Quick thought about boss battles

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AuthorTopic: Quick thought about boss battles
Infiltrator
Member # 2245
Profile Homepage #0
Personally, I think that when you are battling a boss, you should receive no information on how much health it has. 'Health bars' should be non-existant for bosses.

IMHO, this makes boss fights far more climatic, and a test of the player's willpower and nerve.

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VIVE LA TAKERS!
VIVE LA REBELLION!
VIVE LA GHALDRING!
Posts: 522 | Registered: Friday, November 15 2002 08:00
...b10010b...
Member # 869
Profile Homepage #1
But if bosses don't have health bars, how are they supposed to get that low-fat energy boost to get them through the morning?

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The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure!
Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4445
Profile #2
I disagree.

Your character would be able to see an enemy starting to weaken, and there's something about that last desperate burst to kill it before it kills you (rather than just reload because you're almost dead and you don't want to watch a death screen) that makes me incensed whenever there isn't a health bar.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #3
Too many bosses have those recharging stations that you need to disable before you can kill them. That invulnerability is a pain.

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"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander
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Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy
Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet
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You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!
Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #4
Monsters with no health bar might be scary, but I am far more terrified by the monsters that eat up what I consider massive amounts of damage only to lose a tiny sliver of bar.

I like to know when I'm over my head before I've spent half an hour killing the same monster.

—Alorael, who probably should have gotten the right idea from the warnings of imminent doom and the pile of corpses by the entrance. Oh well, live and learn.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Councilor
Member # 6600
Profile Homepage #5
Originally by Alorael:

quote:
Monsters with no health bar might be scary, but I am far more terrified by the monsters that eat up what I consider massive amounts of damage only to lose a tiny sliver of bar.
And they're especially terrifying when they have the ability to regain some of that lost health.

Dikiyoba.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #6
I hate the ones that you get down to that last sliver of life left and you think you deal a killing blow, only for them to not die and instead summon eight more roamers!

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"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander
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Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy
Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet
====
You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!
Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 7143
Profile #7
Sounds like your old teacher from the school in G3. Master Hogue or something like that.

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"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one."
- Cato the Elder (234-149 BC)

"The mind, if it exists, is nothing but an unfortunate after effect of the brain process."
-Kripke

"One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly."
-Friedich Nietzche
Posts: 333 | Registered: Saturday, May 20 2006 07:00
Councilor
Member # 6600
Profile Homepage #8
Master Hoge.

Dikiyoba feels no shame for providing such trivial knowledge.

[ Sunday, August 13, 2006 19:33: Message edited by: Dikiyoba ]
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 6785
Profile #9
It could be worse. In Avernum 4 there are scripted monsters that are unkillable or only killable after certain conditions are met. You can pile on the damage only to see the monster heal and you have to start all over again and heal yourself while fighting.

Seeing a health bar gives you an idea of how ineffective your feeble attacks are that would slay other creatures.
Posts: 4643 | Registered: Friday, February 10 2006 08:00
Triad Mage
Member # 7
Profile Homepage #10
Yeah, that happens a lot in Geneforge, with Pharikos and others. Geneforge has a high amount of monsters tied to machinery that recharges them. So basically they get to beat up on you as you get them down in HP before you realize that you need to disable their regeneration and run off to try to find their power sources.

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"At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander
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Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy
Encyclopedia Ermariana - Trapped in the Closet
====
You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse!
Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #11
You usually get a fair warning after the first round in which you damage the invincible monster.

—Alorael, who managed to completely paralyze an enemy with stunning from damage in one round. He then spent the next ten rounds keeping up the stunning and running around looking for suspicious crystals, control panels, wires, or Drink Me potions.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Agent
Member # 2759
Profile Homepage #12
quote:
Originally written by Alorael:

You usually get a fair warning after the first round in which you damage the invincible monster.
Exactly. Removing the health bar for bosses would go against Jeff's sense of fairplay.

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"I can't read this thread with that image. But then, that's not a complaint." -Scorpius

Geneforge 4 stuff. Also, everything I know about Avernum | Avernum 2 | Avernum 3 | Avernum 4
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Monday, March 10 2003 08:00
Agent
Member # 2820
Profile #13
I think the whole psychological effect of the health bar is too good to get rid of. Seeing it change does more for your emotions and involvement in the game than a single-faced feeling of mystery ever could when the bar is not there.

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Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are.
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Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies!
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Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos.
Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #14
You're fighting with blades, fire, teeth, acid, all those good sorts of things. And after 14 rounds your enemy is going to suddenly drop dead, without a scratch, as if from a heart attack? You have to see the damage accumulating. Without creating a dozen or so extra skins for every creature in the game, which is not exactly Spiderweb's level of graphical sophistication, a health bar is the only way.

For special monsters that showed no apparent damage until suddenly collapsing, for whatever reason, Jeff could always keep the health bar at full and then kill with a script.

[ Tuesday, August 15, 2006 00:55: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ]

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5118
Profile #15
too little health, att too strong, creates too little but too strong

[ Wednesday, August 16, 2006 05:13: Message edited by: felix ]

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This apple? no. That apple? no. What about that orange? no. "What DO YOU WANT!!!!" 'Wink' "I want the apple you are eating."
Posts: 87 | Registered: Sunday, October 24 2004 07:00