The Art of a Boss Battle

Whenever I play a 3-D Legend of Zelda game (OoT, MM, TWW, TP) and I'm battling a boss, I don't just zip through the fight in like 60 seconds, I make it look good, almost like a real fight. I make it look like its a challenge.

I've noticed that a lot of players who post the battle with Ganondorf in TP on youtube, they zip through it like its nothing. I mean, sure they may want to beat the boss, but where is the challenge, the drama, the passion of battle. I mean, beating a boss in, like, 30 seconds isn't even a fight, its just a little tussle.

And they use the jump attack all the time (you know, the one to intercept Ganondorf's sword). That should only be used after the second time you knock Ganondorf back. And when they do it, they make it look too easy. Whenever I use that move, I make it look like a power struggle between Link and Ganondorf. That makes it look cool.

So I ask you, does anyone else make they're boss battles look good, instead of just zipping through the fight in less than 60 seconds?

It's not really up to us to make a battle look cool, it's up to Nintendo, and Nintendo did a bad job in TP.

Only when I'm in the mood. My favorite boss battle to dramatize is Odolwa in MM, so there are many possibilities. Fighting him toe-to-toe as either normal Link or FD Link, Zora, Goron, etc.

But FD feels more epic even though it doesn't last long. Once while fighting him as normal Link Odolwa jumped right next to a bomb flower, I shot it with an arrow and that was probably the most epic boss death I have ever caused, (excluding final bosses).

There's no point in a challenge if you don't play with all your skill.

Playing worse than you actually can doesn't make it a challenge, it should actually be hard to be hard, not the player playing as an idiot.

If you want a challenging and immersive boss fight, don't play TP.

I really don't see the point.

The challenge was already placed the moment you started up the game.

The only time I add the "Drama" is in the Ganon/dorf fight in OoT. But even then it is just using the hammer on Ganon's tail, and not getting the health upgrade beforehand.

Do something like the three heart challenge. You will find yourself paying a lot more attention to the fight and every mistake can cost you. The battle will get more dramatic on its own.

Originally Posted by Iron_Knuckle_

Do something like the three heart challenge. You will find yourself paying a lot more attention to the fight and every mistake can cost you. The battle will get more dramatic on its own.

that sounds like a good idea...
i might try that on WW

I always dramatize boss battles in Zelda games. Even if the boss is easy, I purposely get hit a lot and take my time to make it seem like Link is struggling.

When i was little i used to do that in OOT...And for some reason i would give the characters retarded dialog while they fought....haha good times.

It's hard to make it look good, you have to pretend you are less skilled than you are,
hang around and not attack etc. I agree with the guy who said it's Nintendo's job
to make it an interesting fight...Viewtiful Joe has better boss battles

Originally Posted by Cukeman

It's hard to make it look good, you have to pretend you are less skilled than you are,
hang around and not attack etc. I agree with the guy who said it's Nintendo's job
to make it an interesting fight...Viewtiful Joe has better boss battles

+1

I really just try to end it, if nintendo didn't do a good job at making the boss battle full of passion, why should I?

Yes, I usually do that too. Specially when i fight the Majora's Mask or Ganon in TP.

BTW, I don't think that the boss battles in TP where boring. Easy yes, but not boring. Blizzeta has the best battle music ever

I don't.

Pretending that the boss is hard doesn't actually make the boss hard, therefore I find no reason to. The answer is for Nintendo to make bosses harder in the next Zelda game. That happens and I'll be happy with it for a while. That doesn't happen, then someone needs to tell them that they're making the bosses way too easy!

If you want a dramatic boss fight, TP is not the way to go. Even if you try to play up the tension by not quickly slaughtering it, TP's bosses will almost all leave you alone for huge periods of time, meaning most of the fight will be spent in quasi Mexican standoff mode. The best you can hope to do is attack rapidly when you know they'll block or dodge but that really only works with Ganondorf and the darknuts.

Anyways, you want good, challenging looking boss fights, play Devil May Cry or Shadow of the Colossus. Even when you know exactly what you're doing it looks like an epic struggle.

Lastly, just to satisfy my curiosity, do you dramatize your boss fights when nobody is watching? I get the impression that you do, but that would just be silly.

Originally Posted by LinkdOOd110

I don't.

Pretending that the boss is hard doesn't actually make the boss hard, therefore I find no reason to. The answer is for Nintendo to make bosses harder in the next Zelda game. That happens and I'll be happy with it for a while. That doesn't happen, then someone needs to tell them that they're making the bosses way too easy!

perhaps they should start making difficulty levels for zelda
now that would be cool

I did that once just out of boredom but it was actually a lot of fun! on top of that it was really cool to watch, almost like a movie.

Originally Posted by shadowxcolossus

perhaps they should start making difficulty levels for zelda
now that would be cool

Difficulty levels is a good idea. They can fix the problem of a few things that way:
1.) Regular enemy levels - Some of them are just too easy! TP is a prime example of this, too. I can see them being easy in the beginning, when you're still refining your battle skills, but there comes a point when you want them to be harder. The Darknuts were good, there just needed to be others at their level, and some even maybe above, but not necessarily.

2.) And this is what brought it up, the bosses. In TP, they were just TOO easy, to the point of embarrassment. I found Gohma (or whatever the boss is in Temple of Time) at least 5X easier than the first boss in the game. That might just be me or whatever, but it's true. None of the bosses took me more than 2 tries, even on my first playthrough, including Ganondorf. That's just pathetic, and is a show that something must be done.

So, yeah, Difficulty levels is a good idea. Beginner (for beginners), Normal (for people familiar, but not yet masters), and Hard (for hardcore gamers).

Originally Posted by Oni Dark Link

I did that once just out of boredom but it was actually a lot of fun! on top of that it was really cool to watch, almost like a movie.

Was it an awesome movie, with epic music and battlescenes?

I don't dramatize fights so much as screw around, but I agree with you on the Youtube thing. I honestly don't find many of the videos entertaining since the players rush right through them and they're clearly one-sided from the start. Heck, one of my favorite TP videos is of a guy trying to fight Ganondorf in the sword battle while drunk.

Speaking of things being dramatic, I recently finished watching a guy on Livestream called Loldbz play through Ocarina of Time in the "Hobbling Hobo Challenge", a three heart run with no shield, the Iron Boots constantly on, and the Broken Giant's Knife as his main weapon.

Linkdood: Trust me the music during the swordfight with Ganon definately made it feel like an awesome climactic battle scene in a movie.