Unique Bosses

[lonequeso 1,921]

I'm brainstorming what I want to do for a set of three bosses. They are part of on of a side-quest. The player is tasked with destroying 3 forts for a group of rebels. There are several tasks that need to be completed to do this. They are the same for each fort, and I objective is to kill the general. Having three bosses who are exactly the same is lame, so I want to give them each their own unique strategy. 

 

The enemy types int he forts go are as follows: 

• Riflemen
• Knights
• Archers
• Mages
• Cannon (This is a linked battler. There's an infantryman  as well as the cannon itself.)

 

Nothing too elaborate class-wise. Just enough to create a diverse army. There's plenty of troop combinations to fight with the general. As I said before, I want each of the three generals to require a unique strategy to beat. I don't want them to be full-fledged puzzle bosses where there's only one specific way to defeat them. 

 

Some simple examples of what I mean:  

• Enemies Cover the boss and need to be killed in order to reach them.
• Either magic or physical attacks are more effective, and the enemies switch resistances.
• Enemies switch elemental strengths/weaknesses.
• Enemies are vunerable to certain states.

 

Those are pretty straightforward. Ideally, I want the strategies to be a bit more complex.

 

Thoughts? Ideas? 

[Cookie Ninja 374]

As you know, evertything me tends to go overkill. But I'll try to keep it simple

 

Have one boss accompanied with some sort of charge relay, the relay starts a count down and once it is complete the boss uses a super mega deadly attack.

If the player destroys the relay before the attack happens it doesn't, after some time the relay self repairs and starts the count down from the beginning. If the boss has a simple but varied attack pattern it could turn out to be a fun battle^^ Ironically the boss could be highly resistant (not immune) to all forms of damage while the relay is out. He takes a defensive stance if you will.

 

Difficulty could easily be managed through the HP of the relay. 

 

Don't know if this was the sort of thing you were going for?

Edited October 26, 2015 by Zhakrissto

[lonequeso 1,921]

Not really, no, but I love your creativity.  I'm not big on countdowns. This world is nowhere near having the technology to make a relay either. Maybe if heavily used magic, but there would be no point in having something like that in a fort. If anything, something that elaborate would be used to defend the castle.

[Cookie Ninja 374]

Could be something as simple as a catapult that takes time to wind up, don't want them boulders on ya head do ya?  xD

 

EDIT:

New attempt!

 

A boss that is imune to all but the last state s/he used.

Ex. Throws poison, is now weak to poison until next turn. States remain even if s/he becomes imune to it.

The boss also alternates between elemental weaknesses, don't know maybe visual cues? Shield turns red means weak to fire, that sorta thing.

Maybe could combine the two: "Black ice" Ice element attack that also infuses blind.

 

I call this boss Dice xD

Edited October 26, 2015 by Zhakrissto

[Rezanta 373]

Hey, them are some nice boulders. I'd love for them to be on my head. XD If I may state another unique boss, it'd probably be The World's Bringer. An optional boss in my game, you face him, one on one, with Xerian as he attacks three times a turn. Also, take into notice, you have no access to items, and attacking will take an eternity. That thing has 900,000 HP to slice through, and Xerian's auto-shatter effect and Soul Blade are around the only two things that can hinder the boss' health, besides the normal setup. Now, that's not the unique thing. This boss can seal your elements and elemental weaknesses for a while, changing flow of the battle. If you lose an elemental weakness, a state from that element is randomly inflicted on you. If he changes your element, the main stat influenced by that element will severely decrease for a while. So yeah... Also, The World's Bringer has three different actions besides that, which are pretty simple. Yay players?

[lonequeso 1,921]

Super Saiyans can deal 900,000HP  of damage with a single punch.  

 

Hmm... about how much damage does Auto-shatter and Soul Blade do, and how often can the player use them?

[Rezanta 373]

Super Saiyans can deal 900,000HP  of damage with a single punch.  

 

Hmm... about how much damage does Auto-shatter and Soul Blade do, and how often can the player use them?

I forgot about the Super Saiyans... ugh, back to the krypton! Anyway... Shatter chips 35% of the inflicted's HP off, which in this case, is 315,000, currently. Soul Blade hits for 15-20 grand per hit, which is your only healing source. Shatter activates 20% of your physical attacks, and Soul Blade can be used once you have 100 TP. (You gain 10 TP per attack with Xerian, so yeah.)

[lonequeso 1,921]

Okay, so if your HP is getting low, you use Soul Blade. Not as powerful, but it'll keep you alive. The key to try to hit the boss with Shatter a couple times to really put a dent in his HP. Simple, but fun and effective.

 

One of my bosses is going to be kinda sorta similar. He decides to be a jerk and puts up a shield that negates all physical and magic damage. Essentially, he's invincible while he has it, and it won't go away on it's own. I don't to give away the story, but during the fight, it's made pretty clear that the player is supposed to use a certain attack. Said attack will shatter the shield, and the player can go back to doing damage. The boss will recreate the shield periodically. The attack used against it is TP based. 

 

That's the central mechanic at play. I'm a bit too far away from that fight to start developing the boss's stat's and other skills. It's a simple mechanic, but it ties into the story.

[lonequeso 1,921]

I had an idea for one of the generals. I don't have a boss like this yet. He creates two copies of himself. He copies can be destroyed, but they're harder to hit. Their stats aren't as high as the general either. They have the same attacks as him, but different attack patterns. They have different elemental resistances/weaknesses, too. Maybe vulnerable to more and different states. Getting rid of the clones won't defeat him, but it will make things a lot easier. If the general dies, so do the clones.

There will be several other battlers to make a good sized troop.

 

To really make things interesting, I want the general and the clones to alternate positions after every turn. The question is, how to do that, and if it's worth the effort. Ideally, there would just be a script that swaps them. To avoid the issue of "A", "B", "C", there would be three separate battlers that have the same name. If such a script exists, this will easy. If not, I'd have to store and adjust lots of variables. I really don't wanna do that. 

 

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[Lord Vectra 414]

I had an idea for one of the generals. I don't have a boss like this yet. He creates two copies of himself. He copies can be destroyed, but they're harder to hit. Their stats aren't as high as the general either. They have the same attacks as him, but different attack patterns. They have different elemental resistances/weaknesses, too. Maybe vulnerable to more and different states. Getting rid of the clones won't defeat him, but it will make things a lot easier. If the general dies, so do the clones.

There will be several other battlers to make a good sized troop.

 

To really make things interesting, I want the general and the clones to alternate positions after every turn. The question is, how to do that, and if it's worth the effort. Ideally, there would just be a script that swaps them. To avoid the issue of "A", "B", "C", there would be three separate battlers that have the same name. If such a script exists, this will easy. If not, I'd have to store and adjust lots of variables. I really don't wanna do that. 

 

Any thoughts/suggestions?

You could use the enemy transform command.

[lonequeso 1,921]

That'll help a bit. Ideally, I'd want a script to just switch their positions so I can skip adjusting their HP/MP through eventing.

 

I'm thinking another of the three generals will be able to apply a lot of DPS. There's three statuses in my game that deal damage every turn, Poison, Bleed, and Curse. I don't have any enemies that can apply all three.

It would add up to -18% MaxHP per turn. 5 turns = -90% Add some good ol' regular damage from the boss and his allies, and it can be quite devastating. He'll be able to Stun and Paralyze, too. Maybe Silence. That will make healing more difficult. He'll also be harder to hit. I'm thinking a couple knights will have a standard Cover ability to protect him when he's weak. If not the boss, someone will be able to Blind as well. 

 

How's that sound?

 

So one general will be evasive, the other debilitating. One general left...

 

I'm thinking the third will be heavy on buffing his troop. Any other ideas?

Edited October 30, 2015 by lonequeso

[Lord Vectra 414]

That'll help a bit. Ideally, I'd want a script to just switch their positions so I can skip adjusting their HP/MP through eventing.

You can do that through eventing.

[lonequeso 1,921]

I could, but I wanna script to do it for me. I may use this type of enemy again so I want to be able to set it up as efficiently as possible,

[Lord Vectra 414]

I could, but I wanna script to do it for me. I may use this type of enemy again so I want to be able to set it up as efficiently as possible,

That would be when common events and variables will come in but okay.

[devonm0 37]

funny, Vectra, but I read what Solitary Cheese...I mean Lonequeso was saying and thought the exact same thing you posted.

 

Speaking not just of bosses, but of reqular enemies too, in my game I have a state corresponding to each element in the game, with the idea that each skill is assigned one of those states to inflict 100% of the time.  It may sound like a big fat waste of time to some, but it's the only way I could think of to make enemies react to certain elements.  Is this a good idea?

[lonequeso 1,921]

If you have an event that's going to run, Common Events are perfect for it. That's what they're for. The reason I don't want to use one in my case, is that I rarely ever do the exact same thing twice. If I re-use the enemy swapping event, it'll be a bit different. 

I don't know exactly how I'm going to change it so a Common Event doesn't do me any good. Copy/paste and adjusting the parameters will be more efficient in this case. 

 

I actually have a lot of Common Events. I use them for my Class Change System, Crafting system and to check if a character has mastered a skill after they use it.

[lonequeso 1,921]

Been a while since I put anything on here. Mainly because I haven't designed anything new. I had a fun idea for a boss. It's not the most unique. The idea was inspired by a boss in Final Fantasy Tactics. It is a giant plant. Generally plant bosses like tossing lots of status conditions at the player. This one is no different.

It's going to be a later boss so the concept is a bit rough. It's more of a puzzle type boss. This is subject to change, but for now every other turn will be part of the pattern. There are three skills in the pattern and they target the entire party.The first two don't deal damage. The first can apply Blind and Confuse. The second can apply Sleep and Poison. The third is a skill that deals damage based on how many of those states are inflicted. The formula checks if each state is inflicted in separate conditions (no else conditions). Each one that returns true adds to a variable. The damage is then calculated based on that variable and the boss's MAT.

 

Needless to say, if you have three to four states on an actor, they are going to take some serious damage. The other turns will be random attacks. I'm thinking the plant is going to attack twice per turn. One attack is going to be an HP drain that drains HP every turn. Another is a state that was unique to a single skill learned by a single character called Binding Roots. It deals damage for 3-4 turns and lowers EVA and has a 10% chance to Paralyze. There is a chance it can be broken by damage. It is a lot to throw at the player, but if they happen to have a certain character with a certain class going in, they can use a certain skill that fully protects against the four states for the pattern attack. So, I'm going to be evil, and give the boss a skill that removes that protective state. 

 

There are plenty of items and skills to prevent or restore the states so the situation is far from hopeless. The HP drain and Binding roots can put the player in a tight spot where they have to decide whether to heal HP or restore status. I'm thinking the final skill will be one that targets randomly and repeats 2, maybe three times. It thrashes it's vines wildly. It will have a chance to Stun as well. I should be able to use script calls in the Troop Event to make Binding Roots prevent the player from switching out party members. There's 10 members total and four are active in battle.

 

The boss will have decent DEF and MDF, but low HP. It will have average MAT and low ATK (all of those relative to a typical boss) It is not an easy boss, but once you know the pattern, you can take measures to minimize damage from the most lethal attack. It will be possible to Stun the boss so you can even try and get a little lucky and stop the attack before it even happens.

 

The boss is actually part of the entire level as well. It's a post for a certain other topic I started. Essentially the entire level is a maze where vines block your way. 

You can attack different "nodes" to change which paths are open and closed. 

 

Sooo... what do y'all think?

[Rezanta 373]

I think Magikarp and Meep win o.o *Ahem* It seems like a good idea, but I'd say 15% paralysis chance, due to being a later game boss.. Otherwise, solid idea there!

[lonequeso 1,921]

10% works well for the actor can inflict it, and I don't feel like changing it or making a clone. The Paralysis s just a little wrinkle I added to make the skill more dynamic. It is a target all skill, and enemy troops have on average 4-5 battlers so 10% seemed like a good number. If there's five foes, you have a 50/50 chance of Paralyzing one while doing damage as well as damage per turn all of them. For the boss, it will be slightly less than that. It's the most debilitating state in the game so I'm careful about how easily it can be added. 

Edited February 24, 2016 by lonequeso

[Yowman 2]

For a lot of my bosses I use the players hp as the stat affecting damage on enemy attacks, in order to keep them difficult at any level. the first example of this is my 4th boss, whose damage formula is this:

 

.2bhp * (a.atk /b.def)

 

With the weakest armor available, this attack does ~ 30% of your health, while with the strongest it does ~ 15%. For some attacks he hits 2-3 times, and the ones that only hit once cause minor status effects. Also, i use an atb system, and he is slightly faster than you. And you are soloing. And you die. Losing to him actually doesn't end the game, but it does permanently kill one of your characters. He is possible to beat, but I'm not making it easy.

[lonequeso 1,921]

ATB systems are pretty cool. I may have to use one for my next project. Anything that adds more strategy to the game is A-OK in my book.  I like ATB because it forces to player to think and adapt quickly. Basing damage off an actor's health is a unique way to balance things. I haven't made any skills like that as of yet, but I got a ton more to add. I do have a couple enemies with skill that do more damage the less HP they have. Those skills can be devastating if you let an enemy linger.

[Rezanta 373]

Well, we're talking unique, so I think I'll submit Gyro. (No, he's not based off anything but my imagination... maybe.)

Gyro is apart of the Xerials, or a race of creatures that breed for perfection. After he was shown to be the weakest of the race, he decided to become part mechanical, and due to that, he learned how to pick up on certain spells/skills. So, how is he in battle? Well, my friend, I'd sing a song, but his normal attack can silence you and/or poison, and both Lek and him have Crush, which deals damage equivalent to the amount of MP you have left, although having poor accuracy. He has 900,000 HP, and is definitely the easiest of the group to beat, so I think I my need to tone down his setup... Nah XD

He also has Sweeping Laser, which is an MP-offensive attack that reduces your party's MP, and it hits twice. Once you get his HP to about 450,000, he'll call on using Spire Guards (Mimic-like enemies) that focus on healing and boosting DEF and reducing your ATK. So, it's up to the player on who they want to bring in.

[lonequeso 1,921]

I'd bring in Chuck Norris. 

[Rezanta 373]

Heh X3 Well, I guess he's in every game.

[Guyver 65]

I recently finished my huntsman club side quests and have been doing the boss fights for each of the mini bosses involved in the quest chain. I'm doing the cockatrice now, which follows typical lore for the creature with the exception being its feathers are stone. With its feathers being made of stone, it often reflects magic and when it is physically struck it will often strike back with a stone peck that could petrify the attacker. It doesn't have much else going for it though, so you could lock it down and bleed it to death slowly with status effects.

 

I'm an ass for making it, I know. :c