dark souls

Why Boss Battles Are Losing Their Charm

July 25, 2012 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

Playing a game is like going through a familiar pattern – kill some enemies here, do some puzzles there, fight the area boss, and then repeat the whole process all over again. Every area in most games will build up the tension from start to end until the eventual boss battle. And boss battles are what make games so entertaining. A sudden spike in difficulty is always welcome. They disconnect you from the rest of the game world for a moment, and test you with whatever you have learnt up until then. But lately, boss fights are becoming more about button mashing than anything else. Traditionally, boss fights are supposed to be all about using your brains.

There is a difference between there being a hundred enemies on screen, and a single boss. Boss fights have to be thought over. Every boss either has a weakness, or some pattern using which we can get the upper hand. It has to be about observation and development of a strategy.

Deus Ex HR Boss Fight — *A still from Deus Ex: Human Revolution*

Deus Ex: Human revolution, while a brilliant game, loses its pace and sense of freedom when it comes to boss battles. Sadly, the past few games i’ve played have been anything but strategic in handling their boss fights. A prime example which comes to mind is Deus Ex : Human Revolution. The game as a whole is brilliant. There are so many choices in each and everything you can do; it’s a shame that the boss battles throw this concept of choice out of the window. Try defeating a boss using just gas grenades and a few punches and the end cut scene will still show them with bullet wounds and cuts all over. Also the boss battles are such that they promote the use of guns, rather than giving the player the choice to skip them entirely. Sure, this can be blamed on the fact that they hired another studio to orchestrate the boss fights, but poor foresight on part of the main development team is also to blame. Another reason for this is the over-monetization of gaming.

Franchises like Call of Duty have taken the focus away from making games unique; it’s all about the action and how the game is presented. Quick time events are intended to make the game as “cool” and “awesome” as possible, but they take away from any sort of strategy, or the boss having any sort of character. It’s all about guns and explosions, and all about black and white without even a hint of gray.

The End from Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater is one of the most tension filled boss fights i’ve encountered. Good boss battles have always been rare, now more than ever. The best example of a boss battle that i would like to point out over here is ‘the end’ from Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater (or Subsistence, depending on which version you have played). Never have I experienced such tension in a boss fight. Apart from the sniper mission in Call of Duty 4 (a time when call of duty was actually good), no other moment in gaming has had me at the edge of my seat as this one. This particular boss can take anywhere between 20 minutes to two hours to beat, and needs you to use almost every tool at your disposal. Snake eater was a stealth game, and most of the boss battles involved the use of stealth, which is rare these days.

I feel developers need to get back to their drawing boards and ask themselves – What is a boss fight all about? Is it simply a tool to show off the game’s engine? Or is it a way of giving the player the fulfillment that the other foes cannot? Either ways, it shouldn’t be about simply beating the boss and going to the next one. There should be some accomplishment of a goal pertaining to the story of the game, and should make the player contemplate about what has been done and achieved. Most of all, it should feel like a major hurdle in the progress of the game. That’s where games like Dark Souls shine, while others don’t.

How To Not Suck At Max Payne 3

June 18, 2012 by Raj Agrawal 3 Comments

Max Payne 3 is not an easy game. At least I did not find it so. Max Payne 2 had a similar difficulty curve, which gave me some problems. Bullet time is there, but it’s not overpowering. It’s made to feel like a helpful tool, and it’s just that; nothing beyond it. At no point in either of the games can you rely on it completely. As such it becomes necessary to be careful at every turn in order to ensure that the “you’re dead” screen does not pop up too often. Hence, I made this article outlining a few steps which should help any player new to the game cope up with the difficulty. So here are a list of things you should consider while playing the game to make it less frustrating.

Accuracy is pivotal to the game. Bullet time or no bullet time, accuracy is a must in this game. It’s easy to wipe out a room only if you’re hitting headshots often. Otherwise, it can be painful and often fatal.
Bullet time is not a gimmick. It’s a limited resource which has to be used very carefully. It drains fast, and while active, it hinders the sensitivity for sometime which takes effort to get used to. So make it count. Aim for the head; always.
Treasure the meds which you get throughout the game. They only recover a sizable portion of your health. But it can mean all the difference between life and death. Also use them wisely. Use enough of the meds to keep your health above 50%. Bullets do tremendous damage in Max Payne 3, like they should; all the more reason to use them effectively.
Time your lunges effectively. Don’t go jumping in the middle of an open room surrounded by enemies. Doing so will result in an instant death. Lunging in Max Payne 3 automatically triggers Bullet time, which should be used properly to have any effect on the outcome of a firefight. Either use lunges to launch a surprise attack out of cover or use them to get into cover. Whenever you lunge, make sure you know all the directions from which enemy fire may hit you. Knowing exactly where the enemy is is critical for this purpose.
Health automatically regenerates in Max Payne 3. Use plenty of cover when you’re wounded. But be wary of the enemy AI. Enemies will often try to flank you and blow your cover. And they can use grenades too. So use cover effectively.

While not a Dark Souls, Max Payne 3 sure isn’t the easiest game in the library. Hence, reckless gameplay will often get you killed. Following the above tips won’t exactly make you a pro at the game, but at least it won’t get you killed every time you try to put down a bunch of goons spreading chaos.

Diablo 3 : How To Defeat Siegebreaker And Rakanoth

June 2, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Diablo 3 is NOT the easiest of games. For the experienced veteran it might be sort of a breeze, but for the average gamer, the latter levels can be frustrating. Interestingly enough, the major end-of-act bosses of Diablo 3 are manageable compared to some of the mini bosses you encounter in between the acts. I’ve played Diablo 1 and 2 and am accustomed to the increased difficulty in the latter half of the game. The only time I was at the edge of frustration was while facing Siegebreaker, and then Rakanoth. Hence, i’m sharing a mini walk-through on how to beat both of them.

Siegebreaker

This horrendous beast is a pain in the a** to beat. Mainly because there is no specific pattern as to how you can beat it. The simplest way to kill this beast is to wait for it to use one of its ground stomping area of effect attacks. Then get right behind it and slash away. Also be sure to never be in front of it, as it will occasionally rush at you which deals tremendous damage. Also, use the pillars to your advantage. Try and stay on the other side of the pillars as much as possible. Siegebreaker will eventually destroy all of them, but you can reduce his life to half in that much time, and then launch an all out attack. The fight is relatively easy in normal mode, but gets very difficult with increasing difficulty, as the bosses have their healths upgraded exponentially.

Rakanoth

This boss gave me huge headaches. The difficulty is finding out the right strategy. Once you have that sorted, it’s very easy to beat him. He’s one of Diablo’s champions, and rightly deserves the honor. He carries two huge blades, which are extremely sharp and deal huge amounts of damage. To make things worse, he has a huge array of attacks and also spawns minions, which aren’t easy to kill. To top all of this, he has a teleportation attack, using which he’ll teleport to where you are and slash at you with both of his swords. And accuracy is not a factor; he’ll always hit you, and eat away almost 90% of your health in one hit. And he always does this after spawning his minions, leaving them to deal the final blow. So you can understand my frustration, when after dying for 30-40 times, that I wanted to break my computer.

Defeat Siegebreaker And Rakanoth

Thankfully I was able to figure a way out, which turns out to be pretty easy. This requires constant use of potions, and a very effective armor based power. As soon as the battle begins, get away from him. He’ll slash you, before which you should use the armor based power. The power should absorb his attack. Then hit him once or twice, and go to the other side of the map. As long as you’re not near him, he will not spawn his minions, which makes the fight very easy. It also makes it tedious, but its the simplest way to beat him. Make sure to keep potions at hand so that if he slashes you without you using your armor power, you can use the potions and go back to full health.

Barring these two bosses, none of the enemies proved to be very difficult. Though I still have the higher difficulty levels to try out, which people say are very tedious and can really test your patience. But a demon souls and dark souls player understands what they mean, and is rightfully happy about it. And for any of you who are still on the edge about buying Diablo 3, give it a try. It’s worth every penny!