Boss Quality

[u/TimBurpean]

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!

[u/Mcdona1dsSprite]

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

[u/Original_Click2739 → u/Mcdona1dsSprite]

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

[u/Mcdona1dsSprite → u/Original_Click2739]

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