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General Zelda At This Rate, Do We Really Need Dungeon Bosses?

Justac00lguy

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One thing that I have always felt Zelda lacked was actually decent and challenging bosses, I would even say the 2D bosses weren't that fulfilling despite the obvious limitations at the time. It's the "3D" games I'm mostly concerned with though: Ocarina of Time; Majoras Mask; The Wind Waker; Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.

The former two (N64 installments) aren't as bad as their successors, but they still felt sure of to what could have been achieved. While the latter 3, mostly TWW and TP generally had the weakest bosses to date.

It's become tradition, as we progress through the world we encounter dungeons and we typically have to face a boss; though the real test seems to be the dungeon itself as, in my experience anyway, we get a lackluster and typically easy boss. It just leaves a sour taste of what should be a great and challenging experience in my opinion. Sometimes I do actually wish that bosses didn't necessarily have to follow the pattern and maybe we could more bosses in the actual overworld. Maybe it's just me, but to be honest I wish that sometimes bosses didn't have to ruin the experience of the entire dungeon by dampening that challenge towards the end.

There is an obvious and rather more logical solution to this; make bosses more challenging etc. While it's a valid point I think Nintendo have had plenty of chances to fix bosses but haven't reached what we expect. So is it time that bosses become less of an occurrence, maybe not just in dungeons but in the entire game?
 

Musicfan

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I think that for the cery frist play through of ss they did ramp up the difficulty of the bosses. I would hate to have bosses go befcausr for the most part they are challangeing the very frist time you play.
 
I believe dungeon bosses aren't so much the problem as the way they're presented: Link fights a huge monster in an enclosed area and the last one standing wins. A simple fix would be to alternate between emphasizing action and puzzle elements with some bosses "unkillable" by normal item use requiring Link to run away from a chasing boss to a different portion of a dungeon where certain conditions make it vulnerable or the beatings taken by various booby traps in the dungeon activated by Link's items along the way cause it to succumb to its inuries. I think the latter would be especially interesting, but I fear that wuick reflex actions along the way would turn bosses into nothing more than glorified quick time events.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
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Yes, we do. They aren't meant to be challenging. They're meant to be fun.
 

MW7

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I wouldn't mind a game without bosses or at least less bosses. I think a Zelda game that occasionally ends with an exceptionally hard puzzle instead of a boss would be refreshing. Skyward Sword did bring me back to believing that bosses could be fun (except the Imprisoned) after TWW and TP crushed my hopes and dreams for innovative boss fights (except for a few exceptions like Puppet Ganon and Stallord). MM is probably my pick for the best game for boss fights, but I'd also say that's one of the least notable things about the game. So I think you make a good point. Boss fights for me have added little value to to the series. I wouldn't go so far as to say I wouldn't miss them, but I wouldn't mind the occasional dungeon without a boss.
 

Dio

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There should always be an end of dungeon boss in my opinion, it is the reward for finishing the puzzles. Bosses should be challenging yet fun to fight. In the cases where they are both, that is where you get bosses the way they should be. For me Koloktos in Skyward Sword or Ghirahim are good examples of this.
 

JuicieJ

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I think Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword had some of the best and most diverse bosses in the series, which pretty much by default means some of the best in gaming. I can't wait to see what Nintendo will throw at us in A Link Between Worlds and Zelda Wii U.

But, really, bosses are designed as transitional points. Their purpose is to end a dungeon off with a bang, and they've generally done a good job at that in Zelda. The GameCube Zeldas are the only entries I can think of that failed to do so.
 

Mercedes

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No, I don't think we need dungeon bosses. Nothing wrong with having a finale that's exciting and explosive but it doesn't always have to be a fight using whatever weapon we've been using in the dungeon. There's so many other things that can be done and I'd like to see Nintendo actually deviate and try them.
 

Ventus

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Bosses are, from my perspective, supposed to be challenging as well as epic. Being fun is secondary and optional (though their being fun typically comes from the challenge. ;)) That said, we can still have challenging and epic set pieces without a culmination in the form of a boss encounter. Think of many situations. Many people don't have final exams for their school years...though that is the normal format for finishing school. In the game sphere, Resident Evil 4 didn't finish off with a final boss fight; it finished with a short escape sequence. stuff like that is plausible.

Though I generally like fighting a boss at the end, it just isn't required.

Heap_of_pancakes_in_Sweden.JPG
 

JuicieJ

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Nothing wrong with having a finale that's exciting and explosive but it doesn't always have to be a fight using whatever weapon we've been using in the dungeon. There's so many other things that can be done and I'd like to see Nintendo actually deviate and try them.

Not every boss in Zelda is fought with items found within the dungeons. A Link to the Past and Skyward Sword were actually pretty damn good about this. Even when items were a factor, rarely were they the central focus. SS also had a fair number of overworld bosses that focused on navigating the terrain rather than straight-up combat, so I'd say that's deviating.
 

Ventus

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Not every boss in Zelda is fought with items found within the dungeons. A Link to the Past and Skyward Sword were actually pretty damn good about this. Even when items were a factor, rarely was it the central focus. SS also had a fair number of overworld bosses that focused on navigating the terrain rather than straight-up combat, so I'd say that's deviating.
Ignore Merc's extra words...I think what she was trying to convey was that we shouldn't be fighting anything as that epic finale. Why not have us simply run away from crumbling buildings, or even escape from the would-be boss? No reason to have us go one on one against a boss each and every time (think like what Sky Keep did ;p)
 

JuicieJ

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Yeah, that's a fair point, and I wouldn't mind seeing these sorts of things -- running away from the boulder (Scaldera) in the Earth Temple was a nice change of pace and buildup to the actual fight, so there's hope for bringing these kinds of things out -- but I'd much rather have actual fights to conclude a dungeon. I dunno, I guess it just "feels" better.

That's just me, though.
 

SNOlink

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I feel that the bosses mostly need new methods for defeating them. It's traditionally been use the dungeon item and attack the eye. Basically all of Skyward Sword's bosses had something to do with an eye (although Koloktos is more of a heart, but it's very eye-like). Nintendo needs to make some new formula to these bosses to make them more exciting and new than what we've recently been getting.
 

Ventus

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I feel that the bosses mostly need new methods for defeating them. It's traditionally been use the dungeon item and attack the eye. Basically all of Skyward Sword's bosses had something to do with an eye (although Koloktos is more of a heart, but it's very eye-like). Nintendo needs to make some new formula to these bosses to make them more exciting and new than what we've recently been getting.

Make the bosses on a more human scale, and make them more Kingdom Hearts like in that they have super armor and don't flinch so easily.
 

Mangachick14

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Maybe we could cut down on boss battles, and perhaps find a different--but still exciting--way to finish a dungeon. I definitely wouldn't want Boss Battles eliminated fully, but I'd welcome other ways to finish a dungeon. It doesn't always have to be a final smack-down with some big baddie. I've always wanted to see a chase in which you're actually the one running away, rather than the one chasing someone (We saw plenty of the latter in TP)
 

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