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HIGH LEVEL ENEMIES & BALANCING.. THOUGHTS?
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Prinnyhero
1605
Prinnyhero
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CloseI really admire games that allow a player to get to high levels as I'm finding it increasingly difficult and time consuming to make normie/boss fights challenging or interesting in the later stages of my own game. Sometimes I spend hours making 'switch scripts' or trying to come up with something special an enemy can surprise the player with which in turn makes future battles even more time consuming to make as you feel a constant urge to 'top the last one'.
I'm wondering what some of your tricks are for making interesting/challening/cool battles in the latter stages of your games?
What would you say your absolute favorite boss fight in your own game is? Maybe a cool gimmick the boss(or enemy) did that you just knew a player would go "oh shit!" Or just a neat battle event you were really proud of doing?
One of mine in RPG Maker 2003 was when an 'honorable' character faced ends up desecrating their fallen ally's bodies mid-battle by reviving them as wraiths which force the player to change their tactics to face ghost type enemies which cannot be targeted without removing their ethereal status first..
I would love to hear what some of your own favorites are.
I'm wondering what some of your tricks are for making interesting/challening/cool battles in the latter stages of your games?
What would you say your absolute favorite boss fight in your own game is? Maybe a cool gimmick the boss(or enemy) did that you just knew a player would go "oh shit!" Or just a neat battle event you were really proud of doing?
One of mine in RPG Maker 2003 was when an 'honorable' character faced ends up desecrating their fallen ally's bodies mid-battle by reviving them as wraiths which force the player to change their tactics to face ghost type enemies which cannot be targeted without removing their ethereal status first..
I would love to hear what some of your own favorites are.
KoopaKush
3024
For my game, Lakria Legends, with the later bosses, I added a thing called "Field Effects" which was certain conditions that the Boss would do.
For example, the Dragon of Life boss, Viride, would heal for a certain amount of HP for every Item you use in battle, this made item management and spells a little more trickery and conservative to use. Another boss had a Field Effect called Pressurize where if you were at 20% HP you would be unable to act at all, so if the whole party reaches that amount, it'd be game over. Some interesting little things here and there to keep battles fresh.
Side Note: There was also a boss that after a certain amount of turns, he would seal one of your battle commands at random for a few turns, whether it was "Attack", "Defend", "Items", or "Skills".
For example, the Dragon of Life boss, Viride, would heal for a certain amount of HP for every Item you use in battle, this made item management and spells a little more trickery and conservative to use. Another boss had a Field Effect called Pressurize where if you were at 20% HP you would be unable to act at all, so if the whole party reaches that amount, it'd be game over. Some interesting little things here and there to keep battles fresh.
Side Note: There was also a boss that after a certain amount of turns, he would seal one of your battle commands at random for a few turns, whether it was "Attack", "Defend", "Items", or "Skills".
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I don't know if I really have general tricks, so much as I try to base my recurring boss mechanics off of things that players can do. If there are multiple player builds that have a 2-round-long invincibility or near-invincibility buff, then I'll make bosses that telegraph that they're about to use a giant deadly attack. If there are multiple player builds that can drain an enemy's MP, I'll make sure that's useful in a variety of circumstances, such as having a boss summon adds that can be made harmless by draining their MP. If there are several builds that have ways to ignore an enemy's defense, I'll have some bosses which temporarily give themselves very high defense.
Though, unless the boss is supposed to be a nearly impossible superboss, I always make sure these mechanics can be handled multiple ways. The giant deadly attack can might happen on round 30 of the fight, so you can also win by doing very high damage per round. The adds can probably also be neutralized with status ailments, or with regular area attacks if the player is strong enough. Players that rely on buffs and using MP-heavy spells can use the very high defense phase to rebuff themselves and refill their own MP instead of attacking, or can inflict debuffs on the boss.
I tend to design player abilities with these kinds of boss mechanics in mind, too. I try to make abilities in different builds fill the same role in boss fights without actually working exactly the same way. A buff that grants yourself immunity to a single status ailment, a tank ability that absorbs and inverts status ailments cast on allies, and a buff that automatically heals all status ailments on you every three rounds, all solve the same problem in different ways. That problem being that you can't cast Esuna if your healer is paralyzed. Some boss fights will benefit more from one of those abilities than the others, but they all work.
In longer games, I try to make each mechanic like that appear in enough boss fights that all of the different options the player can pick from will have situations where they're optimal. In shorter games, I try not to have 60 different builds, and also try to make even normal battles feel like bosses.
Though, unless the boss is supposed to be a nearly impossible superboss, I always make sure these mechanics can be handled multiple ways. The giant deadly attack can might happen on round 30 of the fight, so you can also win by doing very high damage per round. The adds can probably also be neutralized with status ailments, or with regular area attacks if the player is strong enough. Players that rely on buffs and using MP-heavy spells can use the very high defense phase to rebuff themselves and refill their own MP instead of attacking, or can inflict debuffs on the boss.
I tend to design player abilities with these kinds of boss mechanics in mind, too. I try to make abilities in different builds fill the same role in boss fights without actually working exactly the same way. A buff that grants yourself immunity to a single status ailment, a tank ability that absorbs and inverts status ailments cast on allies, and a buff that automatically heals all status ailments on you every three rounds, all solve the same problem in different ways. That problem being that you can't cast Esuna if your healer is paralyzed. Some boss fights will benefit more from one of those abilities than the others, but they all work.
In longer games, I try to make each mechanic like that appear in enough boss fights that all of the different options the player can pick from will have situations where they're optimal. In shorter games, I try not to have 60 different builds, and also try to make even normal battles feel like bosses.
Bosses that summon minions where you have to decide whether you let the boss heal and take out the minions that are racking up damage on you or focus more on the boss.
Bosses that exist where massive swarms of enemies keep rushing in over a period of time (Reinforcements have arrived!)
Bosses that can reflect damage some of the time- boss turns blue, all damage it is hit with gets sent back to the caster.
Bosses that hide, and you have to break boxes to find them or hunt them down.
Underwater bosses, where you have to go and keep collecting oxygen tanks to keep the fight going.
Having the boss have super attacks where you have to stand in protective areas to avoid getting hit really hard.
A boss that is only beaten by items, which makes most or all skills useless. Can add a nice novelty effect because players are forced to give up everything they have been relying on for a battle.
Having something normally harmless as a boss- like a cat- because the players were shrunk down and now normal things are dangerous to them.
If you have knockback in your game, having to knock the boss into certain spots for it to get damaged all or part of the time.
Optional bosses that come up at a split in the story- maybe someone you are trying to help is possibly lying to you, but you don't have enough information to know for sure, and now you have to decide whether to fight this other person they mention or not. It could affect future quests or at least the quest reward.
I think storyline probably adds just as much or more to the beauty of a boss fight than the actual boss' mechanics do. Even an even-level boss fight with a character in a story who backstabbed you can pull in as much sense of accomplishment/enjoyment as a super-complex boss fight.
Bosses that exist where massive swarms of enemies keep rushing in over a period of time (Reinforcements have arrived!)
Bosses that can reflect damage some of the time- boss turns blue, all damage it is hit with gets sent back to the caster.
Bosses that hide, and you have to break boxes to find them or hunt them down.
Underwater bosses, where you have to go and keep collecting oxygen tanks to keep the fight going.
Having the boss have super attacks where you have to stand in protective areas to avoid getting hit really hard.
A boss that is only beaten by items, which makes most or all skills useless. Can add a nice novelty effect because players are forced to give up everything they have been relying on for a battle.
Having something normally harmless as a boss- like a cat- because the players were shrunk down and now normal things are dangerous to them.
If you have knockback in your game, having to knock the boss into certain spots for it to get damaged all or part of the time.
Optional bosses that come up at a split in the story- maybe someone you are trying to help is possibly lying to you, but you don't have enough information to know for sure, and now you have to decide whether to fight this other person they mention or not. It could affect future quests or at least the quest reward.
I think storyline probably adds just as much or more to the beauty of a boss fight than the actual boss' mechanics do. Even an even-level boss fight with a character in a story who backstabbed you can pull in as much sense of accomplishment/enjoyment as a super-complex boss fight.
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