Boss Battle Time.

    The Boss Battle, and the double edged sword.

Boss Battles have been around almost as long as gaming itself. It's been a long and established part of the gaming experience. Some games rely entirely on boss battles as a core element.  With all of that being said there are many times when a game just doesn't need one. How about we look at both sides of this dual edged sword?

Bowser, Super Mario Bros.

Some villains have been around so long they actually are as notable as the hero of their stories. Take this Koopa King for example. Boswer is one of the oldest and most classic examples of antagonists in games.  Whenever people load up a Super Mario title they look forward to fighting this giant, spiked, Koopa. Some fights out-shine others like the ending to Super Mario 64, but the scope and scale remain larger than life. With everything from scaling a tower to a tense fight on a bridge to get to an ax to chop down the bridge. While almost every fight is pretty basic, it's a satisfying ending for the player. They get to take out all of the frustrations of some of the tough levels behind them on this admittedly doofy villain. Bowser shows us that a boss battle doesn't have to extremely complex in order to draw the player in, and deliver a memorable experience. 

Shadow of the Colossus Remastered.

When it comes to games that rely almost solely on boss battles Shadow of the Colossus for PS2 blew the idea into a whole different level. It rests on a simple gameplay loop of, prepare to fight a large monster, track down said monster, defeat it, collect your reward, move on to the next one. All while having a mysterious story looming in the background. The fights were tense affairs, requiring you to climb, aim, shoot, and outsmart your foe. It still stands as a shining example of the boss battle formula, and it is beloved by so many people. So much so that a remaster is planned to come out in 2018, thirteen years after its first release. 

Now on to the bad eggs of the bunch. Please I hope this doesn't sound like these games are bad or that I hate them, they just had distasteful ending which overshadowed an otherwise great games.

Batman Arkham Asylum came out in a age where comic book games were so laughably bad that it would take something special to buck the trend.The game had immense commercial and critical success. Now when you think of Batman what is the next thing you think of? I'm willing to bet about 95% of you will think of a certain Clown Prince, also know as the Joker. However there are still many amazing adversaries in the comics, and here it is no different. It also has boss battles both great, and not so great. Let's start off high with the Scarecrow fight. Scarecrow has this whole obsession with fear and the psychological. So it's only fitting that your fight with him breaks the fourth wall. Bugs, whispering, a shattered reality, running from a larger than life version of scarecrow, a never ending morgue housing his dead father and mother, and a "crash" with laughter that replays the opening of the game.  Only difference being the Joker and Batman revering roles. It's haunting, creepy, and shows the player that nothing is safe. Most importantly it takes the rule book, lights it on fire, then tosses it out the window. Now onto the main event, 

Mr. J.

The Joker. Batman Arkham Asylum

Now I want to meet the man who thought that it was a good idea to turn this.....

Into this.... Thing.

But seriously, the ending of Arkham Asylum has the Caped Crusader facing off against a drugged up version of the Joker who has injected himself with "Titan." Basically what makes Bane super strong and scary. Remember that rule book I mentioned earlier? Well you could write a what not to do from this fight. Annoying phase where goons come after you while the boss throws objects and attacks from afar? Check. Brief times of vulnerability activated by a button mashing quick time event? Check. It's a weak, sad excuse for an ending that left a bitter taste. But what if you ended the game without a boss battle? Instead of a pathetic shoehorned in battle, why not have the Joker do what he is best at. Cutting Batman to his core. Let me present this ending. Batman enters a darkly lit room with a fire dying in the fireplace, a high winged back chair takes presence in the room. Laughter, horrid shrieking laughter. Seated in the chair is Joker laughing and coughing in equal measure. He seems to waste no time challenging Bats as he talks to him about his parents, eventually driving him to the point of blind rage. Joker continues, not letting up the pressure, until our hero snaps. In a blind rage he grabs Joker and begins beating the Clown, all while Joker laughs. The police burst through the door and are able to tear Joker away, as they take him away you can hear him calling out to you, "Seems like we are more alike than you want to admit!" Disturbing? Sure, but it would be so much more fitting way to end this feud.

Final example of how a game doesn't need a final fight ending.
Dying Light.

Dying Light

Rais is the villain of Dying Light, and boy does he have problems. I won't get into details of what he does, but it's along the lines messed up murder with zombies. Oh and forcing people to fight to the death for the cure. Rais, even though horrible and messed up, is just a person. The lead-up to the final fight is an amazing, tense, well paced, run from the horde that puts all your skills to the test. "A pay off is surely on the way!" You think to yourself, as you race to the top of the skyscraper. Only to be greeted with the only Quick time Event in the game. Then it ends....That's it, a QTE, then nothing. It just feels hollow, and half done. There is so much potential here as Rais sees himself as a king. Why not have him toss you a saber and challenge you to a duel on top of an unfinished skyscraper? For both the title of king and the information you need. Or maybe a tense conversation, that ends with a short, sharp gunshot. Killing Rais in an unconventional way would be the perfect way to cap off a game about your resourcefulness as a player.

Boss Battles have to fight themselves more often than not.

Which is the product of a genre defining trope that most developers aim to shoehorn in. Not really giving much thought as to the context of the situation. Or whether or not it really needs it. Boss Battles have such a rich history and it's something that is unique to gaming in a way. Which is why it has to be handled with such care.

Thank you all for reading, and have a wonderful day.

Alternative Story Telling. How Gaming has brought us a new way to tell a tale.

A somewhat vague statement, but let me go into it. 

Story telling has been largely stagnate for quite some time, several hundred years in fact. Ever since the days of Beowulf and old tales passed down through songs and vocal tales, stories have followed a fairly predictable route. Meet hero, hero faces challenge, hero overcomes challenge or is defeated, the end. But while the formula works, and has been tried and true for centuries. Certainly there must be another way for people to experience a story?

The Legend of Zelda. Breath of the Wild. 2017

Enter the world of gaming, well the story telling world that is. 

Ever since it's inception gaming has been looked down upon as a inferior form of entertainment. Instead of being it's own medium it has been constantly compared to older art forms, such as movies, books, or even paintings. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it stifles creativity. Forcing expectations on it, while it was still growing as it's own art. I would like to show you some examples of games that follow the forms of conventional mediums, and those that forged ahead a new path of there own.

               The Legend of Zelda.

A title so influential to the world, it's hard to think of a time before it existed. In 1986, a small team of people including, Takashi Tezuka, and Shigeru Miyamoto, released The Legend of Zelda. In the game you played as a young boy, you were given no directions and the world was yours to explore. This was incredibly ground breaking. Instead of the voice of a narrator telling you a story, it was the world that had a story to tell. There was no, go to point A, do objective B, get item C, to accomplish D. It was more free flowing than that. You could explore at your leisure, finding secrets, defeating monsters, and just overall feeling like an adventurer. People would get together to talk about the game and share stories of their adventures. Finding a hidden room felt like an accomplishment, not some mundane task put forth for you to do by some Deus Ex Machina convention for plot reasons. If it sounds like i'm gushing it's because I am. Did it have it's flaws? Sure, but this game did so much to change the landscape of the gaming community and was so far ahead of it's time that the full vision of the game wouldn't be realized until 2017. More on that later.

To the Moon, 2011

So you may be thinking that I hate traditional story telling but I don't. 

In fact if anything I absolutely love it. Let me prove it. To the Moon, this game brought me to tears. While the graphics and sprites aren't anything to write home about, and the gameplay is basic puzzles and simple point and click mechanics. It's all about the writing in this game. It tells a tale of a mans life through his memories, the catch? The memories can only be accessed backwards from the most recent memory. What follows is a heartfelt tale that tackles, love, loss, and extreme moral questions. Even after it's over, you can't help but ponder the choices it presents you and whether or not what you did as the main character was right. But it's all told through dialogue and narration. Player discovery is kept to a minimum, as you are told where to go and what to do. However, this is the only way a story of this nature.

The Legend of Zelda, 2017.

Alright, back on the open world train. 

The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, came out and collectively blew peoples minds this year. Not only that but changed how people think of the Open World concept as a whole. The game starts you out in a small area that exposes you to most of the game mechanics and then let's you loose on the world. The original vision for The Legend of Zelda came from Shigeru Miyamoto when he was a young boy and the adventures he had exploring a forest and mountain near his home. And while the original came close to encapsulating that feeling, Breath of the Wild knocked it out of the park. The world, while not the biggest in overall land mass, is overflowing with things to discover, vista's to see, caves to explore, mountains to climb, all while rewarding you and making sure like you never feel like you are wasting your time. And while there is a story to go and follow, the best character is the world itself. The environments tell there own tale, there are ruins to look at, snow capped mountains, and scorching deserts. It's as intimidating as it is intriguing, and every second of it feels fulfilling and satisfying.

So what does it all mean?

Gaming has the unique opportunity of letting the player create their own story lines. Giving control back to the consumer of the art. It fills you with a sense of, "I did this" instead of, "Well that story was cool." I'm not saying one is better than the other, but it's nice to see that gaming has the opportunity to change peoples views on how a story should be told. Hopefully in the future we can start to see more creative ways on how to come to a, "Happily Ever After."

Stories Without Words.

How to Tell a Story, without saying a word.

If I asked you to tell me a story, how would you go about it? Most likely you would say along the lines of, "Once upon a time." But what if I said you tell a compelling story, while only saying the bare minimum to your client? Let's go down this rabbit hole of thought and see if my logic holds up.

You're Going to Die.

Chances are you have heard this phrase, even if you have never heard of the game it's from.

Dark Souls is a game series that has been heralded as one of the hardest game series since the arcade days of gaming. But what I find fascinating is the method of story telling that is packed into the game. When you first boot up the game you are treated to a short story cut scene, but after that all you get is cryptic lines from random NPC's. But outside of that? Not much in terms of plot line shoved down your throat. So how you might ask, does it tell a compelling story? Two ways, through environmental story telling and player influence. Let's examine a screen shot and dig deeper into the meaning behind these two concepts.  

On to the Ithryll dungeons, oh how I dreaded you. the overwhelming the feeling of dread and death is overbearing. If you can zoom in on the picture I highly encourage it. The main enemies in the are are called "Jailers" which is fitting for a dungeon. There main weapon is a cruel branding iron, and cackle with glee when they hit you and slowly drain your health when you are in line of sight freezing you in place. What does this have to do with story telling? EVERYTHING. Most of the cells are empty which makes the player wonder what happened to the prisoners,(which you end up fighting later on.) The enclosed hallways and narrow spaces force the player to react head on. Instead of running around corners you are forced to walk slow and peek around edges for threats. Lighting is sparse, and where light is usually comforting to a player, the Jailers carry lanterns. So when you see light at the end of a hallway, instead of being excited for the light, you are filled with dread. Which further drives home the battle of light and dark in the Dark Souls mythos. All of this pulls the player in and tells the history of the area, while driving the player forward in there convictions. 

How about another example?

After the tutorial levels you are brought to The Wall. As you venture forward you see the the main Castle in the distance. You are drawn to it, but you learn that it is guarded by a fierce enemy. And the that town below was cut off by a great rupture. It feels destitute, departed, almost as if time has stopped, or had stopped long ago. Even the air looks stale, and the enemies are, for the most part, poorly equipped.There are trees with withered people clawing toward the city in the distance, making you wonder how things came to be this way. After you leave the Wall, it's a slow climb back, which circles the whole game leading you back to where you started. Defeating the Monster guarding the city above, and breaking through. It draws great parallels to, "The Hero's Journey," while forging it's own path. There is another game to bring into the discussion when talking about, "The Hero's Journey," but that's a whole article for another day. Last example for the day, it's a bit complicated so bare with me.

Yeah, she's terrifying.

 OK so here we go.

The first time you see the dancer, (if you don't go on a murder spree) She looks very different. Very different indeed. Don't believe me? The first time you run into her is in the Irithyll. Let me explain. When you first enter the Irithyll you see ghosts of the past walking in this once great city. Two will walk out of the city into exile.

Who was the second you ask? My theory along with others is that it is Vordt of the Boreal Valley.

(pictured right.)

Irithyll is located in the Boreal Valley, and both the Dancer and Vordt are located and fought in the same area. In fact they are less than a minute apart. One guards the way to the town below, while the other guards the Castle above. Digging more in depth you can learn that the Dancer was once a part of the noble court till the corrupt Pontiff, (basically a sheriff.) made advances onto the Dancer and tried to forcibly take her as a concubine. Vordt tried to defend her honor, and as a result they both were exiled. However even in exile Vordt still tries to defend the Dancer, drawing attention away from her and on to himself.

(Editors note, Yes I know this is not 100% correct after reading some item descriptions. But this is another cool thing about this game. This whole theory was based off of my own play through which I didn't go super in depth into the items of the game.)

So we have two bosses that have backstories hidden in the world. It gives these bosses purpose, and a motive. All without the game taking control away from the player. Instead of stopping the player and saying, "HEY LOOK AT THIS!" it respects the intelligence of said player, deepens the lore and enhances the world building.

Ok, ok, what's your point?

Well, I don't have a point. Yes that's right I'm not trying to go on a crusade like I usually do. I just wanted to talk about something that I'm passionate about. Stories without words. Tales that come from character models and environments. These really make a world shine in my opinion and breath life into worlds that most people charge through. So next time you are playing Dark Souls, or really any large world building game, look around. Be inquisitive, look at the small details and ponder what emotions the game is trying to evoke. Well I've rambled on for long enough, I hope you have enjoyed this look into something a little more technical. Always remember, the fire fades, and Praise the Sun!