Boss Got You Down?
I don't imagine that this is just me, but I figured I'd put it to our listeners to see what you guys have to say. Have you ever stopped playing a game because of a really difficult boss battle? If you look in the blog sidebar, you'll notice that it says I'm currently playing Metroid Prime 2. It's said that for months, and it doesn't lie. This game and I have an interesting history.I originally bought the game for the GameCube probably shortly after it came out. I really enjoyed the first one, so I expected to thoroughly enjoy playing its sequel. I don't remember how long I had it or how long I played it, but I know for a fact that I never finished it, not even close. I do remember that it seemed much darker than the first one, and it was just different enough to make it feel not quite right. But based on what's happening to me now, I'm guessing the reason that I quit playing it was because of a boss battle that I just couldn't get past, so I gave up.
I eventually sold the game along with the rest of my GameCube gear (save for this) and went on with my life. Last year though, after Metroid Prime 3 came out, I kinda got nostalgic and wanted to give Prime 2 a second chance. I mentioned it here and there, but never went out and got it. Last Christmas came around, and my wife surprised me out of nowhere with the game. I hadn't been doing a whole lot of gaming around that time, because we were looking to buy a house, then moving, then doing home repairs, so it was only a few months ago that I started playing it.
And you know what? Once you get past the different feel of it, it's actually another awesome Metroid expierience. So far. This brings me back to my original problem, and the reason I can go for weeks at a time without playing it: the boss battles. Maybe I've just gotten weak, lost my touch, but some of the boss battles that I have come across in this game are downright off-putting. I'll play it a few times, trying to find a good strategy for the boss, and ultimately make very little progress. So I'll check an online guide for some hints, have one of those "ooohhhhhh...." moments, and try again. And again, and again. Still, even after following the tips from a guide I can't manage to do a whole lot better.
So ultimately I'll get annoyed with it and just turn it off after trying three or four or five times. Maybe I'll do it again the next day, but still get nowhere. I know that there are hours upon hours of enjoyable gameplay left in the title, I'm not even halfway through, but it just irks me when I get stuck at a place like this, where either I'm just missing something or the fight is just *too* difficult, and I simply can't get past it.
My question to you guys then, is this: Do you ever have a similar experience? I know we did a Boss Battles episode a while back, and I think we asked a similar question on that episode, but this game has me thinking about it again. Do you guys ever get so annoyed with a boss fight that you'll actually give up on a game? What do you do if you're in a situation like I am? Shout it out in the comments, I'm very curious to see what your guys' thoughts are.
Oh yeah, and *please* fill out the 2008 Gaming Awards if you haven't already.
-Phil
5 Comments On This Post:
It's funny you should mention Prime 2, because I absolutely love the game and have "mastered" it (100% items on hard in 8 hours) and had much the same trouble as you. A few of the bosses approach old school hard and I became stuck for a good long while on one in particular, the Spider Ball Guardian, now I would try again and again to beat it and I finally figured out what exactly what I had to do and there was much rejoicing. So I stuck with it and eventually beat the game and it was very satisfying (the last boss isn't a pushover either). I can most likely help with whatever boss you're on.
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 1:55:00 PM CSTSomething that makes the bosses much more manageable is to make sure you have ALL of the available energy tanks before the fight; if not, some of them become near impossible on hard mode and quite difficult on normal.
Tim,
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 4:46:00 PM CSTI'm actually stuck on the Alpha Blogg boss. Right after you get the Gravity Boost upgrade, you're back in a large, cylindrical tank with the giant fish. I have tried firing a super missile at it when it's charging towards me, then trying to jump/gravity jump out of the way, but most of the time my missile shot either won't do any damage, or I'll get hit by him and lose quite a bit of energy.
I've also tried taking it slower and using regular missiles, shooting several in a row so that at least one or two will damage him, but this runs me out of missiles faster. It seems the toughest part for me is the timing, when exactly to hit him with the super missile and still be able to get away.
Yeah, that one sucks because you can't get away from it before the fight.
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 8:53:00 PM CSTHere is how I usually beat it, make sure you are locked on at all times and as far away from it as possible. If you are dead set on super missiles, keep your power beam charged and look for its tell, it will thrash around a bit and then charge very quickly at you. When it charges, shoot the s.m. and dash sideways away simultaneously; the timing is very tricky because of the delay in firing. A slightly easier method is to do the same thing except with a Charged Dark Beam shot, there is no delay in firing; just be sure that you're charged at all times. If you are out of dark ammo I guess you could chip away at it with regular dark beam shots or use a charged power beam. I don't recommend regular missiles at all because they don't do nearly as much damage as a s.m. and still have the firing delay. Occasionally it will fire blasts at you, avoid them like the plague because they disorient you and disable you from firing
Timing is everything in this battle so you could do a practice run just dodging the boss as long as possible to get the timing down. Always be locked on and ready to dodge, it's better to get away unscathed and not fire than miss. DO NOT go into this battle with low health, he deals quite a bit of damage with each hit.
If you still can't beat it you could check to see if you have all of the tanks before this point and really, going forward I strongly recommend you get all of the expansions you can. This game is very hard with low health and missiles. and as a final resort you could look up videos, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otl74mpqrng to see what I'm talking about (he takes it really slow though)
The best and (hardest) parts of the game await you after this battle. Keep trying and you will eventually beat it. Feel free to ask for more advice, I'm glad to give it.
Tim,
Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 11:33:00 PM CSTThe beast has been slain. I took a few of your pointers, most notably using Dark Ammo charge shots, and also using just regular charge beam shots. I had no idea that the regular charge beam would be strong enough to do any amount of damage, but it sure helped a lot.
On my second try after reading your tips, and having my wife watch me play (it helps a lot, seriously), the boss was dead. The fist time I only had 25 or so Dark Ammo shots, and didn't use them until the end anyway because I was liking the charge beam so much. So when I died, I made sure to load up on 50 Dark Ammo shots, used them first, then took out the last third or so with the charge beam.
Thanks for the tips. I'm sure we'll be in touch again before too long... :-).
Glad I could be of service.
Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 2:27:00 AM CSTPost a Comment