Sometimes the visual design is better than the fight, you know? (Like mergo’s wet nurse) So let’s talk aesthetics for a moment. What’s a soulslike boss design that made you go… Wooow! And why? From any game (Horny answers are welcome as well)
For me it’s Divine Beast Dancing Lion. when the trailer for SoTE dropped and this boss was revealed I got chills. It’s not my favourite fight by a long shot, too chaotic; but design wise the lion dancers are such an inspired choice. It instantly communicates a strong and agile enemy, the horns promised interesting lore implications. It’s sort of grotesque looking? But also grandiose and regal, in a way. It poses many questions, feels enticing…
What about you?
My horny answers would be Radagon. (Redhead Peter Steele) :P and Godfrey. Hell let’s thow in Lady Maria as well and we have a party.
For me it is probably the gaping dragon. A shame that the fight is so boring.
The cutscene for that one is so good. “Oh hah look at the lil crocodile guy. It’s kinda cute- ooooohhhhhhh what the fuuuuuuuuck”
One of the coolest designs from Darksouls base game, I was hoping for a revamped move set in nightreign but it’s the same boring fight.
Is this regarding the boss design or the horny question?
Damn, that concept art painting of Astel looks awesome.
Ooh! Astel looks much cooler in the concept art! I always felt the design a little convoluted but this rendition is winning me over.
Putrescent is very grotesque (complimentary) and gets bonus points from me for the cleaver design callback to orphan!
Easily, the Elden Beast. Hands down.
I see most people just notice the soft, round, goofy looking dragon outline but I like the transluscent cosmic innards and the visuals of its magic attacks. Especially when it goes absolutely ape shit when it’s at 1/4hp.
I also thought it had the best arena, visually, up until the DLC. Mother Metyr’s boss room is way cooler.
Metyr’s death animation alone deserves an honorable mention.
Since she gets absorb by the/her microcosm does that mean she actually survived and that the Greater Will finally answered her?
Either way super cool death animation.
Also feel on the fence about it, but since we can get the rememberance items that are literally parts of her body, maybe ican be interpreted lieke more of a " metaphysical trascendance" rather than a complete death.
cosmic innards
Absolutely. Very beautiful and awe inspiring.
The inards kinda look a bit like tree roots, which only adds to the fantastic aesthetic.
I think DS3’s High Lord Wolnir deserves a mention.
The fight is nothing to write home about but the giant skeleton reaching out of impenetrable darkness is a cool visual.
Damn! I haven’t played ds3 but looking up this and some other bosses mentioned, the game feels very bloodborne-esque in it’s design language. I like it.
DS3 is great, you should definitely play it! Well, Road of Sacrifices and the obligatory Miyazaki-says-fuck-you Poison Swamp truly are horrendous, but besides those it’s a great experience! It’s a shame it doesn’t have the sprawling, open exploration of DS1, but what it does have is great level design in the areas that are there, fantastic visual design and several amazing bosses.
Plus one of FromSoft’s best ever boss soul weapons. Look up the Farron Greatsword and its moveset!
I’m still beating myself up for missing out on the ps black friday sale. At least ds2, ds3 are semi regularly discounted, but yeah the plan is to play it. And the sword, oooff that’s a sexy moveset, cool combos! Dex -str scaling so right up my alley, also a parry? Hell yeah, I’m finally getting a hang of those!
Not only are the combos sexy: the fact that you sweep down low on the floor and propel yourself forward while performing them means you can use them to dodge a lot of attacks by moving under or past the enemy hitbox! And they cost no FP, so you can spam them without investing in the blue bar.
Farron Greatsword is just the GOAT weapon imo, so much fun to use. And yeah, built in parry because why not.
So basically this meme (*) XD I’m guessing it also has a high skill ceiling, but it’s alright. Can’t be that good and easy to effectively use.
*
Hah, pretty much! I actually also forgot it does 20% more damage to abyssal enemies just like Artorias sword does for lore reasons!
It does have some skill ceiling if you want to get really fancy, but it’s easier than you think because enemies are input reading and they’re not programmed to account for the rapid change in direction of that initial ground lunge. So you quickly get a feel for when to use it to make them miss.
It’s not broken though, it’s just really good and really fun. It is a UGS so the normal swings are slow, and it’s also a kind of an awkward quality weapon with C/A scaling when maxed. And it can’t be buffed/infused.
It is a UGS so the normal swings are slow, and it’s also a kind of an awkward quality weapon with C/A scaling when maxed. And it can’t be buffed/infused.
Doesn’t matter I’m already sold
I love Ludwig for how horrifying his design is. He’d be my top pic overall.
DS1: Sif
DS2:
DS: Dancer
ER: Maliketh
Good picks
Ludwig’s over the top grotesqueness is great. The arena, the screech. An amazing score. I could go on and on…
Sif: Best boy <3
Dancer… Is this the one that spawns in nightreign? Haven’t encountered it yet. And havent played DS3. But the design looks cool af.
Maliketh is also very cool looking. The voice is great as well
Purely for visuals? Probably the regal ancestor spirit in Elden Ring. It’s not exactly a standout mechanically, but it’s fine and the visuals are wonderful. Fits perfectly with the surreal beauty of Siofra
Radagon has to be up there for me too, though in a much more platonic way. Something about the way he moves, sometimes seeming to be just hanging on to the hammer as it fights of its own accord, really sells how broken he is, and yet he still looks like he can crack skulls like the warrior champion he once was
I think Bloodborne’s Ludwig deserves a particular mention for the visual transition between his phases. It’s not often we see one of From’s classic broken former heroes actually regain something of themselves - Gael would be another, of course - and Ludwig seems to dig himself out of the very deepest pit of all, conveyed solely by his posture
Yeah, I agree on Radagon’s animations, reinforces how he’s literally just a husk, and contrasts with how we see him pounding that hammer trying to repair the ring in one of the trailers. Good observation.
And third Ludwig mention! A while ago I began a fan art thing where I tried to extrapolate Ludwigs original apperance from his beastly features. Never did finish it though but I went looking for it on my computer, since it’s been mentioned a lot. It’s great how the posture change, and the voice conveyed so much with so little. But Ludwig is great beyond just visuals, my favourite soulslike boss.
Oh wow, I love that! That’s a perfect look for him
Thanks, I’ve seen a couple of human renditions of him over the years, but artist seem to like making him young looking, for some reason. That would fit Lawrence, but Ludwig? At least to me, the voice alone feels so much more mature… anyway maybe I’ll go finish this some of these days .
The Moon Presence: fantastic presentation, fantastic design. I think the design looks even better ingame then the concept artwork.
Awesome eldritch final boss design in a fantastic game. The fight itselft is a bit underwhelming, especially if you have done the DLC, which the game forces you to do prior since defeating The Moon Presence triggers NG+. The moveset and gimmick attack (setting your HP to 1) are rather fun, but the scaling is just to low and it has to little HP.
This is presicely the vibe. Awesome design, whatever fight. Hard agree on all your points.
I fell for it the first time I played bloodborne, before dlc’s “blue men group” I though. Hmmm maybe I should go finish base game stuff first, (thinking maybe I’d be too leveled up if I kept doing the dlc) without knowing it went straight to NG+ haha had to do everything else on ng1
I know it’s simple and sort of classically edgy and I might be swayed by the lore, but Knight Artorias will always be one of my favourites. First time playing that fight was just so awesome.
DS3 has some bangers too, hard pick for me between Dancer and Abyss Watchers.
Artorias <3 totally. Classic is classic for a reason! DS Dlc is phenonenal in terms of lore, I loved that Artorias gets the credit for saving the princess dealing with the abyss.
Since I was concurrently playing lies of p, while.playing DS I was left expecting a second healthebar for Artorias( and Gwyn as well.) regardless it’s a very cool fight.
Yeah it’s a bit of a shame that Artorias is kind of not that hard. One of my dream games is a full Dark Souls 1 remake where they keep the world as-is, finish the areas in the last third where they ran out of money and time and just threw shit together and upgrade the bosses to modern FromSoft DS3/ER level movesets.
Something like that would be near-lethal doses of absolute cinema.
My kingdom for that! I’ll take it over a bloodborne remaster/ remake any day. Dare I say, maybe even a BB sequel/prequel? That’s never happening anyway so… :P
That Hoarah Loux reveal was very cool. He doesn’t need an axe. He’ll just rip you apart with his bare (bear?) hands.
He can rip me apart any time ( >᎑<)
Toss up between Scadutree Avatar and Midra, I think.
Both are designs I enjoy as well… Even tried recreating scadutree avatar with some dried sunflowers :P… That didn’t go super well ha
Midra’s soo good as well, and the cutscene is one of my favourites. So intense. Ugh, and probably the best track of the dlc.
I can only watch Midra’s cutscene once per playthrough it still makes me a bit uncomfortable.
It’s brutal. The zoom out ending while the music soars. PEAK!
I really like Ludwig from Bloodbornes DLC. The way he’s like a wild animal but halfway through the fight he stands erect and comes at you like the knight that he once was. Its very striking
Yes the contrast is so good. I like that he gets a dignified send off.
