Health bars for bosses

[MrYesterday]

Love em? Want em gone? What's your take?

 

[Miles Miles]

All bosses should have health bars.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I deeply resent games that don't show health bars for their bosses... It's actually the ONE flaw I found on Dragon Quest IX.

 

[AryaAk]

i like them. my favorite is Terraria's boss health bars.

 

[MrYesterday]

I deeply resent games that don't show health bars for their bosses... It's actually the ONE flaw I found on Dragon Quest IX.

I've been brute-forcing through Silksong and have been suffering because of this lol. Some people call them a cheat for whatever reason, but they make me way less anxious when present.

 

[moonbits]

Eh, could live without them. There's better ways to illustrate damage now.

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I probably couldn't handle the added stress if something like Elden Ring or Dark Souls didn't have boss health bars. Plus, those games usually make for a cool spectacle with the boss health bar reveal and it helps keep you encouraged when you die knowing exactly how much closer you're getting to finally beating them.

I deeply resent games that don't show health bars for their bosses... It's actually the ONE flaw I found on Dragon Quest IX.

I literally had that thought when playing DQ XI yesterday hehe I guess it at least changes the colour of the boss' name when they're getting closer to defeat, but it still adds more stress not having a better idea of their remaining health

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I probably couldn't handle the added stress if something like Elden Ring or Dark Souls didn't have boss health bars. Plus, those games usually make for a cool spectacle with the boss health bar reveal and it helps keep you encouraged when you die knowing exactly how much closer you're getting to finally beating them.


I literally had that thought when playing DQ XI yesterday hehe I guess it at least changes the colour of the boss' name when they're getting closer to defeat, but it still adds more stress not having a better idea of their remaining health

Yeah, I find it almost trollish on the part of the developers -- the bosses know how much health YOU have.

 

[χKai]

Tch, I don't need a st8nkin' health bar
As soon as they start flashing colors you know it's coming soon

 

[Kremiso]

not properly health bar, but loved the dynamic bar system into Last Remnant

also the bosses stats starting to flash red

 

[MasterEn]

i like the gag that they did in tears of the kingdom with the health bar showing up for ganondorf like it normal does and then it keeps going until it hits the edge of the screen.
health bars are very important, since they help keep track of your progress in battles. and can help with other things as well.
in ff5, the beastmaster job can act like a pokemon trainer and catch monsters to use later as a one time spell. you even catch them like pokemon; by lowering their hp. goblins use the flare spell, which deals a good amount of damage.
they have 16 hit points.
it was nerve wracking to try and catch one without knowing how much hp it had left.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

3 hits and were done just like my relationships

 

[χKai]

i like the gag that they did in tears of the kingdom with the health bar showing up for ganondorf like it normal does and then it keeps going until it hits the edge of the screen.
health bars are very important, since they help keep track of your progress in battles. and can help with other things as well.
in ff5, the beastmaster job can act like a pokemon trainer and catch monsters to use later as a one time spell. you even catch them like pokemon; by lowering their hp. goblins use the flare spell, which deals a good amount of damage.
they have 16 hit points.
it was nerve wracking to try and catch one without knowing how much hp it had left.

I didn't know that was a thing in totk
But I had that in my ROMhack! It happened to Boomer Kuwanger's life bar and got a good laugh out of many people who played it.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

It can be both a good and bad things.

Some games don't have a lifebar for enemies nor bosses yet are still good.

 

[MasterEn]

I didn't know that was a thing in totk
But I had that in my ROMhack! It happened to Boomer Kuwanger's life bar and got a good laugh out of many people who played it.

yeah, it happens only during his boss fight, and it's meant to show that he is now taking the fight seriously.
most of the time game devs don't put in that much effort to do unusual things with the interface or with typical stuff like having character acknowledge healing items. they do that in final fantasy 5 during a story sequence; the main cast of characters try to save one of the party members, using potions, cure spells and a phoenix down to no avail. that scene always stuck out to me more because of that.

 

[χKai]

yeah, it happens only during his boss fight, and it's meant to show that he is now taking the fight seriously.
most of the time game devs don't put in that much effort to do unusual things with the interface or with typical stuff like having character acknowledge healing items. they do that in final fantasy 5 during a story sequence; the main cast of characters try to save one of the party members, using potions, cure spells and a phoenix down to no avail. that scene always stuck out to me more because of that.

Like, if at that point he reached through the screen and started to try to strangle me, I would definitely take the fight more seriously at that point

 

[Scotty]

Every game should have health bars for bosses; Or, at the very least, some kind of damage indicator (think of bosses flashing red from an old Capcom game like "Magical Quest" or "Bonkers").

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I liked how Borderlands 2 had an "on-screen" health bar for major bosses (compared to smaller ones like regular enemies).

 

[Bakuma1997]

YES

I can't describe hpw much Dopamine it releases seeing the attack or item i use versus a boss suddenly chop chunks of that boss' lifebar while i previously couldn't even dent it

 

[ShadowsofCreationAga]

Just like with any other mechanic, it completely depends on the game. For example: having Health Bars in horror games is a terrible idea.

 

[Retro Doomer]

I wish I could have seen the health bar on my boss
Anyhow it depends if they don't kill the athmosphere of Le game than i prefer it its always good to know how much my damage sucks.

 

[PSVitaForever]

I like them, it feels good to see it change with every attack or special skills; in old turn based games I always mentally take notes of the numbers, especially if I read them in a guide!

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 8:41 PM

Love em? Want em gone? What's your take? View attachment 123005

Which game is this?

 

[King Torro]

Maybe a boring answer but depends on the game.
I don't necessarily need to see a health bar in a game where the information is communicated well in another way ( visible wounds / behavior change like in Monster Hunter ) or parts falling off / smoke / fire coming out of a mechanical opponent ) or we're dealing with something like a horror game monster where retaining the atmosphere / immersion is important and a health bar would make it less scary.
A standard HP bar is good tool to have in a lot of action games. I think Hollow Knight lacking a boss HP bar seemed questionable imo given how long a lot of those fights can go.

HP bar can also be a part of the game's visual design - Love it when some games do stylish health bars or the boss' health bar "vibrates" when they take damage! Or you deliver a big damage hit and it shows the damage you did with that yellow extension thing that you see in fighting games.

 

[MrYesterday]

I like them, it feels good to see it change with every attack or special skills; in old turn based games I always mentally take notes of the numbers, especially if I read them in a guide!

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 8:41 PM

Which game is this?

Salt and Sanctuary, it's avaliable for the Vita, pc and Switch (as well as Playstation 4/5 and Xbox devices)

 

[JPchicre]

The only games i Played where they were not there, and were not needed were like Mario games where you just had to hit the boss 3 times.