Boss Battle Question

[JulianSull]

Let me know what you guys think. I really want to find out what people like in bosses. Every little comment helps too for my mods.

EDIT:

Brb, video had no sound for some reason.

EDIT: Webcam is being stupid. Ugh. Typing:

Puzzle - You can always beat it if you can get to it, the trick is figuring out how.

Preparation - When you get to it you might not be able to beat it. You need to prepare for it.

Boss and Minions - Exactly what it sounds like

Enviornment Battle - Use the stuff around you to kill the boss like cannons, rocks or trees.

Duels - Any close combat battle between one person

Sniper Battles - Any long range only battles (FPSs)

Giants - BIG stuff

Dodging Battles - Think Crash Bandicoot. Anything where you dodge attacks and attack when there is an opening.

Larger than life - Anything that is huge but not obscure. A giant ogre is not obscure so it's larger than life. If it was a giant mouth, that would be scary/obscure.

Humans - ...You know this.

Scary/Obscure creatures - Anything where you don't know what it is either because you can't see it/keep up with it (hiding) or because you have no idea what it is.

Machines - ...You're looking at one technically. Any machine. Not necessarily electronic.

Pinnacles - Wolf is an enemy. Mother wolf is a pinnacle. Anything that is a bigger version of normal enemies.

Edited June 20, 2011 by JulianSull

[ub3rman123]

For the format of battle, I've found that sniper battles and giants don't work well. They fail due to some engine problems. A. NPCs with bows never miss, especially at mid-short range. B. Unless it's built for it, an NPC scaled up has terrible collision. Dodge battles have their own problems too due to how Oblivion handles dodging.

I found puzzle bosses more fun to fight because it's a battle of wits, not just who brought the biggest sword.

And of course I prefer obscure/scary monsters because it's more fun to fight what you can't see, and it makes for a more interesting battle, particularly in using the puzzle method.

[IxFlashPointxI]

First answer:

Preparation.

Second Answer: It was a close one between duels and dodging battles. I chose dodging because it suits my playstyle.

Third Answer: All of the above, but my top is a tie between Machine and Man. I chose Man for the sake of the poll though.

[JulianSull]

For the format of battle, I've found that sniper battles and giants don't work well. They fail due to some engine problems.

A. NPCs with bows never miss, especially at mid-short range.

B. Unless it's built for it, an NPC scaled up has terrible collision. Dodge battles have their own problems too due to how Oblivion handles dodging.

Dodging battles have actually being going very well for me. I've done it a few times. There was one where I had fireballs shooting in multiple directions as you fought the final boss. It's one of my favorite boss battles. Very easy to hook up too. I might make it again for some Boss Fight.

As for Sniper, it's untested for me. I did find that slowing down the speed of the arrow is cool along with the drawing time. If the arrow is slow enough, you can grab it mid air! I was considering something like that (A special ability that does that)

For scaling, I found very scaled up creatures only work in giant environments. Really really open without trees and stuff. Once stuff gets in the way, it starts being buggy. If the environment matches the scale, it works great.

EDIT:

What I'm planning to do for this next boss fight is to have the main story bosses be scaled but have optional bosses that require preparation and searching. So here's a question:

I was considering having the optional bosses being preparation bosses, but instead of preparation being required before you cast the start spell, the preparation begins when you enter the world. So you search the world I create for the stuff you need to defeat it. Aka, if there's a boss that does 1000 damage with fire magic, you can find an amulet that reduces fire magic by 98% or something. Sound good? Main story people are always going to be puzzle bosses.

Edited June 20, 2011 by JulianSull

[ub3rman123]

Ah, dodging environmental bits. I thought you meant where an ogre was taking swings at you and you had to dodge that. Ever play Nehrim? One of the side quests, a treasure hunt, had an epic platforming section involving the crusher Ayleid traps where they came and retracted in sequences that you had to jump on.

Another suggestion for the boss battles is to keep filesize down. A lot of people can't download a half-gig for a single mod unless it's something like Nehrim. Try losing anything you absolutely don't need.

[JulianSull]

Yeah I have a few goals for this next one:

1) Increase frame rate -> Smaller File Size

2) More storytelling without actual dialogue (Environmental Storytelling)

3) Better basic enemies (So far they have been really bland)

4) Better optional bosses (Last one was super basic. Just a hack and slasher. It was done last minute).

5) Better mood (More use of colors and shaders to make you feel a certain way)

6) More Open (After the initial tutorial I'm going to completely release the grip on the player. No time limits, no direction. Just go.)

This next one is going to be much scarier. It's not just a BOO I scared you mod, more the mood will be scary and omnis. Hopefully I can achieve that. =D

[IxFlashPointxI]

Yeah I have a few goals for this next one:

1) Increase frame rate -> Smaller File Size

2) More storytelling without actual dialogue (Environmental Storytelling)

3) Better basic enemies (So far they have been really bland)

4) Better optional bosses (Last one was super basic. Just a hack and slasher. It was done last minute).

5) Better mood (More use of colors and shaders to make you feel a certain way)

6) More Open (After the initial tutorial I'm going to completely release the grip on the player. No time limits, no direction. Just go.)

This next one is going to be much scarier. It's not just a BOO I scared you mod, more the mood will be scary and omnis. Hopefully I can achieve that. =D

1)Yeah, in the first one I noticed that the frame rate was kind of iffy. But I still enjoyed it, I havent gotten around to the 2nd yet though.

2) Maybe add some backstory? Through like letters, books, dialogue heard?

3) They were kind of bland, try to make it so you don't want to take on more than 2 at a time this time around. It will feel much better, imo.

4) Sounds nice

5) Yes please

6) Make sure you dont let them COMPLETELY loose, give them a means of to know what they have to do, but don't say much more than that.

Hopes this helps with some feedback on those ideas!

[JulianSull]

With completely open there will be clues and things that hint where to go, BUT I won't force you to go in that direction.