Optional or Hidden Bosses

[ausdoerrt]

Meh, can't say the guy's worth hours of grinding. It's not like you get anything awesome for beating him/it. Except for "bragging rights" of course.

[Red Hairdo]

It's fun.

That's all. xD
Though he does drop 3 Kapla Waters. It's also nice getting the "Congratulations!" message. xD

[Incog Neato]

Feb 1, 2010 17:47:54 GMT -5 HJ said:

There's a statue of limitations on spoilers, though. I think the common internet etiquette is 2-3 years, but it varies from place to place.

That's a lame excuse. :3 Well, whatever. I'm not even that bothered by the names being disclosed as much as I would be with plot spoilers. FUNNY HOW PEOPLE HIDE THOSE AROUND HERE.

And Ark was still useless. It also had that dumbass 60-second clip that you can't skip each time you summon its mecha ass.

As for why anyone would want to fight optional bosses, it's for the challenge! (And maybe bragging rights for some!) I do it to test myself. :3

[ausdoerrt]

And Ark was still useless. It also had that dumbass 60-second clip that you can't skip each time you summon its mecha ass.

...which was only maybe a bit longer than the animation for all the other summons. I mean, it's not like the unskippable long boring summon movies problem is exclusive to the Ark.

[Red Hairdo]

Yep, the challenge, where the fun mostly comes from.

[schlagwerk]

Feb 3, 2010 7:47:05 GMT -5 ausdoerrt said:

Meh, can't say the guy's worth hours of grinding. It's not like you get anything awesome for beating him/it. Except for "bragging rights" of course.

Isn't that what most/all optional bosses are like?

[ausdoerrt]

Not really. Some drop neat stuff.

[schlagwerk]

Feb 3, 2010 16:47:38 GMT -5 Wyrdwad said:

Summon animations in FF9 only played all the way the first time you summoned them... after that, they were cut down to only a few seconds apiece, I thought?

Randomly they'll still play the full summon animation which counts like a critical hit, plus it gives you more time to mash the Boost button for extra damage.

And then there's another ability that forces it so the full animation always plays.

[ausdoerrt]

Feb 3, 2010 16:47:38 GMT -5 Wyrdwad said:

Wait, are you guys talking about FF9?

Summon animations in FF9 only played all the way the first time you summoned them... after that, they were cut down to only a few seconds apiece, I thought?

-Tom

They cut down once in a while, but it's not that short. About half the length of the original summon. Also, you don't WANT to have them cut down, since then they deal only about 2/3 of full damage. Not to mention that it all happens at random.

[Varion]

Personally I prefer the FF13 way of making everything skippable. Can't believe it's taken them so long to make all scenes and summons skippable, but there you go.

[ausdoerrt]

I personally find the Nevan Stinger-equivalent more fun - it hits a larger area around you even if the reach is less. The "mash this button" combo is fun, too. I'm kinda sad it was gone from DMC4. The silly Lucifer thing was so useless. But yeah, on Easy, Stinger can pretty much get you through most of the game

Virgil's katana is heaps of fun, too. It has few combos, but they're easy to vary, and they DESTROY the enemies in a flash.

[Incog Neato]

Feb 3, 2010 22:58:45 GMT -5 Varion said:

Personally I prefer the FF13 way of making everything skippable. Can't believe it's taken them so long to make all scenes and summons skippable, but there you go.

I could swear that gave you the option (as in an option in the Option menu) to shorten the summon FMVs in FFX. I think FFXII had something like that too? But yeah, why so long for the adding in the skippage? :|

Also, ausdoerrt, I could swear Ark's intro movie was longer than the other ones. My memory fails me. ToT~

And about the cute little Napishitim optional boss, it took me THREE TRIES to successfully get the Elder Orb and run. ^^

Bosses like these are ... insane. Just the fact that you have to pretty much spend ages GRINDING to a level which takes way too long because enemies give teeny amounts of EXP by that point of the game is so dumb. >o<

[Ashurei]

XII allowed scene skipping, yar. Hit pause and there's a skip option~

SO LIKE Optional bosses and stuff. God knows I've tried, but I never really get anywhere in those endeavors simply out of a lack of willingness to take the appropriate measures to kill them. Probably the ONE boss I could have bested is Emerald weapon, but I royally fucked myself in that regard. On my second FFVII playthrough - the one I intended to be a "master file", mind - I wound up selling the Chocobo Lure materia at some point cause I was strapped for Gil. Turns out, there's only one in the game! Ever! Naturally, I found this out when I decided it was high time to start looking for Knights of the Round. Ohohoho, I had many goods laughs. I've seen videos of people killing the bastard without, but I'm not too terribly interested in 99 grinding or trying my luck at the all lucky 7s trick~

Tried Ozma, too, after gaining access to him. IGN, that didn't last long.

Mmm. I did beat Black Bean in Gurumin now that I recall, but that one didn't strike me as too terribly difficult, at least not comparatively speaking.

[Yakra]

Wasn't grinding to level 60 somewhat easier (and even more than halfway enjoyable!) in the PSP and PS2 versions of Ys VI, with the Alma's Trials? And when one reached 60, I actually found Majunun more than beatable. Ofcourse, I played on easy (), but.... I remember I beat it PRETTY easily!

And, about FFIX, wasn't there a 'reduce summon animation time' option too? Kind of like a reverse of the 'full animation' option? I remember it reduced the power of the summon too though, thereby making it utterly useless. But I DO remember, Ark's animation always seemed especially extra long. [I didn't mind it too much though! It always gave one enough to time to enjoy one's tea or whatever one was eating. :'D]

[ausdoerrt]

^ There was no OPTION in FFIX, again, it was "random".

[korzic]

I usually at least attempt the optional bosses, but will generally leave them alone if they seem to be too much of a hassle. If I think I have a reasonable shot at beating them, then I'll at least make a good effort, unless it simply takes too long (Ys VI's Majunun, for instance).

Feb 6, 2010 17:05:12 GMT -5 Yakra said:

Wasn't grinding to level 60 somewhat easier (and even more than halfway enjoyable!) in the PSP and PS2 versions of Ys VI, with the Alma's Trials? And when one reached 60, I actually found Majunun more than beatable. Ofcourse, I played on easy (), but.... I remember I beat it PRETTY easily!

Hmm, the PS2 version doesn't have an "Easy" difficulty; "Normal" is the lowest. Anyway, I don't know about the PSP version, but in the PS2 version, I heard that the best method of getting the last few levels was killing the slimes in Limewater Cave, since they were so numerous. Of course, the EXP from the slimes is minimal by that point (1, I think), but there's very little EXP given at those levels anyway. Interesting idea about using Alma's Trials to get the last few levels, although I tried something similar when gaining levels for Zonplas, and the game told me I didn't need the EXP (granted, I was slightly over-leveled by that point).

[Ascended Mermaid]

No, Level 60 was only easier to get in the PSP version. The PS2 version made it so that you COULDN'T accept the EXP gift from Alma's Trials. The PSP version, however, would let you level up TWICE per trial, and there were 9 trials total; meaning that you could level up 18 times!!! However, those trials were MUCH harder the second time through!

I prefer the trials in the PSP version to those of the PS2 version. However, I consider both to be a VERY welcome addition to an otherwise too short, oversimplistic quest, with way too much backtracking involved. A good (well, acceptable...) game, but not GREAT by any means -- it still opened the door for some of the greatest Ys games of all time!!!

[korzic]

Feb 9, 2010 21:57:16 GMT -5 Ascended Mermaid said:

The PS2 version made it so that you COULDN'T accept the EXP gift from Alma's Trials.

Just to clarify, you're only referring to when you're over-leveled, correct? Because I know that the EXP gift is indeed a valid option in the PS2 version (not that I usually accept it), but only if you're under-leveled for where you are in the game.

[Ascended Mermaid]

Yes. You are right, Korzic. I'd just meant in this context that the PSP allows you to level up 18 times (9 minigames, times two) without any restrictions.

[korzic]

Just wanted to double-check. I don't think it's too far-fetched for someone to play through the game, be denied the EXP gift every trial, and come to the conclusion that the option is buggy.