How many bosses have changed in three (four) parts of the shower and what should you do to make your boss come out memorable and good? Let's get to the bottom of this.
Initially, I wanted to tell my opinion about each boss out of 92 available, but then I realized that in the first two parts of the shower almost all the bosses are passable, and therefore I will go to the bosses that I liked personally for one reason or another.
Dark souls
And we'll start with the first opponent you'll meet if you go from the first part - the Sanctuary Demon. In my opinion, it's a perfect reflection of the whole subsequent game. Look at him. It's a big, horrifying thing, with one mass, and we haven't seen his face yet.
Jokes aside. The demon of the sanctuary, in my opinion, is really well made. As I said, he's good at showing you what's next. And even though it's more of game design than a boss who is interesting or versatile, I can't help but notice that it's a good start. It is also worth mentioning the music that plays in front of him. Pinching and shouting. To become such a boss.
And here we face the very problem that the interesting bosses are from the side of the gameplay and a set of not only lucky but also external facts, in the first and second part is very little. And that is why the next boss we will talk about is Ornstein and Smog.
To be honest, I passed the first sauce twice for different ends (because the first time I accidentally came out of the crucible), and all these two times, this couple was not a problem for me. Moreover, I managed to kill Smog first. But I can understand why this boss seemed so difficult for people. I don't know what Demon's souls say, but in the first dark souls, Ornji and Zirnicz became the first boss with the second phase. Moreover, the first was not sugar, because both were very well complemented, because if you step back - catch up with Ornstein, you hesitate - Smog will fit you and write you a non-illusory. In this regard, the boss is well thought out. It's also well-thought-out that the boss has a variable second phase, depending on which one of the two you kill first.
And now feel the situation. Except for the final boss and one of the additions, I have nothing to say about all the bosses of the first part. Many of them look great, they often have a rich fill with the lion, but otherwise, they are absolutely nothing. All their game features come down to great game design, whether it's Sith, Four Kings, Chaos Box or Calamity.
But the final boss will be in the final, but for now, let's talk about the character and at the same time the boss who won the hearts of the gravy players - Artorias Putnik the Abyss.
Such a strong attachment to the character is due to the fact that on the way to him and after the battle with him, we know a lot about Artorias. In short, he came to save the settlement of Olachil from the Abyss and, bravely fighting to the end, fell victim to the same Abyss. From the characters met on the way, we learn that Artorias had a heart of gold and that he was always a loyal friend (and for someone and something more). Seeing a once-great warrior turn into a brainless monster is even more painful. I decided to tell you about it because the story of Artorias is not the only thing we remember about him.
Those who played Bloodborne and Dark souls III know that in these games, Mi'zaki took a course on the dynamism of fighting, where it's better to use evasion than a block (BB Shields, Shut up!!!). So, in addition to the first souls, the cunning Japanese felt the ground, and Artorias was the beginning of future projects Miyazaki. And that's exactly what he remembered.
The whole first DS is very slow and quiet. It completely conveys the feeling that this is the way to one end anyway, so you should take your time in studying locations and battles. That's why almost everybody in this game was playing through shields and armor. It was simply easier. In the first soul was a limiter of 25% of the load for normal evasion, in contrast to 70% of the second and third, and it was also strongly in favor of shields.
And now imagine that you've gone through the game slowly, finding out how the bosses work and what to do, and then you come to the next arena and get into the bakery cutting incredibly quickly. The first thought: "Well, let's go a couple more times and see. You walk for the second time, the third, fourth, tenth, fifteenth, thirtieth and can not understand what is wrong. Stamina flies away from the blocks in a moment, as if the armor does not protect, and this fucking Artorias constantly beats you, without giving you a break.
And here you start experimenting. Take off your armor, watch more powerful shields, take other types of weapons to understand how to defeat them. This way you will know that: first, he ignores the armor, and even naked you will receive the same damage as in any other armor; second, the windows for attacks with large or slow weapons are too small, and either you need to wait for the window to be bigger, or move to a faster one; third, the shield is almost useless. Even if you survive one blow, the second one will finally knock down the stamina and you will open yourself up to the blow, and it hurts Artorias very much.
So you feel what you felt at the beginning of the game again. You start to adjust to her rules again, as they have changed. Now you, despite how well you're pumped up, nobody because your style of play is too ineffective against this boss and you need to become better again to beat him. The people who went through Artorias with a shield to the top are my respect. Such firmness of spirit and stubbornness must still be sought.
That's why Artorias remembered a lot of things. In addition to the information content, he has gameplay content, which allowed many to feel what made them stay in the game.
And so we can note the basis that we need to create an interesting boss:
- The boss must be filled with Laura
- The battle with the boss must take place in interesting circumstances, whether it is a battlefield or a content site (the battle with Artorias takes place in a literal gladiatorial arena)
- The boss must challenge the player and not just be another complicated barrier.
Dark Souls II
There is nothing to talk about, except that almost all the bosses are anthropomorphic or human-like (oil is oily, but by the second I mean something like Nashandra, while by the first - the Guardians of the Throne). As it was shown earlier, in the second DS there are almost as many characters as in the first and third combined, but it doesn't help. I'm going to tell you my attitude to the game, and I'm going to paint its pros and cons in the next blog because that's not what we're talking about right now.
I haven't heard anything from anyone I know about the fact that DS2 has a lot of good bosses, but I remember two of them personally. The king (eve) elephant bone, as the battle with it is furnished just on 12\10, and it's a pity that nowhere else there was such a thing, and Reime, who is a Smoke Knight because in the second phase of his horizontal passageway is broken by the sword away. I crossed it eight times just because I went to the strap, that's how it works.
BloodBorne
- Unexpected, isn't it? In fact, there is no way to get through BB here. It was an important step in the development of Mi'zaki's vision of the bosses. Again, there is a topic I would like to discuss, but this is for the next blog. Just keep in mind.
- It was because BB Miadzaki had already brought the concept of bosses to mind that I started to get the impression that he had just put BB on DS rails, made design and added a couple of chips peculiar to the game, got a great game in a little bit different universe.
- The bosses will again go in order. The first person we meet is the Church Monster* crossed out* Father Gascoin.
- A dark cemetery, in the center of which someone dismembers the corpse. This very one says something to himself until he sees us. "It's all monsters around," he says. - "You'll be one of them. Sooner or later. The situation is perfect.
- Even without taking into account the fact that you could have met his daughter before that moment, you can already understand that Gaskoine himself had time to go mad and believes that everyone around him - a monster, not seeing that he himself has long ago become the same. And the challenge does not go away. For beginners who have not yet learned to parry, Gaskoine turns out to be a real nightmare. A lot of quick and not only attacks, roughly speaking, three phases, in which the last priest is literally off the chain.
Gascoin is very accurate in conveying the feeling of the whole game, and, from boss to boss (except for some), the bar of atmosphere and immersion rises higher and higher. Here I'll talk about Herman, because, in my opinion, Mi'zaki understood how he wants the next bosses to be in his games.
Herman, if I had been playing the games as they came out, I'd have been number one before the third soul additions, because he's really great. The place of the battle, the garter (especially if you got to the real workshop and passed the addition), the movements and the music. Not that BB has bad music. It's great, but not everyone can appreciate it, in my opinion, because it's very pressurizing. It pushes the atmosphere and fear into almost every battle, and only the melody that accompanies the First Hunter lets us know that he's the end and ours or his is no longer important.
Here our list includes the fourth item - the music should represent the situation or the character, to convey the spirit and the main idea.
For the sake of experiment (if you haven't listened to them before the holes), try to turn on the soundtracks of the first and second parts of the souls mixed up and, without peeking, say whose melody it is, and then turn on the sound of BB and the third sauce and do the same. If my experiment works for you as well as for me, you will immediately understand whose theme it is. And if it doesn't, it means that I've miscalculated somewhere. However, this is also an experiment.
Dark souls 3
DS3 is a long time to be crucified. At least 4 times for my main character, and that's without taking into account the fact that I had PC safes, and without taking into account the fact that half of the game was in slideshow format. I heartfeltly admired the Formas for optimizing the bosses' arenas because none of them sagged.
However, I won't say much, because it doesn't make sense. In essence, every boss in this game, except for a few, is made according to our four rules:
1 - The boss must be filled with Laura
2 - The battle with the boss must take place in interesting circumstances, whether it is a battlefield or a content site (the battle with Artorias takes place in a literal gladiatorial arena)
3 - The boss must challenge the player and not just be another complicated obstacle.
4 - The music must represent the situation or the character, the mood and the main idea.
And notice. Bosses like Wolverine and Ancient Wyvern you strongly remembered? But you remember exactly the Champion Gunder, the Untitled King, the Keepers of the abyss, Jorm (perhaps, but his storyline really touched me for some reason), Lorian and Lotrik, Sullivan, and this is only the main game. Each battle was a battle where a man is opposed to a truly formidable opponent, as evidenced by the music as well as the way these opponents move and fight. And after that DLC brought us four more - Frida, the Princess Demon, Midir and Gael. And it is the last one I will stop at.
I'm not just cherishing Gael like the best boss Mi'zaki ever made. In addition to our four points, he has what it takes to spin the second phase of the Soul of Ashes.
After so many comparisons, Gael is still my best boss at all. And there is a good reason for that. Gael has three phases, each of which is the epitome of every part of the series. At the time of the release of the Dark Shower supplement, it has been six years since it was launched. During this time, Miyazaki from the head of development and designer managed to grow into the head of the company. During this time, the Dark Souls have managed to become something completely different, because every part of the experience and the main idea were very different. And this, in my opinion, is what Gael says.
We meet an old man, as an NPS, opening the way for us in the first addition. There he can help us to defeat Frida and go further. In the second addendum, Gael shows us where to go and where to go with his phantoms and also helps us in the battle with the Prince Demon. And the last meeting happens when our friend has almost completely lost his mind. Despite this, he still has a goal, which he is eager to achieve even while being enveloped in madness. Hence the title of Knight Slave. Being hollow, they will still do their duty.
The first phase of the battle is the most measured one. Gael walks on all fours and strikes two or three times except one combo attack. The music is epic, but it still doesn't diverge on a large number of instruments at once. Mostly we hear only a few bowed, three or four male voices and periodically one female voice.
Such a structure of battle and music, as you remember, is typical for the first part of the game, but if it was a cost (as a series of sauce did not have time to become one of the most recognizable and get on with the budget), now it is done deliberately.
And here begins the second phase. Gael is on his feet and fights with us like a real knight. The blade is held in one hand, blows are still rare, almost completely absent combo. The music becomes even more epic, several more instruments come into play and instead of the ensemble we already have a chorus.
I would also like to note that this phase for me personally seems to be the easiest and that periodically it breaks the hitboxes.
But maybe I have already thought it up.
The third phase. Gael shows all his strength. He flies all over the battlefield, using magic, sword, and crossbow at the same time, combining them during the flight and out. With one repetition of the main theme of the third phase, a lot of bloody skulls break out of it, and after a while, lightning strikes the places where they fall. It is worth saying that it gives the dynamics of the battle, because standing in the same place is not better, and colorful, because who among you is ready to say that lightning is not cool? Music at this point reaches its climax, expressing everything that happens around it. Women's vocals come to the fore. Pompousness and grandeur emphasize the fact that Gael is no longer fighting like a man, and that the end of the fight is approaching. You do not have estufa and health, Gael himself is just as badly beaten, and it is about to all decide on one blow, and who will make it first - depends on you.
As with any good fairy tale, Stories starts with a turn of the page of a big (and certainly thick - in a good sense) book, in which for sure there will be a lot of interesting stories. One of them will be the subject of our story.
The measured and improbably alive voice of the Storyteller begins to describe our main character - a brave fox-pirate Reynardo so that the image of the red one-eyed cunning man is very accurately drawn in ahead. Reynardo had to leave his business, but with a series of events, he has to take a blade and save the world again!... Well, okay, we'll save the world later, so far the purpose of salvation is a very stupid and fast rabbit, who runs away in an unknown direction with some book.
Reynardo was a very fast fox... once upon a time, but now he was just a little short of a pimple to save his ear wards. Not thinking for long (and thinking for a while - imperial crows are about to surround the old pirate), Reynardo has enough book and in a flash takes off on his fastest airship! - as far away as possible.
What to do now? The empire has suddenly struck a blow to the resistance, and now we need to help the members of the uprising immediately. But there is one problem: Reynardo's old friend Lapino the Rabbit was captured by his friend, and it wouldn't hurt to save him, too. And this stupid book, too! Why did the emperors need it, and why did the rabbit not want it to get to them? Okay, we need to urgently decide where to send Bystrolet before it's too late. The Narrator's voice stopped for a second...
The first thing that bribes a player is the election system, which at the end of each level offers several options for how history can develop. Save an old friend or find a superweapon? Help the resistance or save the princess? Yes, usually there are only two options to choose from, but the ability to "make" your own fairy tale at first is very pleasing.
However, at some point, you realize that the elections only partially change the direction of the plot and that the game goes on predetermined rails of narration, and the branches differ from each other very little. But I was in a hurry because our first story is not over yet.
Unfortunately, Reynardo died. Or disappeared. Or he was in a dungeon and spent the rest of his days there. In general, the number of endings is quite large - as much as 24, and they differ only in how bad everything became. Sometimes the absurdity of the situation is so overwhelming that you get a stupid smile on your face, but more often than not you will feel something in between almost indifference and the faceplate - it was not possible for Spearhead to make every final dramatic. Partly it's a problem of the number of these ends: there's no sense to get to each of them and to do it just out of curiosity and desire to know all the possible outcomes becomes painfully boring by 7-8 times. But before we talk about why it's boring, let's figure out why we need to pass the game several times.
Every time Reynardo gets in trouble, the Storyteller, first of all, chews the hero in every possible way, that his stupid decisions have led him to such a fate, but then he will start his story again, and the pages of the book of Stories will return us to the very first fork. Surprisingly, Reynardo remembers all the previous consequences of his decisions - or is it just the player who remembers everything? It doesn't really matter, but it does matter that you need to know four truths to solve this temporary paradox.
It's easy enough to know the truth - you just have to go through the game at one end. In order to get the remaining three, it will take a little bit of brainwashing to figure out what choice (or, to be more precise, a few choices) to make next time. On the one hand, this approach allows not only to justify repeated passes but also gives the player the opportunity to study. On the other hand, there is no research as such, because the main branches of the story are very different from each other, and the first two forks are enough to get the next truth - only the context of the end depends on the next election. As already mentioned, there are 24 of them, and there are only 4 truths, so the chance that the first four passes will give you everything you need to know is high enough.
Still, it's too early to bury Stories, because the variable narrative is only half of the game. It's time to talk about what's going on in between.
On the way, the red fox will have to deal more than once (and not two, and not three ...) with the detachments of imperial crows - other representatives of the animal world in the army, apparently, do not take. It will not be possible to agree with them, no matter how much you want it, so Reynardo has to recollect all the techniques that were mastered by them in the school of swordfish. Friction and evasion are the basis of the combat system, but as the character develops, new abilities and techniques will be available.
There will also be several types of blades that can be forged and improved, but only once. Each of the swords can give attacks a special effect, such as making them freezing or increasing the speed of impact. It's fun at first, but the sense to switch between them is lost quickly, because the most effective is the sword, restoring health. Gems that can be inserted into a glove are much more useful - they give constant reinforcement.
Returning to the ravens, there are no other opponents in the game but them. Yes, in addition to the usual crusaders there are soldiers with shields, there are wizards attacking from afar, as well as a couple of other types of enemies, but some special tactics to defeat each of them do not need to develop - most of them are killed by either a simple casting or using one of the special techniques.
The narrative is limping, and so is gameplay, so what's in Stories that can make you play it? Maybe a beautiful world and locations? Almost...
The main problem with the visual component of Stories is that all the locations you have to go through are archipelagos of islands hanging high in the sky. Sounds cool, but unfortunately, the levels are linear to ugliness, and secondly, they have repeated over and over again from passing to passing and quickly cease to seem unusual. The first impression from the colorful and really fairytale world disappears very quickly because of the lack of some dynamics in it. The islands are static and do not offer any additional activities. Yes, there are a couple of branches from the main path, but they either lead to one of the many chests, or they are just a short cathode.
Once Uralia was home to many tribes, but now everything is different ... The war between Nigeria and Rodentia is coming to an end: both troops are suffering incalculable losses, and it is very difficult to say who wins, but soon one of the parties will either surrender or disappear from the face of the earth under the onslaught of the enemy. Suddenly, a lump of energy falls from the sky, and once the soldiers of the Battle of Pigari Empire have reached it, they turn into something that resembles a war in armor. Before attacking him, someone from the squad gives him a name:
Forced into battle, the warrior breaks through the battle. On the way, he (or she?) finds the body of the Rhodotian bear Ludomir. A few moments later, a Pigari general named Draga is also discovered. From her dying words, it becomes clear that the appearance of the Harbinger does not promise anything good, and everyone is in great danger. Suddenly something big breaks through the ground...
But how? From where? Why is the end of the world now? Who is/is the Harbinger and why is he/she here?
Don't worry, all (or almost all) of these questions will be answered, but not all at once - some of them will have to be searched for during the whole game. At the moment, the player knows the following: as a result of the murder of the godless priestess from the abyss escaped from the abyss - a huge snake, capable of devouring the worlds, which, in fact, and happened. However, the Harbinger does not die but moves to the Tree of Life. Here we are greeted by the mysterious Witch, who claims that with the help of the Tree of Advertisement, he can return to the past by the beginning of the last day. We learn from her that the murder of the priestess with the subsequent return of Voden was planned because the soul of the Godless priestess is immortal and always returns to the world, but this time it did not happen.
Having tried on the role of a detective, the Harbinger begins his investigation. With the help of a tree, it is possible to start the day with one of the four heroes, and following him through a few locations to get some information. At first, only two people are available to choose from - Ludomir and Draga, whose souls we found at first, but as we move forward with the investigation, the others will be available.
Heroes with whom we have to pass through the fire, water, and copper pipes turned out to be very different. So, for example, if Ludomir is a troublemaker who only wants to break the emperor's head, then Draghi tries to minimize the losses in the war, and on both sides. Each of them reacts differently to the appearance of the Harbinger, and to the circumstances in which they fall, and because of that you quickly become attached to them. Yes, they may have come out as templates, but, strangely enough, you believe in them. Especially good is their voice - this time, each character has its own voice, and therefore the game has a full dialogue.
The only character who doesn't speak at all is the precursor, and it could be "Freeman's syndrome" and work to identify the player with his character, but no: the heroes are always angry that their questions are not answered by a mystical detective.
The main engine of the narration is the ability of the precursor - the power of the Onsite (about the peculiarities of the Russian localization will talk later). Omensayts are visions that the Harbinger can telepathically show to his allies (and enemies too). The visions contain some events related to the murder of the priestess, but it is impossible to decipher them unambiguously. To do this, we will have to show them to our four allies over and over again, and then closely monitor the unfolding events.
There are only three such Omensites, and they open at certain stages of the investigation. If in Stories the truths were independent of each other, then in Omensight the visions open in a certain order and the player takes turns using them to find the evidence. You don't have to think where Omensight can help you find the information to move forward on the story - just apply it to each of the available heroes.
This approach allows you not to confuse the narrative with a large number of forks and make it more linear, in addition, each stage becomes a kind of mini-investigation, which at the end gives a scattering of new tips.
Compared to Stories, Omensight has improved the combat system and the whole pumping system. First of all, and this is probably the most important thing: it is really interesting to fight in Omensight. At first, we have to be satisfied only with quick and strong blows, but even they can be formed in different combinations. Abilities open up gradually and their number is pleasing: telekinesis, jerk through enemies, instant murder and stop time. But what's cool about fighting is that you really have to use all the techniques. Abilities have their own kuldauns and you need to alternate them, so as not to lose, and it is also worth mentioning the arenas separately - they have become not only a background for battles, but also a part of them. Almost always there is a number of barrels that can be thrown at enemies, or vice versa. Sometimes you can drop columns on arenas, and in general, the context of arenas varies from level to level.