Mostly based off my own opinion, i think that most currently existing boss fights in Arcane Odyssey are extremely boring or sometimes bad made - one of the reasons i made this. The other reason is… i’m just bored. I like making suggestions for fun.
Problem:
The entire problem with most bossfights in AO is that sometimes they just do not feel like bossfights - they more feel like fighting an overbuffed NPC (sometimes isn’t even the case) with a bit smarter AI put into it. Sometimes they are illogical, or not too hard, or not too interesting and fun - sometimes i just want to skip the bossfight and encounter other foes instead, like the Dark Sea.
And rarely, the bossfights are simply bad made - they are unfun and NOT sightreadable. This being the Captain Maria boss respectively. So, in this suggestion, i will try changing some aspects of the bosses - perhaps make a foundament for a fun boss.
Of course, this doesn’t mean vetex made bad ass bosses, some of them are just fine! It’s mostly just me criticizing some stuff and just trying to make some fun stuff. Feel free to add your own ideas! : D
Revamps:
Shura
It may be obvious, but to me - Shura, despite being a first boss in the storyline and as a way to show players what awaits them - is… actually boring?
What bothers me here is that Shura is a Ronin, a.k.a a SAMURAI. And samurai people are… kinda fast? These are real warriors, the warriors who shall not be underestimated. And despite this, Shura is a really slow samurai. Yes, getting hit at least once will surely wreck your HP because of the Acid - further enforcing the fact that you’re fighting not a weakling, but a real threat.
What do i think should be improved then? The current moveset of Shura is almost perfectly fine. All it needs is a bit more speed - less wind-up. It is REALLY slow as of now and i’m pretty sure that new players won’t just go sword fighting Shura at close range after seeing the cutscene unless being unserious.
Though, when he uses his acid smoke screens, he should be attacking you immediately after appearing nearby, instead of taking 5 whole business days to slash.
About the new skills - i’m pretty sure Shura also should be able to dash at you with a piercing slash - making him even more threatening. When thinking of this suggestion and remembering some Assasin Creed series of games - i’ve thought that Shura should also have a skill that he uses when reaching below 50% of his HP - when he uses the acid smoke screen and teleports randomly around you - before lunging at you from the smoke and grabbing you - then slashing upwards.
For this though, since mostly Shura takes about 8-12 magic blasts until getting defeated, his HP should also be increased a little if the new moves are gonna get added.
If you tell me to fuck off because it will make the boss harder for new players - You’re right! But suggestions are suggestions.
Iris
At first i was completely fine with Iris bossfight. She simply has anger issues and at her given age wasn’t that good at using Flare Magic (A lost magic!), but now… i just don’t accept the fact she deals THAT low damage to you, with the DoT dealing less than 2 damage. Iris bossfight should teach the players to learn to dodge - since Iris does not do that in fact, and tanking the damage won’t give you much profit. The damage simply should be improved, or perhaps the DoT of Flare Magic a bit buffed - After getting hit, the players should realize that it’s not rewarding to tank the damage and take all the DoT of Flare which will eat away their HP.
King Calvus IV
Although his boss fight seems mostly fine - he’s just TOO slow. Calvus takes 5 years to charge up his attacks which teaches the players the basics of endlag punishing - but the charging time is just… too big.
Calvus could take either an agressive “playstyle”, or a passive one - with the agressive rushing on you, forcing you to dodge his attacks instead of attacking actively. Or, a passive one, where he keeps distance, carefully using his abilities and only rarely straight up attacking you - allowing for more chances to attack him, but still hard to do so - Calvus won’t just take all the hits while charging his moves. On phase 2, however, Calvus could go more agressive - wrecking the entire throne hall during the fight and just giving you the vibes of fighting a really strong enemy who won’t let you breath a single time without dodging.
For the attacks - they are fine.
Captain Maria
And of course, the major reason i even thought of this suggestion - Captain Maria is probably the worst boss fight due to how unfun it is - She literally FORCES you to cheese her, because if you don’t - you will mostly just suffer. The first phase of Captain Maria is mostly fine - the water tentacle attack has so much choices for dodging or blocking - from parrying, to T-jumping before the tentacles hit, since they don’t have that large vertical AoE. But other than that - she mostly sucks. The instant hitscan and unsightreadable attacks - it just makes it even worse. But then there is phase 2 - 5x times worse than 1st phase and just absolutely telling you “cheese me!” while fighting.
Captain Maria, though, as i noticed, is currently the only enemy who can cast a water bubble to defend herself - but just a water bubble? It should simply change to damage reduction.
In my opinion, phase 2 of Captain Maria should be completely reworked. All her attacks except the water tentacles need to get different wind-up animations and just be reworked to make it sightreadable. The giant brig ship or whatever - should be resized for more space. If the boss fight was made to be fought in tight spaces - then just don’t allow to cheese her that easily and simply rework some of the attacks! If phase 2 is made to be fought inside the ship, when the only way to escape water tentacles attack is to cheese or go to the cornet of the room and block - then it’s just not a good boss design. It would’ve been much better if the floor didn’t break - and Maria tried to escape to the bottom of the ship and “ambush there” - and some of the attacks like water tentacles would be changed - instead of hitting on the ship floor, they would shake the ship sometimes, and confusing the player, while the captain herself would prepare another attack.
There’s simply so much things that could make Captain Maria boss fight better - i just don’t feel like mentioning them all.
Is it full-serious? Well, no.
Why didn’t i include other bosses like Lord Elius or General Argos? I just feel like their boss fights are fine.
Feel free to add your own stuff to the suggestion! : D
