BOSS FIGHTS by Radiation So, you've written your plot, made maybe a few items, and have a little area to walk around in. But unless your game is stupid, it has to have BOSS FIGHTS. But HOW are you going to make them? Don't expect to make a normal enemy with boosted stats and have it be FUN. Boss fights are supposed to be epic, strategical battles! (Which is hard with EarthBound, which hands out too much EXP, so you can't tell what your target audience is.) Join me, and I'll tell you how to make your boss fight FUN! First of all, figure out ABOUT what level you'll be at by the time you fight the boss, how high your stats will be, and what items you'll have. Load up the Level-Up stats editor and check exactly how strong a good character would be. Take those stats, and think about them CAREFULLY. Now edit away! HP - Think about how much damage your team could take down. This must be HIGH! SKY HIGH! SKY HIGH TO THE MOON! You don't want your players zapping the boss instantly, do you? Add gobs of HP to the enemy. Check your items and PSI. If you want this to be a really tough boss fight, calculate how much damage the boss will take from ALL of your items and PSI until you run out of PP. Then put that number in. Test it and remove HP until it's JUST right. PP - If your enemy uses PSI, this should be either high, low, or in the middle. Maybe you want the boss to blast you with one or two rounds of deadly PSI and then wimp out? Maybe you want the boss to go on forever? Or, possibly the best option, maybe you want the boss to stop using PSI at the last minute as a saving grace? Be sure you check your usage of expensive/cheap PSI attacks. EXP - Check how much each character needs to get to the next level plus one, then I suggest you give them ABOUT that much. If you're in a completely different area with your EXP usage, you might want to make it half the EXP to the next level, but it's up to you. Money - This is all dependent on how much your items cost. It would be nice if there's an expensive/good item you can buy in the area and it costs just this much. If you can't decide, give them ten times the amount a normal enemy gives you. Speed - Overapplication of the speed stat is deadly. You won't be able to hit enemies, and they'll go first every turn. Be very careful with this stat. Remember, though, the occasional predictable boss is always fun, especially when it's weak against a certain PSI. Offense - 1.5 times as much as a normal enemy is alright. But mostly this is dependent on the moves you give the enemy. Stomping hard, charging forward, and brandishing a knife will kill your hero instantly, while the mere "Foo attacks!" will deal petty damage. Be wise. Defense - Why make this any more than a normal enemy? In fact, making it less is fun! People love to deal massive damage to bosses, and it's fun when you realize they're still not dead. Personally, though, I suggest you make it slightly higher, maybe x1.25 higher, because this stat will definitely dampen out any physical attacks you want to try on the boss. Unless it's SUPPOSED to be that way. Status - I've never used this, but I imagine it would be fun to use. Later, you might want to put up some auto-shields to deter people from being so hasty. Shield A is nice, but Shield B is downright nasty. Use it only on the toughest boss. Asleep would be cool, but there's always the chance the enemy will never wake up. You might use it in a timed sort of battle, where you defeat the enemy before it wakes up or it gets HARDCORE. Can't concentrate I can imagine might be awesome if the boss was using a bunch of REALLY STRONG PSI attacks and couldn't concentrate. That would be a fun timed battle. Feeling strange would be crazy. Find your own application for it. Level - NO CLUE. I don't even know what this is. Maaaaaybe it's just a reminder to what level you should be at? Guts - This is important. Bosses with high Guts will crush you in a single swipe unless they have low offense. Players will feel VERY angry if they get killed by a smash attack that has a 1/100 chance of happening. So, make it 0, somewhere in the middle, or very high. IQ - Luck equivalent? No clue what this does, but I think it may be like luck, which allows the heroes to dodge special attacks. Item - Usually, you want the boss to give out a GOOD item with a high chance or a low chance, depending on how incredibly awesome the item is. However, you might just want to give out an item you'll be encountering in the area after the next area or something, like a better HP restoration item with a high chance. Also, getting stat-ups you can't go wrong with. Miss Rate - If the boss has high guts or strong attacks, make this high. Zero is awesome, One is average, Two is bad, and three is horrible. Six is reserved for drunken enemies only. Type - You decide. Impossible to Run From - If you do not check this box, the battle BETTER be a battle the game advises you to run from. 'The' Flag - Remember that screenshot in the Pokemon instruction booklet that says "The Brock wants to fight!"? That was rad. ---- Got your enemy's stats down pat? Now try editing the ACTIONS! The actions you choose determine the way the battle will be fought. A lot of PSI attacks call for massive healing and shielding. Basically, YOUR party will be the one on the defensive. On the other hand, a boss that heals itself AND attacks will leave it up to the player to pile on the damage as fast as possible. Physical attacks are the standard boss attack, and they never get old. Just make sure you don't give the boss too many powerful physical attacks or you'll be dead before you know it. Some other stuff to watch out for: End Action - Ergh, I hate it when enemies explode. You could try to make it do a passive action before it dies, adding to the effect. "Foo fell down! Foo was destroyed!" If you really want to drive the players over the edge, have an easy boss that casts Ultima-er... Starstorm after it dies. You'd have to make sure all your shields were up and that your HP was in tip-top shape AFTER destroying the boss. Order - This is VERY important in making a boss. Random will leave it up to the player to be prepared for the worst and be flexible. In Order allows the player to think ahead and set up for a destructive attack after the boss' turn. Use these wisely! (Also, I really like it when the boss uses a passive message before attacking with a big attack. The defend command should be used RIGHT THEN.) Start Text, Death Text - Use these to add flavor to battles and to introduce the player to what'll happen in the battle. Not necessary, but still a nice touch. Max Call - How many enemies can be called before the call command fails every time? This is only necessary in a boss fight where the boss calls for help, like in Lufia II. I suggest two, so they flank the boss for a cool effect, but that's just me. Also, I think a boss with nothing but "call for help" would be cool. All the enemies coming in and attacking, and then you're almost dead when you land a smash attack on the enemy and BLAM! They all die. ---- Okay, you have the actual boss. It's testable now. But it's not a REAL entertaining boss unless it FEELS like a boss. Time to put on the finishing touches with Graphics/Sound! Row - Important. This is more than just a graphical effect. PSI Fire hits in a line, so if the boss has friends, making them in a different row will cause the player trouble, and therefore fun. (If the boss has friends, you might want to make him in front if he's a brave soldier, or in back if he's a wimp face. If he has no distinguishing characteristics, make him in the same row.) Battle Sprite - The game will seem dull if you don't change the battle sprite. I suggest you make your own. There's nothing more awesome than expecting to fight a regular Antoid and fighting a dung beetle instead. But, if you can't seem to draw, palettes will pull you through. Palette - YES! This is my favorite out of everything in the enemy editor. The best thing to do when choosing an already existing sprite is to change it to a never-before-seen palette. It's a little bland sometimes but it's still mighty cool. Death Sound - Oops! Someone labeled the Boss Flag "Death Sound!" This is more than just a SOUND! When you enter battle with this enemy if it's set to Boss, it'll do the bossy swirl. If you kill the boss when its friends are around, they'll die too. Music - Awesome! For funny boss fights, a non-regular boss song is great. Otherwise, this is up to you. (OVERAPPLICATION OF THE GIYGAS MUSIC WILL GET YOU BEAT UP, SO STOP USING IT ALL THE TIME YOU FOOLS!) Of course, the best music comes from when YOU make it. There's nothing more awesome than hearing a song that sucks! I mean, uh, is good.* ---- FINALLY! THE BOSS IS COMPLETE! Oops. Forgot one thing. Weaknesses! Gotta have those. PSI Freeze/Fire - 50% or 100% is nice for most bosses, but if they're weak against it, give them a 150%. If they'd die at a DILUTED version of the element, (such as a hunk of snow against PSI Fire) give them 200%. Then again, you could pull a Megaman and abandon logic. When all is lost, you connect things with a THIN thread of logic. "Top Man hurts Super Man because Super Man is weak against kryptonite, which is radioactive due to spinning particles. Top man spins, generating kryptonite!" PSI Flash - Oooh. Not really a good idea to raise, unless they're at a level where they don't know the higher ones. One shot of this can instantly destroy the enemy at Gamma +, so make sure they only know Beta. Paralysis - Heh, most hackers edit normal enemies to create bosses, which is okay. Except they forget this, which is not. (Heh, this is how I beat the Hexmas hack so easily.) Anyway, this should either be necessary or NOT AT ALL. An example is the last boss fight in my hack. It's downright impossible if you don't use this at the start because one of the enemies will smash you into bits with crushing physical attacks, so I made this easy to get it with. Hypnosis/Brainshock - DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THESE ABILITIES. Using Hypnosis will render the boss COMPLETELY helpless for 3+ turns, and Brainshock will cause the boss to attack himself, which can be devastating if the boss has low defense. You should only make this high if you WANT the players killing them this way (Ex. The boss will kill you like the wuss you are if you don't.) Mirror Success Rate - Really? If you have it, go ahead and change it. If the boss has powerful attacks that you don't feel the characters should be wielding, don't. But if the boss has recovery PSI and uses average attacks, DO IT! (The Kraken was funny in the way that you could Mirror him and have Poo generate a tornado to lay the smackdown on him.) CONCRAPULATIONS! YOU'VE DONE IT! YOU MADE A FREAKIN' BOSS! Unfortunately, you put off your hack and never finished it after making the boss. You sadden me. GAME OVER *In the FUTURE, music editing exists! Hello future earthlings! I am writing this from 2005! Please use your time machines to send Radiation a lightsaber. Or at least tell me if JeffMan grew out of NeoPets.