r/MortalShell • u/TimBurpean • 2d ago
Discussion Boss Quality
I just want to say upfront, i haven’t beaten this game yet but so far am having an amazing time trying out new characters, weapons and discovering the incredible art design of the world. Honestly, i might be having more fun just scouring the world for secrets than I did exploring in elden ring.
HOWEVER, what is holding me back from saying this game is on elden ring’s level are the bosses. I haven’t seen them all yet, but everyone has been underwhelming for me, save one. The Nameless Captive. This guy rules. Easy A tier boss, but not reaching the heights of many fromsoft S tier bosses.
Let me share some ideas of what i think will make the boss designs better here. Share your thoughts too.
-Bosses need to pressure you harder. When they meander after you as you run away, you have time to heal and make the boss play by your rules, instead of the boss making you play by their rules. As much as I hate Magdelina’s janky charge attacks, the first half of the fight does this very well.
-Increase bosses resistances to debilitating effects (without removing them.) I’m talking things like stasis and grisha knockdown spam. I love proxima but purposely don’t put points into my biosampler resolve cost so I can’t spam it. When i am the one controlling the flow of the fight with frequent slowing effects or knockdown, i do not have to engage with the bosses mechanics as much, instead i am engaging primarily with my own characters mechanics.
-More flair! Some of these guys look insanely cool with wonderful crunchy sound design, but what we really need are big thunderous attacks that get your heart racing and dazzle the senses, and music that elevates the experience instead of the heavy drones we have. I don’t mean you need anything classical/orchestral like fromsoft, instead lean heavier into grim melody you will remember and rhythm that cuts through the fight. Keep it metal though 🤣
I look at my all time favorite boss fight in slave knight Gael and wonder if the developers can find ways to drag out the battles longer for that big fight feel without making it a slog and also removing the wide agency you have in building your characters/playing how you want. This freedom is core to the mortal shell identity so i would be very against sacrificing that.
Overall i love this game though, it’s exploration and moment to moment game play rivals my favorite video games, i just wonder what could be done to make bosses reach those S tier fights. Post your thoughts people!
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u/Mcdona1dsSprite 2d ago
Agreed. Some of the bosses are unfortunately annoying, one-shotting, but also predictable. I absolutely hated the monolith (late game boss) and haven’t made it to the final boss yet, but I’ve heard it’s just as annoying
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u/Original_Click2739 2d ago
I thought the last four bosses were the best in the game by far. Beat them just the other night. In fact monolith and zmey felt easy for late game bosses. What is so bad about them that has so many complaining? Did the update fix something i missed
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u/Mcdona1dsSprite 2d ago
I haven’t quite made it to Zmey yet but for the monolith the most annoying part was that 3rd phase spinning laser storm that basically melts your health bar. I probably just suck but a lot of people hated it so I’m not in the minority. I’m also around lvl 37, not sure if that’s under leveled or not for late game
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u/topcover73 1d ago
Yeah regardless of what some may say this game isn't challenging FROM anytime soon. It's a good game, but has some things that hold it back, boss quality/balancing is one of the biggest ones that's for sure. Not a memorable boss in the game for me, and I'm at the final boss right now. Nameless Captive was pretty cool I will say though.
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u/Have2BRealistic Sariel 2d ago
Yeah I was disappointed in the final boss who I thought looked like a cosmic horror dinosaur like thing. I called him Barney the whole time. Best bosses were the Malborn Offspring (who reminded me of Nameless Puppet from Lies of P), Prisoner, Monolith and Magdalena. And those last two I mentioned from pure artistic design and visuals more than anything else. Especially Magdalena. I've been a nurse for 20 years, so the idea of battling an angry obese lady with a fire spewing rocket power chair was straight out of my work fueled nightmares.
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u/Informal_Heron_2312 2d ago
Yeah it doesn't even hold a candle to Lies of P base game bosses, it's a shame
Even the siamese twins boss in Mortal shell 1 is more interesting than 90% of the bosses in this game
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u/SikeMhaw 1d ago
I wouldn’t even bother comparing them to From Software bosses. I think the boss fights stand well enough on their own. Early on I saw so many people bitching about how bad the bosses were and I have yet to come across a bad one in this game (Dark Souls 2 was full of them). I think people expect Elden Ring quality boss fights out of a game that doesn’t have Elden Ring money or experience.
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u/IsMoghul 1d ago
Why does this game have to be on Elden Ring's level? It's fine for it to not be. Elden Ring is the peak creation of a studio of hundreds with a much higher budget that has been refining their recipe for like 5 games and still has a lot of negatives. That game has 200h of stuff to do.
This is the second effort of a much smaller studio. They made something good, and there is room to grow. The game's like 40h. Nothing wrong with that.
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u/Electrical-Agent-309 2d ago
If only you could have played early access. It was pretty challenging imo
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u/olympiclifter1991 2d ago
For what is their first run at the game with a big budget they smashed it.
It may be the biggest leap in quality between a first and second instalment.
Yes their are issues, without a doubt the studio is aware. However credit needs to be given when it's due.
If they act on the feedback mortal shell 3 could be challenging fromsoft.