news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

In the eyes of modern players, BOSS has become an indispensable part of games with combat mechanisms.

Now, when it comes to the role of boss battles, it is no longer just an important node in the game plot, but has become an important link that integrates audio-visual experience and gameplay. In the eyes of some players, the experience of boss battles has even become one of the criteria for judging a game.

For example, the Old Man Ring DLC ​​was criticized by many players for having many bosses with outrageous attack frequencies, as if it came out of ACT games like "Devil May Cry" and "Nioh" next door.

Some games are unforgettable for many players just because of the wonderful boss battles. For example, the boss battle of "Asura's Wrath" is too famous, and it is directly used as material for countless domestic web games. Under the tireless "poisoning" of various advertisements, in China, this boss battle is more famous than the game itself.

Although boss battles have become an indispensable part of video game culture and are taken very seriously by game developers, their original form was far from what we experience today.

Evolution

And if we go back to the era when video games were still pixel mosaics, you will find that compared to today when special effects and performances are all maxed out, the boss battles at that time were more like the products designed by developers casually when typing code.

Like many video game settings, the tradition of calling the final enemy "BOSS" also originated from DND. However, there has been no clear answer to the origin of the word "BOSS". Nintendo's official magazine "Nintendo Power" once tried to explore the issue of "the origin of BOSS as a game term", but unfortunately it came back empty-handed.

It is commonly said among gamers that the earliest game with a "BOSS" nature was an arcade game developed by Namco called Galaxian (because the fighter planes in the game are designed to look like bees, domestic players generally call it "Little Bee"). The gameplay of this game is somewhat similar to Space Invaders, where players have to destroy all enemies while dodging bullets.

However, the term BOSS was not yet popular at that time, and this type of enemy was uniformly called a "boss."

Even if we ignore the technical factors at the time, the bosses in Galaxian can hardly be called a boss. Not to mention that the difference between them and the monsters is only a slight change in appearance and color. In terms of ability, the bosses in the game do not have any unique attack methods, but can only fire more bullets.

In fact, the simple and unpretentious design of "Galaxian" largely represents the common pattern of BOSS design in early games. The purpose of adding enemies like BOSS is just to embarrass players and increase the fun of the game.

The developer's mentality at that time was probably like that of an old thief.

However, as graphics technology continued to break through barriers in the 1990s, video games entered a golden age of development. Whether it was graphics technology or gameplay design, games at that time had made great progress compared to the past. Accordingly, in terms of boss battles, developers were finally able to let go and continuously enrich the forms of boss battles.

The design of BOSS battles has finally bid farewell to the era of "skin-changing" and ushered in a super-evolution form.

The most representative one is to provide the most intuitive visual impact with richer performances, strengthen the players' perceptual cognition, and highlight the ritual sense of battle. In terms of gameplay, developers also began to pay attention to the interactive experience of players, adding multiple attack modes and stages when designing BOSS to enhance the strategic nature of the battle.

For example, the boss battle of Hydra in the first generation of "God of War" perfectly illustrates these points. First, in the violent storm, the huge Hydra brings a full sense of oppression, and then the player follows the process to experience the three stages of Hydra.

The most talked-about thing is the interactive design in this boss battle - using the traps in the scene to weaken the boss first, and finally defeating it completely through a series of QTEs combined with the performance and scenes. Even after nearly 20 years, this immersive interaction is still quite shocking.

Today, under the influence of the highly cinematic narrative style of video games, the design of BOSS battles usually combines a large number of exquisite performances and narrative elements, and the high-quality audio-visual effects bring players an unprecedented immersive experience.

In terms of gameplay, the interaction design between BOSS and players has also become more diverse. Especially under the current trend of gameplay integration, developers often combine different game mechanisms, even at the cost of a lot of manpower and material resources, just to present a wonderful BOSS battle.

For example, the boss battle between Kratos and Baldur in "God of War 4" condensed nearly half a year of hard work of Santa Monica. The nearly half-hour cinematic performance and the seamless switching between CG and battle scenes brought an unparalleled sense of immersion, which made players exclaim with excitement.

So, from the initial "bad" skinning to the current meticulous craftsmanship, why are developers paying more and more attention to BOSS battles?

BOSS battles are indeed a good opportunity to showcase the graphics and audio-visual technology of the game, and there is the possibility of showing off skills. But more importantly, whether the BOSS battle is exciting or not has a significant impact on improving the player experience and enhancing the depth of the game.

After all, video games need to follow the basic logic of "repression-release" to bring certain emotional value to players. BOSS battles are precisely the key link in this process.

Whether it is the sense of accomplishment after defeating the BOSS or the diverse experience brought to players, this is an important motivation to support their continued play. This means that developers need to focus on depicting the BOSS battle.

In fact, in recent years, not only stand-alone games, but also online games have begun to pay attention to the performance of BOSS battles.

We all know that in the past, MMOs took many shortcuts by relying on "version bonuses".

In the early stages of the MMO category, the natural advantages brought by social gameplay made developers pay less attention to the importance of game content. In terms of key dungeon gameplay, most MMORPGs also focused more on the social experience between players, thus ignoring the gameplay design of boss battles.

Can you watch a TV series while beating a boss?

However, as players' demands have become increasingly "strict", many manufacturers have stepped out of the comfort zone of social gameplay in recent years, considering how to expand the experience of BOSS battles in MMORPGs. How to find more breakthroughs in the stereotyped BOSS battles has become a common proposition for new-era MMOs.

Regarding this issue, the "Changshengguan" group version launched on the sixth anniversary of "Against the Water" may be able to give us the answer.

In fact, before this, "Against the Water" had reformed the copy more than once and won the recognition of many players.

In order to solve the common problem of MMO players playing dungeons for a long time and getting bored, "Against the Water" will fill a lot of dungeon content with each major version update. Of course, large quantities are not enough, the game also incorporates various new mechanisms at the gameplay level, enriching the playability of PVE gameplay with differentiated types.

For example, the expansion pack "Jianghu Reboot" released at the end of last year added combat mechanisms such as defense breaking and blocking to the design of the group boss, which can be called a "Sekiro simulator", bringing players a fresh experience of fighting game moves in the MMO.

In addition to the gameplay enhancements, the game has also put a lot of effort into the audio-visual experience of the BOSS battle, focusing on enhancing the immersiveness of the dungeon. The recently launched group dungeon not only strengthens the BOSS battle performance, but also adds certain narrative elements to it, using scene narration and other diverse narrative methods to highly integrate the dungeon with the main storyline in the game.

The latest 12-player raid "Changshengguan" is a multi-dimensional upgrade of the previous raid experience in terms of audio-visual effects, combat operations, immersive experience, etc. For this reason, "Changshengguan" was praised by players as the "most generous" raid of "Ni Shui Han" before it was launched.

Take the immersion that many players are concerned about as an example. The several major BOSSes in "Changsheng Temple" can be regarded as the highest level of BOSS design in "Against the Water Cold".

And this sense of immersion does not simply rely on the audio-visual experience such as wonderful performances, but focuses on the interaction of the plot. Players will personally participate in this plot, and complete the story of this stage by collecting plot fragments in scenes, animation CGs, and dialogues.

In the pre-release phase, Ni Shui Han released a story PV exclusively for the "Changshengguan" dungeon, briefly introducing several major BOSSes in the dungeon. Just looking at the PV, the many elements such as the inner and outer worlds, Chinese horror, and immortality magic have already aroused people's expectations.

In the game, each BOSS incorporates a large number of fragmented narrative designs. The BOSS battle scenes, moves, and even response mechanisms hide many story fragments.

For example, after the boss battle with Si Shui Zhen Jun, who is the first person players meet, many players are moved by his love story with his wife. (The following content contains minor spoilers)

According to legend, Sishui Zhenjun and his wife were a pair of immortal lovers, but unfortunately, his wife died early. In grief, Sishui Zhenjun fell into the devil's way and wanted to change his fate by sacrificing human blood to revive his wife. But his wife couldn't bear to see him killing living beings, and she wanted Sishui Zhenjun to regain his sanity.

What's even more clever is that in addition to fully using fragmented narratives to create an immersive experience, "Against the Water" also incorporates these plots into the boss's combat gameplay. In the [Dusk Rain Ink] stage of Sishui Zhenjun, players need to guide the monster to the correct position, summon the phantom of the boss's wife to make it come out of the state of being possessed, and interrupt the boss's ultimate move.

After summoning the phantom of his wife, the phantom will persuade him to give up his obsession and help the player defeat the boss. Specifically, in terms of gameplay, players can use phantoms to unlock different mechanisms. For example, when Si Shui Zhenjun casts the skill [Continuous Rain Soul-Breaking], players can use the water column summoned by his deceased wife to dodge.

It is also worth mentioning that outside the dungeon, players can also control Si Shui Zhen Jun, Si Xue Zhen Jun, and Si Lei Zhen Jun, explore the life stories of the three BOSSes from the perspective of eyewitnesses, and experience a Song Dynasty martial arts script-killing game firsthand.

On the other hand, in addition to upgrading the immersiveness of the BOSS battle, we can also see that the "Changshengguan" copy has also greatly enhanced the interactive design of the combat gameplay.

For example, when facing the boss Xuanshou Hantian for the first time, players need to use the scene as much as possible to escape quickly and avoid the boss's pursuit. In the final battle stage, players also need to find the right opportunity to use the ice cones in the field to break the armor of Xuanshou Hantian and output damage.

In the boss battle with Si Lei Zhen Jun, there are many puzzle elements. Players need to move according to the rules of the boss's skills and solve the puzzle.

In addition to the "Changshengguan", in the near future, the game will also launch the Juefeng 24-player group version. The mysterious BOSS in it is officially called the "true final boss", which is bound to bring players a richer BOSS battle experience.

As the ultimate challenge of the sixth anniversary version, what kind of surprises will the Juefeng Group bring to the players this time? Let us wait and see.

Conclusion

In today's environment where players are paying more and more attention to game content, for MMO, exciting and in-depth boss story content and boss mechanism appeal have become a more "superior" function. As a core experience, the copy naturally needs to step out of the comfort zone brought by social gameplay and welcome the dual changes in player experience and market level.

The new attempt of "Ni Shui Han" in boss battle design is aimed at the immersion that is lacking in current MMO dungeons. As for the "Changshengguan" group dungeon, whether it is the outstanding performance, the unique gameplay design, or the wonderful narrative, it brings a boss battle experience that is no less than that of a stand-alone game, satisfying the needs of new and old players for high-quality content.

From this perspective, in the current complex MMO market, this may be a path worth exploring for MMO manufacturers.