The Godfathers of All Battles

[Erdawn Il Deus]

Okay, so technically speaking this isn't about the act of battling it out through a message-baords worth of violent words and even more violent implications.

But I digress.

here, in this topic, list if you would the most epic battles -- boss or otherwise -- you've dealt with in video games. I say vioeo games because they involved more interactivity, and hell, it's you who stands atop that final funeral pyre of broken bodies and holds high the trophy, is it not?

This belongs here because I know most of have been either inspired or just pressed on into battling from stuff like this, if not this exactly.

So, on with the tales, lads! Your own bard's songs of vigor and valiance!

[no specfic order]

NIGHTMARE(Kirby's Adventure, NES):

Yeah, that's right. I don't know if the creators dubbed this sun'm'***** down for the GBA version, but he was one hell of a *****-kitty to bring down on the console, back when I was wee and the years were young.

I mean, you, the pink puffball and most unlikely hero, carve(or consume, whichever) your way across alien dreamscapes, bring down a blowhard of a tree with a chip on its shoulder, a sociopathic painting moose on roller skates, the sun and the moon themselves, etc, and finally have battled your way to the literal Dream Lands. Dedede lies blackened and crushed at your feet(slippers?), his eyes not to un-humourously ballooned to the size of dish saucers.

The game is over... isn't it?

Oh hell no. Hell no.

You walk down that magical road, ready to chunk that wand back into the fountain and restore all of peace, and then Dedede comes-a-rushin': No man, oh man, don't do it brothah!

But of course, it's just a mad penguin in a fur coat, what the hell can he know? So you put the wand in, and all is well... until very suddenly, the fountai explodes, and an amorpheous, almost solid mass of pure negative dark matter rises deus ex machina from the ruins, its body like the coiled carpet of the cosmos itself, and leaves.

Yeah, bad ****'s a happenin' now. So you chase the mother down, and hammer that attack button like a needle-gun on crack, because this is insofar the only enemy which is taking every bloody hit like it was nothing more that a pinprick, and we're talking the starburts from the blazing focal point of all dreams on Popstar. You chase him across the highest atmospheres, into fields of stars downward into earth's cloud cover, and you gotta move fast now, because this Mister Bad's bringing the sky itself upwards to crush you like a bug. Finally, you blast apart his outermost shell and he flies off into the moon, where you run him down once more and fight him as a sorcerous necromancer of nightmares, flinging stars and other such nastiness your way, vurnerable to your wand only beneath his cloak of palpable shadows.

How badass was this guy???

I remember my entire family treating that battle as a contest -- he who could win over it first got a bigger birthday present or something.

Oodles of fun, and something to remember.

SMITHY(Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars):

You know, I loved the fact that until the end, you never even saw Smithy once. All you heard were these bold statements and witnessed his power and actions. By the end, hell, I was pumped just to see his face. And what was he? Well, an old metal smith. An old, tyrannical, and mad-beyond-his-years metalsmith. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!". Indeed.

He raves and seethes, and his temper is like a raging volcano, with his beard like curled paper and his sledge like the fist of some machine deity. You finally bring him down and all he does is get pissed, and completely destroys that section of the factory, bringing it down on top of you as you plummet into the throes of the final battle in the raging furnace inferno of the heart of the world. And there, he casts his mask aside, consumed by his own insanity, and becomes a shapeshifting metal demon who changes shape by forging his own body.

What a player.

The music perfectly sets the mood for this battle, because it's hectic -- you sit there and wonder how much HP this guy has -- even Culex had less vitality than this! Yeah, and awesome battle.

STAR WOLF(Star Fox 64):

It's rare to play a flying/shooting game where your enemies converse with you. Mostly the enemeis are just afceless drones, endless swarms of wingmen conforming to an alien hive mind to replace and excuse their bitter lack of personality.

But not Star Wolf. Everytime that mission seemed just too easy the quartet would wing down in their spiked, worm-like arwings to challenge you to one helluva dogfight. This was where you really had to put your training to use, flying loops and rings, shaking off that one member who draws a bead on you while drawing on bead on them and shaking off the badass who draws a bead on one of your wingmen. And in the end, all four of the crash, burn, and die in the snow of Fortuna. And then, just like that, the bastards are back -- their mutilated bodies recovered and reincarnated by Andross' twisted genius, cybernetic-implants sustituting for irreparable damage to organic tissue, in their Wolfenstein Mark IIIs, and they're much harder than before.

But you really haven't taken them down until you've taken them on in Ace Mode. That fight was one cold slice of hell without the extreme difficulty, and on Ace it's just ludicrous.

Still, not much can compare to the thrill of targeting one of those cocky bastards(Star Wolf.. you guys were so great!) and letting it rip with searing cerulean beams of superheated plasma, or barrel-rolling and looping in an arc to shake off that one henchman who won't let you be.

WITH THE BOW(Turok 2):

Yeah, with the bow. The game is amazing, and still is today even compared to the "bigwig" shooters that are "revolutionizing" the market. I won;t bore you with that, though.

What I'm talking about, is playing through the levels using nothing but the old bow and arrow. As glamourous and flashy as the other weapons were, really the bow was all you needed. Not much could take a barbed shaft through the left eyeball and turn around to see whodunnit. Or even going through with the talon alone, or a combination of both -- just the thrill of hunting down and killing these hi-tech uglies with nothing but your guts and your primitive weapons. Dinosoid Endtail got your goose? Take a runnign jump and impale him through his skull with the serrated blades on your talon. You'll see it doesn't take much of that to bring even a hulk like him down.

And of course, trying to deal with the FLESH-EATER PORTAL TRAPS was even more fun -- here you have psychoapthic, bulky, and badass alien thugs with hi-tech weaponry from swords carved from alien steels and lethal plasma blasters, all zipping around like mosquitoes despite their gruesome size, and there's you, swinging side to side and trying to land an arrow through one of their cyclopean eyes before they can string your guts for garters. Especially when you;re dealing with the numerous and Oh-So-Piss-Your-Pants LORDS OF THE FLESH later on, who move like the lithe raptoids but hit like freaking purr'lin.

THIRD BOWSER(Super Mario 64):

The 64 did lots to enhance the atmosphere to boss battles. Especially in games from Rare and Nintendo, where the bosses were big, ugly, more ugly, and just plain awesome to look at.

In this light, how can we forget Star-Powered Bowser from the nethernmost appex to the Third Bowser World? Hell, he comes in and the ground is shaking like thunder, the church organs and electric guitar are ringing chordes of adrenaline through your fingers as Mario looks up to see Bowser, now splashed with more colours.

And if hurlin; his spikes ass into a far-reaching bomb once wasn;t hard enough, let's try for size doing it three times in a row while the platform breaks off into a stellar-shaped cookie-cutter of a colliseum hanging over God-Only-Knows what unfathomable depths.

Depths that you couldn't hope to have a snowball's chance in Hell's soup-kitchen of surviving, and which Bowser merely leapt up from without any trouble whatesoever.

KEFKA PALAZZO(Final Fantasy 6):

How in my right mind could I leave the Clown Prince of Insanity out of this list?

He is the very first sprite you see in the game, laughing and striding down the somber stairs of the Imperial pyramid. He is as present as the mischeif, chaos, and bloodshed that he causes -- he torments your characters endlessly throughout the game, always there when hope seems to be a beacon and reducing it to a sliver like the meagre remnants of Pandora's Box. He kills without mercy, and he kills and laughs -- but enough about the character dveelopment, or his once-in-a-lifetime personality(rivalled only by a character like DC'S The Joker).

When you finally reach the final depths of his tower, the speeches begin, and he just halphazardly blasts chunks from the face of the earth while engaged in conversation. Gotta love that Kefka. The three-tiered battle theme, Dancing Mad, is nothing short of a master-piece in and of itself, and the battle is fought in a harrowing series of stages, requiring every one of your fourteen heroes to engage in battle. And unlike his sucessors, Sephiroth and Ultimecia and Necron and whatnot, his attacks weren't ridiculously catastrophic(coughSuperNovacoughApocalypsecoughGrandCross).

Quite refreshing, really, and highly enkiyable.

More to come, and come on folks -- post away!

[ November 23, 2004, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Erdawn Il Duce ]

[SuperLuigi64]

Yeah, Star Wolf....they're pretty easy nowadays, even on Ace Mode. Still, sit down, kiddies, and let me tell you a tale...

It was my first time into Area 6. I was able to save Falco rather easily, but then, he was always able to last a long time under fire. Unfortunately, I lost Peppy because I didn't realize what it was chasing him until it was too late, and Slippy said something about Venom rather than asking for help. So I went into Venom II for the first time in my life, with nobody but Falco to help me.

And here comes Star Wolf, taunting away. Upgraded, nastier, and flying one mean ship with better armor, speed, and--thanks to a run-in with one of those umbrella things--lasers. So I get ready to rumble.

I'm not the only one. Falco, in his infinite badassitude, hurls off the chains of AI limitations and proceeds to beat some ass. I've never seen it happen before or since, but for that one fight, Falco turned into some kind of godling. Not only did he never ask for help, but he took down Pigma and Leon in the time it took me to bring down Wolf. Then we spent a merry thirty seconds chasing Andrew around, before he finally died.

this is a completely true story. I'm still not sure what turned Falco into the flying demon the manual said he was, but hey, gift horse, mouth, smile and move along, right?

Versus Cackletta
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga

Oh. My. Damn. This was one crazy fight. first, we had to get to Bowser's Castle--not the easiest thing, since it was flying around at the time. Then the mighty Marios had to actually fight through the castle, taking on, for only the third time in their lives, the Koopalings. After running through a gauntlet of creatures that was a true testament to the military might of the Koopas, they encountered Fawful, the strange-talking imp who served as Cackletta's right-hand man(and prevented her death at Mario's hands earlier) was waiting, with a machine to help him. After a grueling battle, it looked like the brothers were in trouble, until Prince Pea appeared and countered Fawful's attack. Fawful responded in kind, nearly getting the Prince before Luigi busts out his hammer and plants the little basta--erm, guy.

Then the brothers move on, to find....Cackletta, inhabiting Bowser's body! And let me tell you, if Bowser had a sister, this is what she would look like, and it ain't pretty. After you defeat the Koopa King's body, it promptly eats MArio and Luigi64, bringing them into the body to face off against Cackletta. anmd in the spirit world, she's not the pushover she used to be. She starts by draining both Bros.' HP to 1, which they correct easily enough with Mushrooms, and then she proceeds to test their hammer and jump skills like never before. bouncing energy balls away with their hammers, jump toxic clouds, the Marios survived thanks to their sheer physical skills, and only won thanks to their hand powers. Half of Cackletta was weak to Mario's Firebrand, the other half weak to Luigi's Thunderhand. Finally, they vanquished Cackletta's spirit and escaped from Bowser's body. Then they had to escape his castle before it went down, of course. A Mario adventure so hard that he needed Luigi's help? Yes, yes it was.

[Erdawn Il Deus]

After you defeat the Koopa King's body, it promptly eats MArio and Luigi64

If only. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Come, all, more stories around the camfire!

[Scripture]

Ah, I do believe I have at least one tale worth telling, but is is not of gnarled wood and sharpened tips, or of the two Bros. who Firebranded and Thunderhanded their way to victory.

Nate of Peak One(SSX3 for PS2)

Dropping in, it was a battle from the start, with the weathered mountain man knocking me into the powder beneath. Oh, it's on now, beeyatch! I quickly caught up to him and gave him a piece of my gloved hand, carving smooth, ice laden lines with each swich of the plank under my feet. I gain an obscene lead soon thereafter, cruising through stage after stage with music pumping into my ears and fingers attuned to each and every vibe the game threw my way.

And then the bastard caught up.

With some witty remark he flings me into the snow once again and screams by me, jittery, yet mechanically staying aboard his plank. Red flies from his form like an etheral taunt, and we're off to the races for the final stretch - descending through gelid city streets, grinding poles that flung me down into the snow at a pace that would shatter normal bones, we bolted to the finish line, jousting like some knights of old. A trick here, and a short-cut there, and the final stretch comes into view, marked by the monochrome finish line.

He weaves in front of me, and I milk my Adrenaline Bar for all its worth. After twenty minutes of non-blinking, grit-teeth action and a heart that stayed with me in every dip of that peak...

I beat that smart-talkin' mountain-man.

By a hair.

[ November 20, 2004, 11:01 PM: Message edited by: Scripture ]

[ZIPPYDIPPY19]

I've still never beaten him, and I actually left my GC on for three days just so I didn't have to work my way up to him again and again through every freakin' boss, but it didn't matter...

FIRE LEO

Viewtiful Joe

My. ****ing. God. The game itself had been one cataclysmic test after another on ADULTS mode, but no, then they send you this god of a lion. First you work your way up through all the other bosses, slowly getting to the point where you can beat them with minimal damage, and at that point you start feeling pretty good. I mean, c'mon, you've beaten all the bosses and you've gotten hit once, you're a god. Nope, not me. As soon as I saw that cut scene where Joe's talking about the final battle, I was like it's on ***** . And then I became mortal. And I think Fire Leo raped me and named me Tiffany as well.

I couldn't even figure out how to touch the freaking guy until fighting him for about 2 hours! And then I do, by going into super speed and getting flames to counter his own, and then I started feeling good again. But that didn't matter. He still beat me down like I was a two year old. I even went into Kids mode and fought him there, and he still beat me. I dodged, I ducked, I flew in like a mad man and pummeled him as much as possible. It wasn't even a game anymore, I wanted his head to fall off and blood to spew from his animated carcass. But he kept on beating me somehow, despite how close I got to ending it.

And to this day, I still hate Fire Leo.

[d]

Do online and free play games count? If so I've got dozens of epic battles.

[Erdawn Il Deus]

Anything, sammy.

[The Willful Wanderer]

Alright, I guess I'll start with the oldest and then proceed in something sort of resembling chronological order, but not quite entirely. Or something like that.

Sword of Vermilion:Tsarkon
Sega Genesis
Ooooooldschool RPG for the first one.

So... you started at level one, with a rusty sword and no armor. After fighting your way through over 50 dungeons and 40 different overland regions, learning magic spells that stop time and cause freaking earthquakes, you've had to fight every boss (some multiple times). Where in a normal battle, you fight in 3/4 view and can use magic, all of the boss fights are a single screen viewed from the side, and magic is a no-go. No healing of any kind in battle. You've got the legendary Sword of Vermilion and the best armor in the game. You're probably level seventy or eighty, with about seven thousand HP, and when you hit even the strongest enemy, you do something like half its HP in damage per swing.

Then you fight the evil King Tsarkon. Only, he doesn't look like a king when you fight him. Oh, no. When you go to fight in a side-scrolling battle with no jump, no magic, no healing, and only your sword to rely on (no, the sword doesn't do anything special. It's a sharp piece of metal- you hit things with it.), he's mutated into a fleshy slime with two long necks and vicious mouths on the end of each. You have to damage him by hitting him halfway down the neck or further, while the heads wave back and forth. And each time one of the heads hits you (And they WILL hit you, because they can't be hit themselves), you lose nearly two thousand HP.

It doesn't matter that he looks like he's been chewed up and spat out by your dog (or cat), it doesn't matter that you have uber armor and the best sword in the game, it doesn't matter what your reflexes are. You will get hit.

This was the first game I ever owned that I completely failed to ever beat, and I still haven't. It may not be gut-wrenching, heart-pounding tension, but Tsarkon is one NASTY boss.

Shining Force II:Kraken
Sega Genesis

Okay, so here we've got one of the earliest strategy/RPGs that had serious worth and replay value. Remember the battle system from Final Fantasy Tactics? Copied from the Shining Force games (And yes it was, too- Shining Force II and Final Fantasy Tactics are the only places in video games where the name 'Karna' appears.) with the addition of terrain heights and reduction of map sizes- they also messed with it to make it more reminiscent of the other FF battle styles.

Anyways... Here you are, riding down the river on a raft. It's a bloody strange raft, with a square center part, and then four bits attatched to the corners that also have some standing room on them. Suddenly, the raft stops mid-stream, and the Kraken appears.

At this point, your characters are probably about level 18-20. 40-60 HP each, nearly ready to be Promoted into much more powerful high classes, such as the Hero, the MasterMonk, and the Ninja.

The Kraken is twelve arms that surround your raft, and the head, which floats waaaaay off in the top-right of the map. Your best shots do only ten or twelve damage to these 30-40 HP limbs, and the legs deal about 15 damage back per hit. The arms have reach, which means only your crossbow-toting centaur, the spellcasters, and maybe the centaur with the spear can hit them- that's about four characters out of twelve. The arms have 48 HP each and are smacking you around at reach for nearly twice what the legs do- *and you only have one healer, and no way to replenish her MP*. As if that weren't bad enough, when you finally get to the head (usually short one or two characters who got the sh*t slapped out of them by those damned limbs), it has over 60 HP- half-again the best of your characters-, and an attack with a five-square reach that nails someone for almost twenty damage a pop. As if that weren't enough, the bedamned head moves TWICE each round, getting an attack each time. The sheer insanity of dealing with an equally sized force of enemies when you have very cramped quarters and they have free reign, not to mention that they have one hell of an edge in the strength department, marks this as one of the more difficult strategic battles I've ever faced. Of course, this one's still not quite up to the challenge of...

Shining Force II:Devil King Zeon
Sega Genesis

Okay, so now you've made it to the last boss. All your characters have been Promoted and are at about forty-fifty levels. You're finally overcoming the 100-HP bar size limit, and your HP bar starts filling over again, this time in green on top of the yellow. You've faced bosses with three full HP bars, and overcome them by virtue of dealing massive damage, particularly with the lightsaber-like Force Sword, wielded by your main hero. The Ninja is swinging around something that would look more appropriate in Conan's hands, your MasterMonk is kicking the crap out of anything that gets too close, then patching you up, instant-death spells are flying from your Mage, your Sorceror is summoning ATLAS, of all people, to rain royal beatdowns on your enemies, the gladiator is halving things with his axe, that cute little tortoise you bought at the pet shop has turned into a turtle dragon and is belching flame on everything, the phoenix is ripping through things like wildfire, and you're feeling pretty happy with yourself for dealing with Demon King Galam and his range-four area-three-in-all-directions fortyfive damage Demon Breath II attack. You've rescued the Princess, you've slain all the Greater Devils, and then the Big Bad Door opens. Princess Elis faints, becoming an obstacle, and Zeon sticks his head in. Just his head. The rest of him won't fit through the door, so he has to fight with just his head. Easy to beat, right?

Um... how about NO?

This thing has over five hundred hit points. Attacks that were chopping Greater Demons in half do just barely enough damage to make his HP bar budge. The two Zeon Guard flowers, which move around, are casting linear attacks that smack whole ranks of your party around for thirty damage each. Greater Demons fly in and on the second round of combat, hit about half of your party at a time with a Bolt 3. Pyrohydras blast your turtle-dragon with flame that brings him down in one shot. And there Zeon is, accompanied by a Shaman who can hit him with Heal4, restoring all his HP, no matter how damaged he is.

Crap. But you're not gonna pack it up, you say? Still not bad enough?

Nah, you can survive. You can make it up close to Zeon, and then he starts blasting huge holes in your party with his 90-damage Demon Breath III. In area-effect. Three times per round.

There is a reason that this was the game that taught me that you should fight everything you can in an RPG, just for the sake of making yourself stronger. Until I went back and did a bunch of extra fighting for extra levels, I kept falling just short of winning this one. Kill Zeon. You don't have to destroy anything else but Zeon. This is not an easy target.

Grandia II:New Valmar Core
Sega Dreamcast

Now, usually, the hardest fight in an RPG, the one where you take the most damage, the one you have the highest chance of losing, is the last one. Therefore, when I beat Grandia, I was severely confused- after fighting the insanely tough New Valmar Core, you can easily squish the Parts of Valmar, and Valmar Zera is... well... a piece of cake. Millenia uses Spellbinding Gaze, and that's all she wrote. Not exactly memorable, that one.

No, the real cheese-taker in this one is the fight with the core of the new Valmar. You would think that with all four pieces stuck within a short distance of each other, area-effect attacks would totally PWNZ this thing.

Think again.

One head heals ALL OF THEM AT ONCE. The opposite head hits you with status penalties, and every time you get your boosts on, it vapes them. Then there's the center head.

The center head, which seems to do nothing.

Until it hits you with a beam attack that lays you out for half your health.

And then the core itself tosses in a Hammer Claw, stunning you.

And then the center head hits its real nasty- it smacks all of your party around for a couple thousand damage. This wouldn't be so bad if you'd been able to get back up after the beam attack and heal yourself, but thanks to the big fat arm smacking you around, you don't get the chance.

The whole time, you're going nuts watching the Activity bar, hoping and praying that you'll pass up that head or arm with one of your characters so you can hit the damn thing with a Cancel attack. No, the final boss is not the most major fight in this one- the most major fight in this one is the New Valmar Core.

Megaman X5:Sigma
Playstation

Sigma. Anyone who plays MMX in any form wants to crush that guy. And again. And again. And please stop coming back. And you again? Aw, crap.

In X, he was fairly tough. Hitting the right rhythm would get you a win.

In X2, he was fast, and you had to have good reflexes, but still not ridiculously hard.

In X3, things were strange. All of the other bosses were tough because they kept hitting you. Sigma was supposed to be tough because you couldn't really hurt *him*. It didn't go over too well.

In X4, it's back to rhythm and reflexes.

X5, though... While I feel that in terms of storyline and outright making sense, X5 and X6 are the 'what the hell's of the MMX games (having never played 7, Commander, 8, or any of the MMXZ games), X5 has what was, for me, the toughest Sigma battle. Maybe it's because of my apparently totally unorthodox love of the Gaea armor, where everyone else I know swears by either Zero, or Falcon Armor.

BUT ANYWAY.

The first part of Sigma isn't too difficult. Leap him when he dashes, shoot when he stops, and dodge or get hit by the screen-sized waves he throws while still shooting at him.

But then he reforms as a giant head with two huge hands floating around independently. Every time you hit the crystal in his forehead, he flickers out of existence. His hands keep punching at you, sometimes dropping from on high to smash you into a Reploid Pancake. Then they float away, and you go 'hey, easy street!'... until the big purple squares start trying to form on you. You can't avoid getting hit at least once by these things, and while they aren't that nasty for damage, they're one hell of a slowdown. You have to be VERY sharp with your Buster button, as well as your dash-wall-jumping, to nail this Sigma.

(And honestly, X6 Sigma was a major disappointment to me- way easier than even the regular mavericks in that one......)

Sonic Adventure 2:Ultimate Lifeform (first part)
Sega Dreamcast

Okay, the final boss in this one is tough, yes. Even with Super Sonic and Super Shadow being invincible, it's pretty easy to get knocked back and lose by timeout.

Losing by timeout does not, to me, say 'epic battle'.

The toughest one here, in my opinion, is the battle with the Ultimate Lifeform outside that little temple in ARK. The one where you can actually die.

At first, the battle seems nearly impossible. The huge balls of dark energy the thing spews at you seem to track you anywhere, and you can't go too fast or too slow, or it'll munch you down or plow you under. As a veteran Sonic player, I'll say they made it good and tough to get the right running speed to keep from being nailed when it spins, and the two little trenches in the running surface don't help, either.

Eventually, though, you realize all the energy balls can be leapt over or ducked under (a tough thing given the way the camera makes it look like the high ones are scraping the ground), and you manage to keep your patience until you can slide up the wierd tubes to nail the central reactor.

Then it gets tough. Whatever the heck that ULF thing is, it manages to mess with the gravity, and now you have to float around the shots that it flings at you from the reactor on its back, AND figure out that you can bounce off the wierd purple balls to get in close and nail it again.

Going in without knowing what you're getting into, this is one major pain of a battle.

Phantasy Star Online Episode II:Zol Dragon
Nintendo Gamecube

Okay, so the Dragon, the first boss in PSO, is not much to handle. Beat on it until it falls over, hit it in the head, dodge the burrows, and then beat on it again. No major worries- just don't get hit too much and keel over.

The Ultimate Mode ice version isn't much more impressive, it just has a slight chance of freezing you.

The dragon in the Spaceship level of Episode II, however...

At first, it just seems like an electric version. Okay, it can paralyze you. No biggie.

Then it spins midair and flings fire, ice, and electricity in all directions. And while you're not looking, running around dodging the projectiles so it doesn't kill you with a sequence hit while you're frozen solid, you don't notice it stop, and jump up into the air.

And then it splits in two. And there is NO WAY to tell which one is the 'real dragon'. In fact, I'm not too sure there *IS* a 'real dragon'- they may both be 'real'. Add in that the damned thing teleports, and you've got a multi-directional, teleporting, status-effect storm that you have to lay a beat-down onto.

This, I have to say, is the first RPG boss I've ever faced which daunted me *before I even got beaten by it*. (It's also one of the rare ones that actually managed to royally beat the crap out of me.) Having two of these things wandering around, and even walking through each other, makes finding something to hit and successfully hitting it a nightmare.

Of course, after I got finished being frustrated and subsequently giving it a royal thrashing, I found I'd thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of that battle.

Phantasy Star Online Episode II:Olga Flow
Nintendo Gamecube

Forget Dark Falz. Dark Falz is a weenie. Dark Falz doesn't OHK you until V.Hard mode. Dark Falz isn't a sixty-foot-tall sword-wielding titan who steps on you if you're not careful.

Olga Flow's first form is fairly standard, if very difficult. But, still managable. The second form, on the other hand...

I touched the glowy bit, watched it stand up, and no kidding, the next two words through my mind were 'Oh, ****.'

Wandering around an enclosed space with a dragon that split in two was daunting. This one, on the other hand, was IMPRESSIVE. Here you are, with your dinky little Force, or Ranger, or maybe, if you're lucky like I was, a Hunter wielding the arms of a giant praying mantis. Facing off nose-to-toe (literally) with a giant, swordwielding hunter and his pet flying leeches (who are also about three times your size). And you have to beat him to death by hitting him in the feet. And dodge the leeches. And get back up after he levels half of the space you've got with one swing of his weapon.

Episode II is, in itself, much more challenging and therefore entertaining than Episode I... but this was a whole other level. The whole time, I'd been expecting to fight maybe another Dark Falz, or something like a Main Boss version of Vol Opt. What I got, was one hell of a battle experience. David and Goliath, folks. Only, this time, David can't even see the giant's head.

[ November 22, 2004, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: SeleneStarblade ]

[Lycrios]

Omega Weapon / Final Fantasy 8

After 2 hours and a half, and countless holy wars and limit breaks ( and yes I did use meltdown on it) I finaly managed to defeat it. I can't count the times I did Eden on it and Lion heart.

[d]

Sorry, I would have put this up earlier but I've been busy preparing my house for Thanksgiving.

Planetside; Continent Hossin,About a week ago.

My side, the Terran Republic(TR) were heading to an enemy base held by the Vanu Soverignty(VS).They had just established a foothold on the continent and we met their forces in battle outside in a span of woods about a kilometer wide with hills on the side.The woods went about 4 kilometers towards there base.On our side of the woods it changed to low rolling hills with a road on one side of the hills and bigger hills still going alongside of those small hills.The ocean was on the otherside of the road.
We met the VS in the woods with infantry leading because the tanks and buggies hadn't caught up yet.We were slaughtered as their armored infantry(Maxes, full suit of body armor with a weapon, 3 different types of maxes, Anti-Air(AA),Anti-Vehicle(AV) and Anti-Infantry(AI))used their special ability of jumpjets.They hopped into the trees waited for infantry to kill those of us that knew they were there and than dropped behind us.Their vehilces took the lead and without infantry cover ours pulled back out of the woods towards our tower and base.After I had died I started to set up mines and automated machine gun turrets.While I set those up our respawned infantry used vehicle and air support to keep the VS at the edge of the woods.
The VS brought tanks down the road and tried to hit our troops from the side,however, me and several other combat engineers spotted this and started sniping them with rocket launchers.One of the tanks came after us and right into our minefield.The other tanks decided to pull back instead of trying to kill us after seeing their comrades die.After setting all the mines and automated machine gun turrets(spitfires) I changed back into my regular load out of a rocket launcher and assualt rifle.By the time I made it to the front it had moved into the low lying hills as he VS had brought up some of their BFR's(Battle Frame Robotics,called by the players, Big ****ing Robots) that were slaughtering our vehicle support.I ran into a low dip at the heart of the fighting and stayed their with 4 other soldiers.We ran up to the top of the hill and opened fire for a few seconds and than decended back into the dip to heal or repair.Soon the VS infantry went around our position and as we went to open fire at their backs a BFR came down into the dip and ripped us a new one.When I respawned at our tower the VS had pushed us all the back to it with infantry, but firing lines of infantry with rocket launchers and long range fire from vehicles kept the VS vehicles away.I went up to the roof of the tower with the rocket firing infantry and started lobbing plasma and frag grenades down upon the VS infantry's heads.Soon a TR tank and BFR push forced the VS to start a slow fall back to the woods.
Some VS snipers got up on a tall hill next to the woods and started ripping us apart on the tower, I was one of those that didn't make it inside.So I respawned at our base and got a bomber.I picked up a bombadier and tail gunner and took off to wreak havoc on the VS.We flew up to ceiling height and started dropping AV and AI bombs all over the VS.We didn't kill many people but we caused several dozen vehicles to pull back and repair.It also helped keep some heads down and allowed our forces to advance.We ran out of bombs so we started decending to rearm when a flight of enemy light fighters(mosquitos, I call them mossy's, they have 12mm chain guns)decided that we were the perfect target.My tailgunner opened up on them with his 25mm ball turret but only shot down 2 of the 6 and I managed to damage a 3rd with my 35mm nosegun before being taken down.The bombadier was the only one to eject.
At this point I decided to pull out my light tank(a lightning, has a 12mm chain gun and 75mm cannon).I went out and caught up with our advance which was about 3/4 way through the woods and closing on the enemies base and tower.I got onto a hill with some friendly BFR's and started adding my weight of fire into the enemies side.Soon some of our regular fighters came up(Revears,with 20mm recoiless cannons and 2 rocket pods) came and started strafing the enemy with rockets.This broke the enemies back after a few minutes and allowed us to make a good quick break through and we pushed it as far as we could.I drove my lightning along the side of the base's wall and in support of the infantry but was overrun when two medium VS tanks came around the corner of the base's wall.
I spawned at our AMS(Advaced Mobile Station, a mobile spawn point basically) and moved towards the base just in time to see our forces dropping onto the base via air transport.They landed and took out the bases generator so the enemy couldn't spawn there.It took another 8 minutes to take their tower but we managed to kick the enemy off the continent.

I might put up some more battles later from Planetside and other games, but that's enough for now.

[Wyborn]

I'll post up some cool battles later.

...but for the record, Selene, Final Fantasy Tactic's battle system was lifted from Tactics Ogre, not Shining Force. Unless you want to go so far as to say that Quest ripped it from there (which you're basically saying anyway, FFT and TO were made by the same people).

Hmm....battles....

[The Willful Wanderer]

I wasn't aware of the Tactics Ogre tie-in there, Wy, though that does make sense. If I remember right, at least the first Shining Force game came out before Tactics Ogre, though I've no idea of the Tactics Ogre timing to say whether or not that one came after ShF II. However, since the system used in ShF and ShF II is entirely the same, it boils down to about the same thing, really. Thanks for the clarification there, though.

[Erdawn Il Deus]

bump

[X-3]

Well, this is bumped, so here.

This is a relatively newish game, so I guess I'll spoiler tag this.
[spoiler]
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: DARK BOWSER

The world is engulfed in pure darkness: innocents are now trapped in floating bubbles OF SHADOW. The Mario Bros. are inside the stomach of their nemesis, and said nemesis is struggling against the winds OF EVIL. That nemesis is, obviously, Bowser. The cause of the overflow of darkness is a newly resurrected Dark Star...well, Dark Bowser. He copied some of the Koopa King's DNA or something.

Can Bowser topple his dark clone? The odds don't look good, but...he's got help. People inside his belly that he can count on to assist.

Dark Bowser: Soon, this kingdom will vanish along with all who dwell within. And you too will sleep eternally in the dark powers' embrace!

Bowser: GWAHAHA! Great dark hurricane! Seriously, perfect backdrop for an awesome final battle! You really sweat the details! Listen up! You're saying the kingdom will vanish? NOT TODAY! THIS KINGDOM IS ALL MINE! SO YOU VANISH!

The two then breath fire, signifying it is time to kick ass.

Dark Bowser cannot be beaten by Bowser alone: he will have to have the Mario Bros. help. Not that he knows that. Bowser fare well though, as he punches rocks on fire and escapes dark cages. The coolest attack, however, is Dark Bowser's minion attack. He throws an entire ball of baddies at you: Bowser holds on tight, as it breaks apart and he faces down every single one. Dark Goombas? Punch. Dark Bullet Bills? Punch. Dark Koopas? Punch. Dark Thwomps? Blocked. The enemies stop and Dark Bowser comes spinning in a ball in the air. Quickly, Bowser must block with his shell, and then punch Dark Bowser.

Eventually, Dark Bowser will be strengthened by the Dark Star's core: otherwise known as Fawful. Clearly, you must lose n-wait, no, you punch Dark Bowser in the gut so he spits out the Dark Star Core. Then you use your Vacuum Block to eat it, while your foe does the same thing. It's Mario time.

The two bros. then face off a transformed Fawful bug thing inside Bowser's stomach. To get to what they need to beat up, they must first disable it's legs: however, it can move these legs away, so...gotta beat on some eyes. The Dark Star Core is ready, after disabling many body parts, for an assault! If you've done the battle before or have grinded, you can take it out before it leaves Bowser's stomach. Otherwise, it'll leave and Bowser will get his turn in the spotlight again.

The Dark Star Core explodes, leaving Dark Bowser in terrible shape. Bowser taunts him before preparing several deadly punches. This is followed by one final punch that would be awesome to Captain Falcon. The Dark Star/Bowser explodes for good, and the Mushroom Kingdom is safe.

Congrats, Bowser. You just punched out an evil that TWICE almost destroyed the world.

Bowser also fights several giants in the game, by going up to their size. Including his castle and a mecha-version of Peach's. Damn.[/spoiler]

FFIV: Tellah versus Golbez
This may not count due to it being a scripted event, and in the end it's a sacrifice that does little, but it's still awesome.

Tellah finally gets face to face with his daughter's killer. Golbez taunts the old man, before they engage in combat. Tellah launches several spells! Bio, Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga! Golbez still stands. There is only one choice: Meteor. His allies beg him to not use the spell that would destroy his frail body, but he goes through anyway. Golbez takes massive damage, and...really doesn't die. He takes a good hit though, and the whole mind control business is damaged, giving Golbez a strange moment, while Kain returns. Unfortunately, Tellah dies soon afterwards.

By the way, Tellah can never cast Meteor normally: he will never have enough MP. The spells he casted? He used his life to use them, in order to get revenge on the one who killed his daughter. Goodbye, Tellah.

[Galefore]

I once completely remade this topic in the RPG forum. Glad to see it bumped, I always loved reading this one.