Let's talk BOSSES. Favorite, Least Favorite, the Unexpected?

[bodregg]

I was wondering what everyone thought of the bosses. Who did you like the most? Who made you want to do nothing more than punch your monitor? Did any boss surprise you - whether they were easier, harder, or more/less enjoyable than you expected?

Personally, I really enjoyed The Burst. Just the right blend of bullet-hell and twitch-reaction melee combat, with pumping music to boot. However, I did find her far easier than I thought I would - though she was still a good challenge!
On the other hand, I absolutely HATED The Scale. His bullet patterns were obnoxious (Especially when coupled with the cloning that he would use all-too-often) and half of his attacks in melee phases were area of effect ground attacks, something I loathe with the slow walking pace of the Stranger in melee. He was also my hardest fight.

[fandango]

Burst by far, a favourite boss of any game I've ever played
Music, stages, banter, everything's just ace for me (Yes, even her final phase, which honestly is my favourite part)
Song is also a great candidate for her design and dialogue
Edge surprised me as when paying the first time with a friend, we were discussing the formula to make a good videogame boss and I mentioned about how they basically have a boat load of health, I'd like to see a boss who's just a powerful, but as fragile as you. And then Edge came along and I was like "damn, that's cool"

[Hackie P4ckie]

The Star is just the worst, by far...

Something about taking away my sword makes the boss fight a whole lot less fun. It's just a repeat process of dodging something and then charging a laser and firing it at her. Really not fun at all.

Compare that with the Burst, who's just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy. One second, she's invisible, then there's a melee attack sequence, then she disappears and calls in some drones, and then reappears and starts throwing up ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ walls and shooting out shockwaves, AND THEN she starts doing bullet hell ♥♥♥♥. She's crazy, her music is chaotic af, and I'm one of those few people that actually doesn't really have a problem with her final stage...

In terms of unexpectedness, the Edge. Every other boss before him had been relatively similar, and then this guy comes around with his two hit kills. He's definitely my second favorite boss. The fight is so short and sweet, but you still have to absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ master it or you'll get torn apart, and his constant theme of repetition and mastery throughout the fight just makes you feel like you're actually rising to his challenge and mastering him.

[Mir]

Time to throw in my 10 cents

As for best boss, It would either have to got to either the Hand or the Burst. The Hand has a really good atmosphere to it and actually makes the player rethink whether or not Rider (main protagonist) should be let out. For the Burst, she is one of the most difficult bosses in the game and she truly tests the player in both bullet hell and melee.

As for the worst, I's have to say The Star. It isn't that she has bad gameplay. It isn't that the player is restricted to a bullet hell (The Edge was primarily melee). It was how underplayed the whole fight was. Rider fought his way through hell and finally realised the danger he and this operation presents to the world. Instead of building up the fight with Rider fighting against other Riders (maybe they have similar abilities as the jailers) the Star just decides to handle it herself and it, at times felt boring to fight her. Simply put, The Star is a boss that didn't have proper build up.

[Majeflyer]

Best is the song, Imperious, uppity, and when reaching her, I had the faintest inkling that I was in the wrong... yet she felt fragile and it gave me all the right guilt for viciously kicking her in the face. Beating the crap out of angels is also something that needs to be done more in games.

Worst is the strap, Her arena is just too large, her scythe feels great but her other phases don't feel as fun. lazer eye just lame.

Unexpected was the line, mainly for his sweet sweet headphones.

[New]

Liked the most?

The Hand, even though easy af. (He who knows no fear, knows no courage. I take mine from you. We are, what we fight for.). The music, when he throws away the shield, his final desperate ultracombo. Love it.

Liked the most with the most balance between enjoyment and difficulty?

Probably the Edge, or the burst. The Edge because of the feeling of "training with a buddy" feel. The burst because i love my sassy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Punch my monitor?

Probably the Song. I hated her fight so badly at first, mostly because i got rekt so many times in the first part of the final phase and doing the boss again from the start was so annoying. Her first phases arent long, but they FEEL long. Oh, and when i realized you had to hit her with a SINGLE SLASH at the end. I though you had to dodge more ♥♥♥♥ at the end and kept dying and dying.

I can list a couple of moments:

-The Line final phase on furier;
-Getting one shotted by the Burst;
-DRONES DRONES DRONES FAKING DRONES;
-Falling off the platforms multiple times while chasing that edgy child that the Beat is (how she behaved at the first encounter really made me ready to kick her ass);
-The Star multiple white beams pattern (never got gud at dodging them);
-Having to edgewalk through your 7th playthrough.

Easiest boss?

The Hand, hands down. (kek). No, really. Its the ONLY boss i have beaten first try on both furi and furier difficulty. 2nd easiest Scale and Chain.

Hardest boss?

The Star or the Burst.

Hate?

The Star. I dont like her design, the last phase was somewhat good though.
I would also add the Scale. The Star music had its cool moments, while the Scale didnt. Plain stupid if you ask me. The Scale fight is so dull and forgettable. Character design: Scale > Star

More enjoyable then expected?

The Line and the Burst.

The Line because his bossfight is straight up annoying (even though it has its moments) but i love the comments he does during the fight. I grinned so badly on the first time fighting him.

The Burst because when i think about it.....
....getting oneshotted....
.....DRONES.......
.....i would still say i like it. The music, the pace. Her pink shorties. (heh.) Quite badass.

[Nathanx42]

When I was bad at the game?

Favorite: The Song
Least Favorite: The Line
Unexpected: The Edge

Now? On Furier?
Favorite: The Burst
Least Favorite: The Strap
Unexpected: The Star

[DatFox]

Favorite: The Hand/The Edge. Melee combat was always better in this game for me, and despite The Edge's gimmicky damage, I enjoyed the fights overall.

A close third would be The Burst. Not the fight -- the fight was annoying. But her laugh was adorable. It was hard to stay mad at her for long.

Least Favorite: The Star. Difficult for all the wrong reasons. Practically invisible projectiles? I mean, really? Did no one stop and look at the stage, the color of Rider and The Star's beams, and not think, "Hey. Maybe transparent blue projectiles is a stupid idea."? I bet someone else was then like, "No, it's fine. Our game is supposed to be hard!"

Also, there seems to be a glitch in the Matrix that prevents you from dashing if you're near shockwaves, like the input gets eaten or something. That makes this fight 100x more annoying.

The Line is up there too. He made me ragequit for awhile before coming back. The slowness of the first phase is just obnoxious.

The Unexpected: Um. I dunno, The Beat? They built her up (down?) to not be much of a fighter, but I wasn't prepared for that last phase. 2Sif4me

[scrunt]

The Line is fundamentally and mechanically, a poorly designed boss who sticks out among all the other ones for being bad.
The first phase is literally Breakout while all the other phases are, for the most part, shooting a stagnant pillar and waiting. Very boring and tedious.

[Spudbar]

I hate fighting The Scale. Not because of the difficulty, but because of how uninteresting the fight is after the first time through. The music and environment is boring, and the boss fight isn't anything special either. I even find The Beat to be more entertaining. She might be the easiest of all the boss fights, but at least it's short, has great music, and features a unique arena type.

[anatoliec]

The Line. When I was doing my Furier playthrough, his last phase got all three of my lives so many times. Blocking all those homing orbs really is a challenge, and it took me a few days to get past him.

[OhGodIt'sDoccy]

The Scale's last phase can go eat a bag of genitals. I can't count how many times the dodge maneuver decided to send me dashing right into the shockwave instead of behind it.

Somehow managed to clear it without a single hit though on my fourth try.

[OhGodIt'sDoccy]

My personal favorite of all the bosses to fight is either The Burst or The Edge.
The Burst because of the constant pressure she would lay on you, her varied attack patterns that required me to change strategy numerous times, and a difficult final phase that really put my skills to the test.
The Edge because of the sheer reflex challenge it was. This boss unlike every other (yes, even The Burst) has no room for error, you need to bring your A game or he will wreck you in a moment.

[Le Toby]

Time dude (The Line) has probably the worst designed phase (imho.), not considering the Beat, which is his first phase. It's very easy but takes so much time. They should've also just cut out the running-away part of the Strap.

The beat on the other hand is just badly designed, in general. She isn't even a real boss and if you somehow manage to die on her stage, you get revived on the spot. I know she makes sense story-wise, but I was very underwhelmed with her.

All the other bosses are awesome, favorite one is probably the Burst.

[MSEP]

The Burst is definitely my favorite fight. I've beaten her on Furi and Furier, and the fight is just so much fun. I also really liked Bernard, just because of how fast you have to be. As far as design goes, the Strap is probably my favorite. She's just so wierd! I found the Beat on Furier to be really fun, too!

Now, to the ones I disliked. The Star. The gameplay is too sluggish compared to the other fights, and the design leaves a lot to be desired. Also, that final phase made me want to scream. The Scale really frustrated my at first, but he's all right now.

In terms of design, I feel like the Flame is a bit lacking in the flare of the other bosses, but the fight's pretty fun.

The Edge looks like my room mate who fences. So that threw me for a loop. Also the fact that it just drops you right into close combat surprised me. Seeing his entire health bar disappear when you get a boosted hit on him was surprising, too.

[Shadow Wolf]

Going to add a few extra sections in mine

Favorite: The Edge and The hand: I loved both of their fights. The edge entire fight was a duel between 2 warriors, meanwhile the Hand though not being a constant duel certainly did feel like a fight between 2 warriors

Least Favorite: The Star I'm sorry but what happened to my sword? Seriously though this fight just wasn't fun for me and most of the phases don't make it immediately clear what you are supposed to be doing. 1st and 2nd phase just were boring meanwhile the 3rd and 4th phase are difficult if you don't tackle them in the right way but your unlikely to do this right on your first few tries so your probably going to have to repeat the first 2 phases again. The 5th phase is just dodging and shooting the projectiles "fun".

2nd least favorite:The Line that 1st phase is just badly designed and the rest of the phases aren't much better

Love/Hate (boss I liked but at the same time hated):The Burst let's start off with it wasn't immediately clear how to land your first hit on the boss to start the real 1st/2nd/3rd phase to me and it was just infuriating to track her down take a few shots at her, only to see her dodge them then run off for me to start the hunt again. When I finally figured it out it was a bit of fun tracking her around until I reached the 6th phase where I failed so often that starting over and having to hunt her down again just got tiresome. Then there was I think phase 4 where a few times she'd set the walls up with so little room that the following wave just felt impossible to dodge. Anyways with all the hate out of the way she was a surprisingly good boss all things considering I'd say she was difficult but fair and damn did it feel satisfying when I finally beat her (though the cut scene after the fight did not do the fight justice). (also at some point during this fight I finally found out you could charge your blade while in a duel to deal more damage which helped with fighting the edge)

Unexpected: The Beat coming after both The Edge and The Burst you'd expect the fight to be difficult even despite the fact that The Voice (or The Architect) was talking her down but it was perhaps the 2nd easiest fight (after the chain) (though I do admit to getting downed a few times because I made a few easily avoidable mistakes and getting hit by a few turrets I didn't see but for most bosses if I played as poorly as i did I probably would've been killed and had to restart the fight) but definitely the one packed with the most emotions.