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Bosses that basically say "git gud" and force you to learn the game?

Lvl 60 Naxx was brutal (WoW raid)

Twin Emperors was probably the first legit hard WoW fight, rest was prety straightforward, often tank and spank (except maybe Chromag in BWL or Drak after the first 3 weeks).

Then M'uru came in Sunwell and told 99% of the guilds on the planet "You suck".

No, that's "git outstanding". This guy knows what's what:

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Vaelastrasz - World of Warcraft

This guy was notorious for destroying guilds, even after higher-end word like AQ40 and Naxx were released. Which is messed up because he's only the second boss of the whole raid of Blackwing Lair (there were eight total). There are a number of other raid bosses throughout WoW's history that were basically idiot-checks, where everyone had to know where they were supposed to be and what they had to do, but Vael very quickly became the boss for fledgling raid guilds to fear.

Plus Razorgore before him. No gimme bosses before him. No trash dropping any T2 upgrades before him. The lure of faceroll purples back in safe, secure Molten Snore instead of WTF wipes. Alliance had no EB totems. Great healers couldn't save tanks, every healer had to save tanks or no one could.

Damn that was a fun boss.

The Smelter Demon in Dark Souls 2
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If you've been hiding behind a shield up to this point then you definitely need to get good. You really need to learn how to get 100 AGL in order to beat him.

Fixed. The other 10% of the fight is dodging the appropriate way to each of the few tells he has every time he resets.
 
That stupid SOB is the reason I still haven't beat that game despite owning it for over 10 years. I beat him after trying way too many times, put down the game cuz I'm pissed off, then try to restart and forgot everything or I get to him as a boss again. He can go fuck right off.
 
Always interesting to see the different answers in these threads. For me it was Dynamo from Ninja Gaiden.

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This guy puts your dodging and rolling skills to the test which is something I'm never good at in any game. I can parry all day long but ask me to dodge something and I'm fucked.
 
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This asshole from The Last Remnant.
Oh god, that fight suuuucked.

Oh yeah. Titan is the trial by fire at every level.

Titan is seriously the best example of git gud.

In story, he's the first Git gud boss. In HM he will make sure you have your wits about you or you WILL die. At Extreme, if you win, you'll leave with plenty of scars.

Titan EX prepares you for a hardcore life in FFXIV.
 
A much more appropriate answer would be
Xord
. You *need* to understand topples at that point, and it's much earlier in the game than the previous examples.

In Xenoblade Chronicles you can still defeat this boss without knowing much what you're doing, by grinding some additional levels.
 
Its funny how some bosses can have such a wide gap in challenge. I thought Bladewolf was cake, especially since you can kinda parry mash at times.

It's weird, this is a person who regularly complains about the games he plays every step of the way but still goes on to complete them regardless. In this case he really didn't want to continue playing.
 
7SILRXt.jpg


Vaelastrasz - World of Warcraft

This guy was notorious for destroying guilds, even after higher-end content like AQ40 and Naxx were released. Which is messed up because he's only the second boss of the whole raid of Blackwing Lair (there were eight total). There are a number of other raid bosses throughout WoW's history that were basically idiot-checks, where everyone had to know where they were supposed to be and what they had to do, but Vael very quickly became the boss for fledgling raid guilds to fear.

That fight must have been annoying for the off tank and healers but for everyone else that fight was a lot mindless fun, especially for Rogues and Hunters who didn't even need to really worry about pulling aggro. The hardest part was farming decent fire resist.
 
Gattuso from Tales of Vesperia

basically, learn to be a sublime combatant and strategist two hours in
 
4 pages in and nobody has said (or I missed it) Magus from Chrono Trigger? I thought that was a very good and well known example. If you keep constantly attacking he will counter you to death with spells. You have to take it slowly playing by his rules (what was it now,
optional hit with masamune then cast magic he is weak to, if you can't do those, heal with items or do nothing
). The Giant Bomb playthrough was quite enjoyable seeing them (slowly) learn the rules.

In Xenoblade Chronicles you can still defeat this boss without knowing much what you're doing, by grinding some additional levels.
Are you sure? How I remember it is
Damage is fixed with 1 without topple (faced mechon are immune to Monado, remember?) and I don't think you can break that boss outside of chain attack so have no way of using topple.
You would be looking at it taking a very long time.
 
4 pages in and nobody has said (or I missed it) Magus from Chrono Trigger? I thought that was a very good and well known example. If you keep constantly attacking he will counter you to death with spells. You have to take it slowly playing by his rules (what was it now,
optional hit with masamune then cast magic he is weak to, if you can't do those, heal with items or do nothing
). The Giant Bomb playthrough was quite enjoyable seeing them (slowly) learn the rules.


Are you sure? How I remember it is
Damage is fixed with 1 without topple (faced mechon are immune to Monado, remember?) and I don't think you can break that boss outside of chain attack so have no way of using topple.
You would be looking at it taking a very long time.

I honestly never had issues with Magus, so I never listed it. I didn't even know he was considered a git gud boss.
 
Lvl 60 Naxx was brutal (WoW raid)

Twin Emperors was probably the first legit hard WoW fight, rest was prety straightforward, often tank and spank (except maybe Chromag in BWL or Drak after the first 3 weeks).

Then M'uru came in Sunwell and told 99% of the guilds on the planet "You suck".

Wasn't Four Horseman a PITA too?

I wonder if we had any examples Cata or MoP.
 
Matador - Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
smt3-matador.jpg


This battle asks you if you learned your buffs/debuffs properly and whether you grasp the press turn system. Very well designed fight, many have died at his merciless hands.

Let's talk about examples of this, but please post the name of the boss, name of the game and its explanation.
Pretty much this I'll never forget the first time I fought this guy


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Honorable mention
 
Shadow Yukiko from Persona 4
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Even though she's basically the first boss of the game, she's one of the hardest. She forces you to properly learn the mechanics of personas and fusing. If you can beat her, the rest of the game is easier due to what you have to learn here

Edit: I guess she's really like another version of Matador from SMT Nocturne
Get a Phys resistant Persona. Buff your friends. Destroy the hell out of Shadow Yukiko.
 
Most people are going to laugh at me, but thanks to PS Now I'm finally getting a run through of FF13 and undergoing my "Git gud" fight at Odin.... haven't beat him yet.
 
Oh yeah. Titan is the trial by fire at every level.

Titan is seriously the best example of git gud.

In story, he's the first Git gud boss. In HM he will make sure you have your wits about you or you WILL die. At Extreme, if you win, you'll leave with plenty of scars.

Titan EX prepares you for a hardcore life in FFXIV.

Damn straight.
Titan is the gid gud boss to end all of them - Especially considering the main weapon was behind him.
It basically said "Know yourself, Know the enemy, OR DIE".
Many people died.
 
I'm trying to think of boss fights where the game is basically telling you that everything you've had up to that point was a tutorial, and now the real deal begins. Final boss fights don't count, this has to be early/mid game.

Examples:

Matador - Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
smt3-matador.jpg


This battle asks you if you learned your buffs/debuffs properly and whether you grasp the press turn system. Very well designed fight, many have died at his merciless hands.

Let's talk about examples of this, but please post the name of the boss, name of the game and its explanation.

Expecting to see this. Not disappointed. Classic.
 
How anyone has any problems with the Blade Wolf is beyond me.
I didn't, really.

It's the Metal Gear things that kick my ass instead. I can't parry them or kill them without losing a lot of health. Then I have room for only one hit from Blade Wolf.

And what is it? Of course, the chainsaw-to-the-torso thing. FUCK.
 
Ornstein and Smough can be cheesed pretty easily with ranged attacks, and defeating Ornstein first makes the rest of the fight super easy.

The two bosses in the game that scream "get good or go home" to me would be Artorias and especially Manus. There's simply no half measures to be had here. You need near-perfect reflexive memory of their attack patterns to make it through. Unless you want to plug Manus with arrows from afar I guess.



*equip Gyrm Greatshield, recommence turtling*

Funny thing, beat Artorias first attempt while using the Greatshield of Artorias. It blocks everything and you can just chip away. Next playthrough using 2H took a few more tries to get the timing but I never found him that difficult. Struggled much more vs Kalameet for some reason.
 
Really, Metal Gear Rising has about four git gud bosses.

For Normal and Hard, you have Blade Wolf, as mentioned. "Have you learned how to parry? Good, you may pass." Then Monsoon asking "Have you mastered parrying and Blade mode QTEs? Very well, you may pass."

But the third one... It's a lone Gekko added to the first fight on Revengeance difficulty. The tutorial one. If you can pass that battle on Revengeance, you can probably beat the game. Ray is also kind of tough, but nothing compared to the Gekko.

The fourth one is the final boss of chapter 2. The GRAD. And its friend, another GRAD. You can come in, think you're awesome, full health, max health refills and it will tear you up in seconds. The only way to win is to show that you absolutely, positively have mastered the art of countering with a parry. If you have that, and you kill off the minion GRAD fast, you have passed the worst part of the Revengeance difficulty. Because, really, if you can beat Armstrong on any difficulty, you can take him on Revengeance. He just hits eight times as hard as on Normal.
 
Any non-titan boss in both Castlevania Lords of Shadow 1 and 2. You have to learn how to block, dodge, and learn enemy move sets to avoid getting killed (especially on the harder difficulties where even the grunts do a ton of damage).
 
How anyone has any problems with the Blade Wolf is beyond me.

It's not that he's hard, it's that every one of his attacks just screams "PARRY ME!" The fight teaches you an important mechanic of the game. A fight that teaches you a mechanic just as important however (that half of GAF didn't use for whatever reason) is Senator Armstrong. Well, it's actually Sundowner but everyone just jumped behind him.

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You better know how to freely cut shit rather than just spam square/X and triangle/Y during blade mode, you loser.
 
Ghirahim from Skyward sword since he pretty much made you learn how to use motion+ rather than swinging like crazy.

I've beaten Skyward Sword twice and I still don't know how to beat Ghirahim properly. It has always been trial and error for me during his fights, always took me at least 10 min a fight. I did everything, I tried everything
 
It's not that he's hard, it's that every one of his attacks just screams "PARRY ME!" The fight teaches you an important mechanic of the game. A fight that teaches you a mechanic just as important however (that half of GAF didn't use for whatever reason) is Senator Armstrong. Well, it's actually Sundowner but everyone just jumped behind him.

3728852-tumblr_mlmoqrrevz1riys4po1_500.jpg


You better know how to freely cut shit rather than just spam square/X and triangle/Y during blade mode, you loser.

I actually didn't know you could use square and triangle in blade mode until I finished the game and read about it on the Internet :D
 
It's not that he's hard, it's that every one of his attacks just screams "PARRY ME!" The fight teaches you an important mechanic of the game. A fight that teaches you a mechanic just as important however (that half of GAF didn't use for whatever reason) is Senator Armstrong.

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11114/111144451/3728852-tumblr_mlmoqrrevz1riys4po1_500.jpg[IMG]

You better know how to freely cut shit rather than just spam square/X and triangle/Y during blade mode, you loser.[/QUOTE]

That's a pretty bad example because that's the only time where you [i]don't[/i] need to line up the boxes to successfully cut through the debris. What's even worse is that you're not told this at all even though entire game before that fight at the very end teaches you that you need to line up the boxes.
 

Titan Hard Mode - Final Fantasy XIV: ARR


Probably the first boss most players encounters that can entirely halt their progress. His tactics require all players to know their roles to a T, know his rotations to a T and know your party members roles a lot as well. The real fight doesn't even start till the post heart phase at that which many people fail to even get to that part.

Healers are given additional pressure here in that in they have the know Titan's moves particularly well because at certain times they must be ready to time their big heals before certain attacks come out. Mistakes are harsh and one typically results in you dying and thus leaving the remaining 7 other people in a bad spot, not to mention healers reviving you is entirely pointless given the debuff that results and that's if Titan didn't blow your ass off the edge in the first place. And like someone else said his boss theme makes you nervous as well. Before some later updates came Yoshi, the game's director, was basically telling players who thought it was hard 'git gud'.
 
Barthandelus in FFXIII.

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I was phoning it in until that point, generally playing defensive and chipping bosses down, but this was where I really had to learn to take the offensive. Mainly because if you're taking too long, the game casts Doom on your party.
 
Atlus RPGs and RPGs in general The Thread.

Learn the battle mechanics and exploit weaknesses, buffs, rebuffs, and get good at the game.

They don't require intensive grinding and if they do, you're doing it wrong.

Every first boss should kick your ass into embarrassment so you'd actually learn the game rather than get a false sense of easiness and blame it for being cheap.

Still not getting good? Bump the difficulty down.
 
That's a pretty bad example because that's the only time where you don't need to line up the boxes to successfully cut through the debris. What's even worse is that you're not told this at all even though entire game before that fight at the very end teaches you that you need to line up the boxes.

You don't need to line up the boxes during the Armstrong fight? That's crazy. One missed box and you blow up.
 
You don't need to line up the boxes during the Armstrong fight? That's crazy. One missed box and you blow up.

Let me blow your mind some more .

You don't have to cut the debris at all .

Just ninja run left or right out of the way.

You do miss health kits this way though .
 
Deathstroke in Batman Arkham Origins. One of the first bosses in the game and the most frustrating if you haven't learned to properly time your counter and attack.

No one agrees with this because this guy is basically cake. The difficulty only pops up if you're playing on hard and don't get counter cues.
 
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