETTER PLAYER. Maybe even all of them.

So in today's thread I'm going over bosses that are very well-designed, even when the heated moment turn into frustration, and you have to be stay on focus throughout the session as those enemies can make you audibly gasp and applause for amazing battle.

(THIS WILL BE A LONG THREAD SO PLEASE BE READY FOR READING)

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Alatreon (Monster Hunter World: Iceborne)
Let's start with the one boss that not only make a better World Gunlance player, but make me better in every Monster Hunter and the many adversaries and challenge, it's none other than Alatreon. Time to break it down mechanic that make Alatreon is one of the finest and hardest challenge Monster Hunter ever pull.
- ESCATON JUDGMENT: Escaton Judgment, or shorten to Escaton/Supernova and EscaJudge (by me only), is an arena-wide attack that deal 1500 damage to the player in near-impossible to sustain DoT, and with player's max HP only 200, you really have to be careful with this powerful attack. But at the same time, this attack is not without mechanic that make this attack survivable but also straight up cancelling it.
- ELEMENTAL SWITCH: Elemental Switch is the second main mechanic that you should paying attention all the time. Alatreon can start the quest in RedFire Mode, and its alternate start BlueIce Mode depending on what day you're playing. Regardless of what you start with, you always wants to bring Alatreon weakness and that elemental choice should be obvious. But there's a third elemental, PurpleDragon Mode, in which it will enter temporarily as before it switch to the alternate elemental (If RedFire start: Fire Alatreon > Dragon Alatreon > Ice Alatreon > Dragon Alatreon > Fire Alatreon > ...). Before EscaJudge, Alatreon will always enter Dragon first before EscaJudge into the other.
- NO FARCASTER ALLOWED: Perhaps you're thinking to use Farcaster to avoid EscaJudge entirely by returning to camp, but unfortunately, Alatreon is the only quest where Farcaster is disabled.

Fire Alatreon weaks to Ice weapon. Ice Alatreon weaks to Fire weapon. Dragon Alatreon slightly weaks to Dragon, while immune to both Fire and Ice.

Now how do you counter this threat? Let's start with play around its main mechanic first.
As mentioned earlier, EscaJudge can be avoided by two method: The first is to break Alatreon's horn in which EscaJudge will simply be cancelled and return to previous Elemental; Second is to topple Alatreon by dealing enough damage to its forelegs in which EscaJudge damage will be reduced to ~750 damage and its DoT is much slower making it survivable.
Coincidentally, I also explain Elemental Switch mechanic in one line, eh? Well, Alatreon's horn can only be broken twice before you no longer be able to prevent EscaJudge from happening. Making Alatreon hunt must be done as quickly as possible in scenario as follows:

Fire Alatreon > Topple > Dragon Alatreon > Break Horn > Fire Alatreon > Topple (if possible) > Dragon Alatreon > Break Horn > Fire Alatreon > Dragon Alatreon > Low EscaJudge > Dead
Here's come the problem. I play mainly Gunlance and Hammer, and neither is a good weapon to hunt Alatreon. In fact, you'll get flamed by your teammate if play any of these. And ironically, Alatreon is MUCH EASIER solo than with group since Alatreon is very consistent as far as moveset goes. And speaking of moveset, Alatreon has one of the best and fair moveset, everything is telegraphed and easily reacted, all come down to how good you are as a Hunter and how familiar you are with the weapon. One thing you must know in order to hunt Alatreon is to always aggressive and up-and-personal.

Eventually you know how to evade most of Alatreon's attack, when to heal when absolutely necessary, prepared for endurance battle, what attack to punish... and you confidently say to yourself "I'm not aggressive enough to win this fight." After your struggle, you just sit down and able to say "that was a great fight" proudly. Personally it took me a week of constant playing and honing my Gunlance finesse to its maximum before finally slain Alatreon in ~40 minutes.

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Arch-Tempered Velkhana (Monster Hunter World: Iceborne)
For the second entry it will be from Monster Hunter World again, I know, but I've been playing nothing but Monster Hunter in the last 4 months. From World Iceborne, Rise Sunbreak, and currently trying to tackling Generation Ultimate. One day you might heard me slain Deviant solo after long and tedious Village and Hub progression. Sorry getting sidetracked by random rant.

*clears throat* Alatreon, Fatalis, Safi'jiiva, Xeno'jiiva, Kulve Tarroth, and Velkhana. Among the hardest challenge in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Velkhana, and specifically Arch-Tempered variant, is the easiest to solo but still caught the most experience player even to this day. I've seen enough HR999 Insect Glaives and Longsword getting carted by forgetting dodge button exist and the urge to get Red Spirit Gauge is higher than actually slaying Velkhana. Listen, I can make fun of LS main because I used to be one back in 2008~2010 as a kids.

Unlike Alatreon where most of its attack are weaker but is a setup to caught you off-guard with stronger attack. Meanwhile most AT Velkhana attacks are able to one-shotted you regardless of defense, HP, your feeling, and your mood today. Doesn't mean defense is neglected as Divine Blessing skill exist to lower any damage by 50% when proc'd, Moxie (food skill) allow you to take one lethal attack and prevent you getting carted, and the elusive dodging (work best honestly). AT Velkhana attack that can one-shot you all are unblockable... so there's that.

When I'm still playing World, soloing AT Velkhana is my warmup before I have to deal with multiplayer random that probably will get wiped as fast as my Gunlance's Quick Reload.

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Genichiro Ashina [2nd Battle] (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
And to finish it off (because I'm tired typing lol), the final entry will be the second Genichiro Ashina fight as I think Genichiro is the best boss that remind you "SEKIRO IS NOT SOULSLIKE."

I'm sure some people who play Soulsborne jumping into Sekiro will plays as if it was 1:1 with Souls combat-wise, and everyone (including me) couldn't be more wrong. Iframes for dodging is essentially none, and the addition of Thrust Attack and Sweep Attack adds dimension to the reaction heavy gameplay. So let's break down what makes Genichiro is a well-designed boss not only to make you are prepared for what to comes next but also "immersive tutorial".
- ATTACK DEFLECT TIMING: One thing that separate Sekiro to Souls is the combat relying on perfect parry than it is turtling behind shield or defy logic by phase through blade and meteor. The closest I can think of is METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE with better flow in deflect timing.
- THRUST/SWEEP ATTACK: In Sekiro there are four types of attack, and four different ways to approaches it. First is standard attack that can be deflected and most attack fell into this category; Second is Thrust Attack that requires the skill Mikiri Counter in order for you to properly defend against it; Third is Sweep Attack for when you Goomba Stomp someone to deal shitload of posture damage; And fourth...
- LIGHTNING ATTACK: It's a MIRACLE you survive this attack. You better have FAITH on me making this joke in the year 2026. Even in Sekiro lightning attack fucking suck (until you meet Tsubasa Ozora later and get shut down from way downtown). Pretty sure the first lightning attack happen in this battle too, so it's another "immersive tutorial" after getting zapped into previous Idol.
- ENCOURAGING AGGRESSIVE PLAYSTYLE: Exactly this what makes Sekiro is very satisfying to play and when it click you'll have a good time. Posture damage is the best way to finish a fight than reducing enemies HP to 0, and the feedback loops of Posture mechanic is easily grasped (assuming you don't doze half the fight). The more aggressive you are the faster you are at filling the Posture bar, and as you disengage the Posture bar will gradually return to 0 as you leave them be.

HONORABLE MENTION
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Primordial Malzeno (Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak), Furious Rajang (Monster Hunter), Sulejmani (Ace Combat X: Joint Assault)

Thank you for reading my thread. I may not be able to play as many games as the guy next to me, but in return these moment sometimes become more memorable as I struggle and tried to overcome the challenge without the help of a guide. I apologize if I say something wrong as I'm not someone with 3,000+ hours that know everything, and play with minmaxed Meta build.

I'm thinking of writing "Gunlance: My Love and Hate For Certain Weapon" next, what do you think?

Going to read and react your reply later since it's midnight right now for me. I hope to listen to your version of what's MAKE YOU A BETTER PLAYER.
 
August boss fight from Wanted:Dead was this for me. Before that boss fight I was just playing the game very offensively and I don't think I used the block button even once outside of tutorial before that boss fight. After I beated that boss fight I realized how the game was actually reliant on blocking and parrying a lot and that it was actually a core part of the game's combat. I mastered it so much, that the end boss fight was actually less of a frustration than he could have been because I finally understood the importance of blocking in the game.
Same goes for the Stefano Boss fight in The Evil Within 2. Before that boss fight, I wasn't using the traps much but that boss fight made me use traps a lot and that made the rest of game actually pretty easier for me. Even the final boss.
The last one goes to the Gray Fox boss fight in the original Metal Gear Solid game. It forces you to adapt to hand to hand combat and chaff grenades, both of which come in handy with later boss fights, especially the final boss fight with liquid. By making Gray Fox boss fight rely on hand to hand and chaff grenades, the game literally saves you from getting your ass handed by liquid later because you partially know what to do. Same goes with the helicopter boss fight because it makes you use stinger missile which comes in handy at the final boss fight too.
 
Hornet is the boss where i had to stop spamming attack and realize the bosses has proper patterns, not even her rematch in the Kingdom's Edge, her first match in the Greenpath is where i got my first game over
 
I cannot remember the exact boss, but one of the many optional bosses for a side quest in Xenoblade 2 prompted me to finally dig into the poorly explained game mechanics with elemental special combos, which made the game as a whole much more enjoyable from that point on because I was playing more deliberately.

The superboss in Tales of Xillia is a similar case of being the challenge that forced me to crack open the AI settings for the party members and refine their behavior so I could take it down.
 
Any Boss that's a definite Skill Check that forces you to get the hang of the game mechanics especially on harder difficulties. ::winkfelix Or Even the Cheap ones that forces you to cheese em' when all else fails.::sailor-embarrassed
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Ashina I haven't fought yet but judging from what I've seen, he's tough. Bet he'll kick my ass too.::sailor-embarrassed
 
The scorpion in stage 2 and the first part of stage 3 of mushihimesama forced me to better my tap dodging and re-streaming on my way to get the novice maniac 1CC, looking foward to trying to get that normal mode clear now
 
Dreamrunners in DmC: DE. They actually made me pay attention to the parry system. More so on the harder difficulties with the Hardcore mod.

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Right, I'm forgetting the existence of edgy Dante. Should get to it at some point but knowing my never-ending backlog... welp.
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Any Boss that's a definite Skill Check that forces you to get the hang of the game mechanics especially on harder difficulties. ::winkfelix Or Even the Cheap ones that forces you to cheese em' when all else fails.::sailor-embarrassed
vergil-dmc-vergil.gif

rugal-kof.gif

G-Fight.gif

Ashina I haven't fought yet but judging from what I've seen, he's tough. Bet he'll kick my ass too.::sailor-embarrassed
You know what they said, when in doubt ROYAL GUARD.

Rugal is the one guy that teach me how separate milk protein casein from the whey (making cheese), and never look back after it.

Even without sound I still can hear the dink and Mikiri. Such a good design.
 
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This guy teaches you to abuse buffs and debuffs along with actually preparing using resistances for each fight, if you don't know about it or adapt then you will never be able to hit him.
 
View attachment 151357

This guy teaches you to abuse buffs and debuffs along with actually preparing using resistances for each fight, if you don't know about it or adapt then you will never be able to hit him.
Even though I never played Nocturne myself but V Vengeance instead, those buff/debuff makes so much difference in battle. I remember in VV meeting him the first time and still get clapped by Red Capote into party-wide crit spam (+ Crippling Blow passive) even with buff.

Sometimes the game just hate you.
 
View attachment 151357

This guy teaches you to abuse buffs and debuffs along with actually preparing using resistances for each fight, if you don't know about it or adapt then you will never be able to hit him.
Seconded, also he taugh me how to even use the Press Turn
 
Any time i play GTA Liberty City Stories i use the Cox mascot suit because is so damn hilarous doing crimes in a damn chicken suit
CoxMascotSuit-GTALCS.webp
 

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