TheDragonAwakens
Well-Known Member
I thought that NG1 had some of the most enjoyable boss fights and well designed enemies in the games, but of course it is not always perfect and thought that some of the boss fights and enemies could be improved, and I want to post my thoughts about it and create a discussion surrounding it. (This thread also does not limit to NG1, it can also be about the other NG games)
NG1 Bosses:
Murai 1: I personally found him enjoyable to fight and thought he was very well designed as a first level boss, as he punishes you fairly and appropriately for mistakes you make most of the time, forcing the player to learn some of the game's primary mechanics if the player got to this point by just mashing the attack button.
Masakado: I generally found him meh, but at least he is not as annoying as the horse archers from the precious section. However, I am a little disappointed how the fight against him unmounted (Very Hard/Master Ninja) is almost no different from the regular samurai enemies.
Dynamo: An okay boss. Generally, my only gripe about him is the bad camera at the edges of the arena.
Hydracubus: An okay boss like Dynamo, but it also has the same flaw of a bad camera at the edge of the arena (which can be grating at the second fight with him in monastery on higher difficulties where you have to fight it alongisde Bast fiends).
Bone Dragon: Thought he was an above average boss and also somewhat enjoyable despite the boss fight not being difficult. However, I was bummed out by how some of the weapons' UTs and ETs just whiff completely despite being close to the boss' arms and legs.
Alma 1: One of the worst boss fights (personally the worst for me), because the camera is absolutely horrendous in this fight, and also the worst camera in the game. When Alma executes her homing pillar projectile attacks, when you are running towards the circular edges of the arena, the camera sometimes doesn't follow you at all until the projectile attacks stop. And like the Dynamo and Hydracubus boss fight, the camera is worse at the edges. Pray that she does not land on the ground executing her melee attacks when you are in that position. Speaking of those pillar attacks, they always leave a very shiny smoke effect which only hinders the view of the boss fight (Sigma). Generally I don't have much gripes against her overall design (as I enjoy fighting Awakened Alma and Nicchae), but I do have gripes about her AI on higher difficulties. Due to the huge nerf of the flying swallow attack (which is usually the move you use against her to knock her down), if you are unlucky and happen to land near her, she may sometimes successfully land an aerial grapple on you. Oh, and her AI is annoyingly passive aggressive on Very Hard and more so on Master Ninja difficulty. Before you can get a chance to try to flying swallow her, she will probably stay in the air throwing pillars at you for a full minute before you get the chance to do your flying swallow. Even though she could take damage while she is within her attack animation with the flying swallow, you would get blown by at least one pillar before you could block it when you land, and if you are at the circular wall, well... prepare to take 2 to 3 pillars worth of damage.
Alternator (Sigma only): Basically Dynamo with a new unblockable charge attack. He is still okay, and the camera is a lot better than the original Dynamo. However, it definitely could be better if there aren't any missiles thrown at you from the sky randomly.
Tanks: No problems in dealing with them, but not enjoyable because I am forced to use the bow.
Apache Helicopter: Exact same opinion as the tanks.
Worms: Easiest boss fight in the game, but there are some poorly designed areas. The somewhat bad camera in the double/triple worms aquaduct cavern which occasionally results in the player unexpectedly jumping into the minefield, and the way their AI works on higher difficulties, where one will try to swipe you and the other will shoot projectiles almost at the same time, making the projectile attack unable to be avoided sometimes. (Probably not the best wording) It was also pretty bad for the flame worm boss fight on the sigma version of the game, as there is more than one flame worm dealing with you (though they all share one life bar), and you have deal with 3 or 4 of them on Very Hard and Master Ninja difficulty, and some of the worms are completely out of your camera view until they attack.
Paz Zuu: Personally found it to be one of the most enjoyable boss fights as it somewhat balances in between fighting him both aggressively and defensively (and also not being too random). He can be continuously damaged throughout the fight, but he is most vulnerable when he lowers his head when appropriate moves or damage is dealt to him. Also he punishes you accordingly for being too aggressive at times with moves that have long recovery frames such as his 'force field' attack, stomp attack, and bite grapple. However, there really are questionable times on Master Ninja like where he will just keep using his wind 'force field' attack for a while continuously which is a minus for him.
Doku: Found it enjoyable overall. My experience with him is somewhat similar to Murai 1, but I think that they should just remove the health drain grapple. As all the grapples of majority of the boss fights at this point are inescapable, the newcomer would just assume that the grapple is inescapable and won't do anything to try and stop it.
Yotunfrau: Somewhat enjoyable for me. Don't know why.
Smaugan: Pretty unsure of him, because most of the time I just take out my Unlabored Flawlessness. However, from my experience in fighting him with the Lunar in mission mode, I feel that there should be more opportunity to damage him.
Awakened Alma: A LOT MORE BETTER THAN FIRST FORM ALMA TO THE POINT THAT I ACTUALLY ENJOY FIGHTING HER. The arena is much bigger, and the camera is also a lot better. In addition, when you land an unsuccessful flying swallow at her, she will 'block' it at times instead of just dodging and having the move whiff completely, giving you a better chance of avoiding her next attack. However, I do feel she seems to spam her grapple attack a lot and unexpectedly on Master Ninja and feel that could be toned down.
Spirit Doku: Horrible. Simply horrible. First things first the camera. Second, the way you just randomly track to attack Doku's hand instead of Doku himself (very evident when trying to use ultimate techniques). Oh, and you have to deal with fucking ghost fish on higher difficulties. Lastly, he got another grapple attack (in addition to his health draining one that heals more) that deals huge chunk of damage and is escapable, not a fan of that, not one bit. Thank god you have Lunar FowardYYXY and Unlabored Flawlessness XYXXXX.
Nicchae: Like Awakened Alma, Nicchae is also a lot more better and enjoyable than first form Alma. While the arena you have to fight her is small, the camera is also so much better, and her AI is a huge improvement compared to first form Alma. While first form Alma throws homing projectiles at you while in the air for like a full minute (Very Hard/Master Ninja), Nicchae does not do that and has the tendency to try to go melee on you more often, which is a very welcome change and also provides a better chance and opportunity to attack her.
Ishtaros: The most enjoyable boss fight for me in the entire game alongside Doppelganger Fiends. When I fought her on my first few tries in mission mode, I easily got rekt by her and thought that she was the most difficult boss in the game. However, I soon found out that it is not that she is difficult to fight against, but rather she has the most difficult and strict learning curve. Her boss fight in general sums to defensive play, dodge her attacks/make her attacks whiff and then punish her. In addition, she is probably one of the fairest bosses in the game. The feeling I got for beating her for the first time was satisfaction (unlike the feeling of relief I got after beating Alma 1 on Master Ninja). Coming to think of it, it was probably the poorly designed Monk Fiends that made me miserable when fighting her the first time in mission mode. I was rather surprised on my good performance against her when I fought her on Very Hard difficulty alone for the first time.
Marbus: Generally found him an okay boss. Don't really have much of an opinion about him.
Vigoor Emperor 1: I feel that this boss was widely hated and considered poorly designed was because of the sudden change in flow and feel of the fight compared to the previous boss fights, which I will agree on. The controls feel so much different when trying to dodge his lasers and trying to approach him. In addition, one can just spam the Inferno ninpo all the way to beat him instead if they don't want to deal with the bullshit platform controls, and this tactic reminds me a lot about the fight against Bloody Malth in NES NG1 where all you need to do to beat him is to rush to him and spam the attack button. Oh, and in Sigma, trying to attack him with Plasma Saber MKII (a reskin of the True Dragon Sword) deals a lot less damage than using the True Dragon Sword, which is ridiculous. The NG 2004 does not have this problem.
Vigoor Emperor 2: A pretty meh boss fight for me. Most of the damage you try to deal against him is using your projectile weapons, and then you have to attack his flying skulls with the flails to defend yourself and damage him at the same time.
Fiend Murai: Quite enjoyable for me. I remember when I struggled to defeat him in Master Ninja on the final chapter without having any life elixirs, and it was satisfying for me when I was successful in beating him without healing. However I don't like how his Dark Dragon ninpo attack sometimes take out your FULL ENTIRE LIFE BAR ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY IF A SUCCESSFUL HIT.
Doppelganger Fiends: The most enjoyable boss fights for me alongside Ishtaros. It feels like fighting yourself with a lot more health and resistances. However, there are some aspects of the fights that I do not like. You cannot perform the fiend sealer on them while the doppelganger with the flails can always do that with massive damage dealt to you. How spam happy they are with projectile weapons on Master Ninja (evident with mission mode where you have to fight a Lunar and Flails in the Peristyle Passage). When I was doing my XYXXXX Combo halfway on one of the doppelgangers, the other one off camera interrupted it and juggled me with his windmill shuriken, he threw that windmill like 3 times in one second while dealing big damage. Also I feel that the damage you take when you touch their Inferno Ninpo aura is a bit too much, after all my experiences from trying to punish their whiffed flying swallows and charge up UTs.
Gamov (Sigma): Pretty meh for me. Not much to talk about. Also pretty easy to beat even with Rachel.
So what are your thoughts on the bosses and enemies in the NG games?
NG1 Bosses:
Murai 1: I personally found him enjoyable to fight and thought he was very well designed as a first level boss, as he punishes you fairly and appropriately for mistakes you make most of the time, forcing the player to learn some of the game's primary mechanics if the player got to this point by just mashing the attack button.
Masakado: I generally found him meh, but at least he is not as annoying as the horse archers from the precious section. However, I am a little disappointed how the fight against him unmounted (Very Hard/Master Ninja) is almost no different from the regular samurai enemies.
Dynamo: An okay boss. Generally, my only gripe about him is the bad camera at the edges of the arena.
Hydracubus: An okay boss like Dynamo, but it also has the same flaw of a bad camera at the edge of the arena (which can be grating at the second fight with him in monastery on higher difficulties where you have to fight it alongisde Bast fiends).
Bone Dragon: Thought he was an above average boss and also somewhat enjoyable despite the boss fight not being difficult. However, I was bummed out by how some of the weapons' UTs and ETs just whiff completely despite being close to the boss' arms and legs.
Alma 1: One of the worst boss fights (personally the worst for me), because the camera is absolutely horrendous in this fight, and also the worst camera in the game. When Alma executes her homing pillar projectile attacks, when you are running towards the circular edges of the arena, the camera sometimes doesn't follow you at all until the projectile attacks stop. And like the Dynamo and Hydracubus boss fight, the camera is worse at the edges. Pray that she does not land on the ground executing her melee attacks when you are in that position. Speaking of those pillar attacks, they always leave a very shiny smoke effect which only hinders the view of the boss fight (Sigma). Generally I don't have much gripes against her overall design (as I enjoy fighting Awakened Alma and Nicchae), but I do have gripes about her AI on higher difficulties. Due to the huge nerf of the flying swallow attack (which is usually the move you use against her to knock her down), if you are unlucky and happen to land near her, she may sometimes successfully land an aerial grapple on you. Oh, and her AI is annoyingly passive aggressive on Very Hard and more so on Master Ninja difficulty. Before you can get a chance to try to flying swallow her, she will probably stay in the air throwing pillars at you for a full minute before you get the chance to do your flying swallow. Even though she could take damage while she is within her attack animation with the flying swallow, you would get blown by at least one pillar before you could block it when you land, and if you are at the circular wall, well... prepare to take 2 to 3 pillars worth of damage.
Alternator (Sigma only): Basically Dynamo with a new unblockable charge attack. He is still okay, and the camera is a lot better than the original Dynamo. However, it definitely could be better if there aren't any missiles thrown at you from the sky randomly.
Tanks: No problems in dealing with them, but not enjoyable because I am forced to use the bow.
Apache Helicopter: Exact same opinion as the tanks.
Worms: Easiest boss fight in the game, but there are some poorly designed areas. The somewhat bad camera in the double/triple worms aquaduct cavern which occasionally results in the player unexpectedly jumping into the minefield, and the way their AI works on higher difficulties, where one will try to swipe you and the other will shoot projectiles almost at the same time, making the projectile attack unable to be avoided sometimes. (Probably not the best wording) It was also pretty bad for the flame worm boss fight on the sigma version of the game, as there is more than one flame worm dealing with you (though they all share one life bar), and you have deal with 3 or 4 of them on Very Hard and Master Ninja difficulty, and some of the worms are completely out of your camera view until they attack.
Paz Zuu: Personally found it to be one of the most enjoyable boss fights as it somewhat balances in between fighting him both aggressively and defensively (and also not being too random). He can be continuously damaged throughout the fight, but he is most vulnerable when he lowers his head when appropriate moves or damage is dealt to him. Also he punishes you accordingly for being too aggressive at times with moves that have long recovery frames such as his 'force field' attack, stomp attack, and bite grapple. However, there really are questionable times on Master Ninja like where he will just keep using his wind 'force field' attack for a while continuously which is a minus for him.
Doku: Found it enjoyable overall. My experience with him is somewhat similar to Murai 1, but I think that they should just remove the health drain grapple. As all the grapples of majority of the boss fights at this point are inescapable, the newcomer would just assume that the grapple is inescapable and won't do anything to try and stop it.
Yotunfrau: Somewhat enjoyable for me. Don't know why.
Smaugan: Pretty unsure of him, because most of the time I just take out my Unlabored Flawlessness. However, from my experience in fighting him with the Lunar in mission mode, I feel that there should be more opportunity to damage him.
Awakened Alma: A LOT MORE BETTER THAN FIRST FORM ALMA TO THE POINT THAT I ACTUALLY ENJOY FIGHTING HER. The arena is much bigger, and the camera is also a lot better. In addition, when you land an unsuccessful flying swallow at her, she will 'block' it at times instead of just dodging and having the move whiff completely, giving you a better chance of avoiding her next attack. However, I do feel she seems to spam her grapple attack a lot and unexpectedly on Master Ninja and feel that could be toned down.
Spirit Doku: Horrible. Simply horrible. First things first the camera. Second, the way you just randomly track to attack Doku's hand instead of Doku himself (very evident when trying to use ultimate techniques). Oh, and you have to deal with fucking ghost fish on higher difficulties. Lastly, he got another grapple attack (in addition to his health draining one that heals more) that deals huge chunk of damage and is escapable, not a fan of that, not one bit. Thank god you have Lunar FowardYYXY and Unlabored Flawlessness XYXXXX.
Nicchae: Like Awakened Alma, Nicchae is also a lot more better and enjoyable than first form Alma. While the arena you have to fight her is small, the camera is also so much better, and her AI is a huge improvement compared to first form Alma. While first form Alma throws homing projectiles at you while in the air for like a full minute (Very Hard/Master Ninja), Nicchae does not do that and has the tendency to try to go melee on you more often, which is a very welcome change and also provides a better chance and opportunity to attack her.
Ishtaros: The most enjoyable boss fight for me in the entire game alongside Doppelganger Fiends. When I fought her on my first few tries in mission mode, I easily got rekt by her and thought that she was the most difficult boss in the game. However, I soon found out that it is not that she is difficult to fight against, but rather she has the most difficult and strict learning curve. Her boss fight in general sums to defensive play, dodge her attacks/make her attacks whiff and then punish her. In addition, she is probably one of the fairest bosses in the game. The feeling I got for beating her for the first time was satisfaction (unlike the feeling of relief I got after beating Alma 1 on Master Ninja). Coming to think of it, it was probably the poorly designed Monk Fiends that made me miserable when fighting her the first time in mission mode. I was rather surprised on my good performance against her when I fought her on Very Hard difficulty alone for the first time.
Marbus: Generally found him an okay boss. Don't really have much of an opinion about him.
Vigoor Emperor 1: I feel that this boss was widely hated and considered poorly designed was because of the sudden change in flow and feel of the fight compared to the previous boss fights, which I will agree on. The controls feel so much different when trying to dodge his lasers and trying to approach him. In addition, one can just spam the Inferno ninpo all the way to beat him instead if they don't want to deal with the bullshit platform controls, and this tactic reminds me a lot about the fight against Bloody Malth in NES NG1 where all you need to do to beat him is to rush to him and spam the attack button. Oh, and in Sigma, trying to attack him with Plasma Saber MKII (a reskin of the True Dragon Sword) deals a lot less damage than using the True Dragon Sword, which is ridiculous. The NG 2004 does not have this problem.
Vigoor Emperor 2: A pretty meh boss fight for me. Most of the damage you try to deal against him is using your projectile weapons, and then you have to attack his flying skulls with the flails to defend yourself and damage him at the same time.
Fiend Murai: Quite enjoyable for me. I remember when I struggled to defeat him in Master Ninja on the final chapter without having any life elixirs, and it was satisfying for me when I was successful in beating him without healing. However I don't like how his Dark Dragon ninpo attack sometimes take out your FULL ENTIRE LIFE BAR ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY IF A SUCCESSFUL HIT.
Doppelganger Fiends: The most enjoyable boss fights for me alongside Ishtaros. It feels like fighting yourself with a lot more health and resistances. However, there are some aspects of the fights that I do not like. You cannot perform the fiend sealer on them while the doppelganger with the flails can always do that with massive damage dealt to you. How spam happy they are with projectile weapons on Master Ninja (evident with mission mode where you have to fight a Lunar and Flails in the Peristyle Passage). When I was doing my XYXXXX Combo halfway on one of the doppelgangers, the other one off camera interrupted it and juggled me with his windmill shuriken, he threw that windmill like 3 times in one second while dealing big damage. Also I feel that the damage you take when you touch their Inferno Ninpo aura is a bit too much, after all my experiences from trying to punish their whiffed flying swallows and charge up UTs.
Gamov (Sigma): Pretty meh for me. Not much to talk about. Also pretty easy to beat even with Rachel.
So what are your thoughts on the bosses and enemies in the NG games?
