UPRC'S PROFILE

Ding ding ding!!!

http://sdb.drshnaps.com/objects/4/400/Background/MtOrdeals.png

Well the dungeon is already finished, but I really like the lily pad idea. I may have to revisit the dungeon and add a bit to it. As it stands now, there's a clock puzzle (uploaded in the screenshots) and colour coded plants that warp you around.

Yeah, I find it hard to have really fond feelings for every area in my game as well. I think it's only natural.

What does the rest of the area look like?

author=EnderX
Form changers are okay, but I'd prefer a bit more than 'Normal Mode/Defend and Crush Mode' from one. Beyond Whelk, I can only think of two more 'form changer' bosses - Mist Dragon and Wingraptor, Whelk's counterparts from FFIV and FFV. I'd prefer something with at least three modes, none of which is really a 'base' mode - instead, each has a specific purpose in the battle.

Countdown bosses are annoying. A weaker version of what you've described (massive damage, not ohko) is reasonable in some cases, but the kind you've described need to be held to the side as bonus bosses.

I don't recall having ever run into an evolving boss before. The idea sounds a bit interesting, but I can't speak for it either way.

Draining boss: First, OUCH. Second, that's not really a 'drain', it's a heavy-duty poisoning...unless the boss gets the HP taken from the characters.



The kind of boss I'd like to face, and the kind I'd like to learn to properly make, is the Intelligent/Reactive boss. (I'm not sure that title makes much sense...sorry.) The idea here is that the boss would have, instead of a single AI pattern, multiple AI subroutines that could be turned on or off right as the battle began. This kind of boss could seem to react to the characters as a result. Example: If the heroes have at least three pieces of Fire Resist equipment, turn off the 'Use fire skills' routine, but turn on the 'Acid Rain/Outlyer' routine - the heroes won't have to deal with the actual fire effects, but will have to deal with skills that can inflict the burn status, without the fire element weakening them. I think this is similar to your evolving boss, but the routine set would be determined for a longer period of time - this kind of boss would, in my opinion, work best with a character who could spy on the party as they traversed the dungeon.

I have one countdown boss that is mandatory to beat right now. If anyone remembers the Demon Wall from FF4, then that's basically exactly what it is. Beat the wall before it crushes the party. The only other one I plan on having is, well, the optional Odin boss that we always see. You just can't have Odin and not have him KO the entire party after 1-2 minutes.

The draining boss, yeah, just makes the party steadily lose HP. The battle would be suicide without a healer, but there are four characters capable of restoring HP by that point so it's extremely doable. It's an extremely tense battle because you're constantly seeing the HP of the entire party going down, but as long as you don't slack off with at least having one character heal the party (the caller is best at it though the healing summon she can use at that point could be missed as it isn't auutomatically learned from leveling). The boss also likes to induce sleep at random, so that could definitely screw with a few strategies. Esuna and remedies work well in that fight.


Your reactive boss idea is interesting. I don't think I can apply it to any of my current bosses, but it's definitely interesting.

Reminds me of Chrono Trigger a lot, at least visually.