Not particularly epic boss fights. And they said that it couldn’t be more epic - a review of the board game “Epic battles of battle magicians: mayhem in the castle of the octopus slaughterhouse. Conflicts and challenges
Let's remember the most colorful representatives of the series.
Reissue Dark Souls it's already out! While the PC community didn't really need it since we already had the necessary mods to play in HD, it's definitely a worthy excuse to dive back into the world of the Dark Souls series.
And this series is good, including great fights with bosses.
Mostly chic. If Artorias is a solid-looking doomed knight, the battle with whom you will remember for a long time, then the Greedy Demon is just a piece of feces with a face that is simply trying to roll over you. Which ones turned out to be the best? Which ones are the worst? We have collected our options in this list, and you can add to it in the comments.
And beware of spoilers - bosses in Dark Souls play a significant role in the plot. The article also presents fragments of boss battles posted on Youtube.
Knight Artorias
It was after meeting Artorias that I became interested in the lore of the Dark Souls universe, because it was a meeting with the living legend of Lordran (however, he was just as “alive” as everything else in the world of Dark Souls). Artorias was the main character of all the stories telling about the fight against the Abyss, and I managed to survive the trials that broke him. Now all these stories suddenly ceased to be dry texts on a menu with descriptions: right in front of me stood the same knight from the legends, who since then had managed to go completely crazy and become angry with all living things.
By the time Dark Souls 3 came out, the fight with Artorias didn't really stand out. But in the very first part he amazed with his speed, agility and resourcefulness, while the other bosses were, in fact, just huge monsters of varying degrees of ugliness. Fighting him was like fighting a real player, if real players had the same lightning-fast reflexes and devastating attacks. The fight was intense. And quite exhausting.
It was just a duel, and not an attempt to defeat another giant. By the time you fight Artorias, you'll probably be well-versed in the game, but defeating him feels like a remarkable achievement. After all, this is a fight with one of the greatest characters in the Dark Souls lore, which ends with a fitting death for the knight.
Ornstein the Dragonslayer and Executioner Smough
I've written several times already about my love and hate for the fight with Ornstein the Dragonslayer and Executioner Smough. In short: no matter how many times I've played through the first Dark Souls (and I've already lost count), I still can't defeat Captain Four Knights and his bruiser sidekick without the help of Soler.
One of my favorite moments in Dark Souls is the first glimpse of the city of Anor Londo, which evokes a sense of false calm. Managed to break through the Sen Fortress, defeat all the Royal Guards and demon bats, at the same time upgrade your halberd and decided that you can relax? No matter how it is.
Ahead lies a battle with these thugs with rather unpredictable attack patterns (especially the last one). And I, apparently, will never learn these patterns, which is partly why I like the fight with Ornstein and Smough. Deep down, I'm just glad to return time after time to one of the most epic fights in the series.
High Overlord Volnir
I don't really like the fight with Volnir, but I admired the character's backstory. Admired so much that he is ready to include Volnir among best bosses in this collection. Conqueror and ruler of the Catacombs of Carthus (whose race is known for skillfully forged swords and black magic), Volnir succumbed to the call of the Abyss.
Due to the vague mythology of the series, it is not entirely clear why this happened, but during the battle it becomes obvious that being absorbed by the Abyss is not just a figure of speech. Wolnir slowly rises from the abyss, spitting out a cloud of mist, resurrecting an army of skeletons and attacking with his Holy Sword.
If you destroy Volnir's glowing bracelets, he will be consumed by shadows. Admittedly, it doesn't look exactly like the Souls series, but this scene is still one of my favorite moments in DS3. And by the way, I wouldn’t mind learning more about the Abyss, since its ability to cloud the mind looks quite impressive.
Giant Yorm
The battle with the Giant Yorm can be called a typical battle by Dark Souls standards. Yorm, as you might guess, is huge, does a ton of damage, and to defeat him you will need a special sword - the Storm Lord. Spoiler: the sword can be found in Yhorm's own chambers. This means that the fight begins with a desperate sprint in the right direction and the same desperate change of weapons in the inventory, after which you can start killing the deadly giant.
It also makes sense to complete before the fight additional quest, dedicated to Siegward of Katarina, so that he can come to your aid during battle. Siegward will comment on the summoning in an interesting way: he will call the giant an “old friend” and note that he is fighting to “keep his promise.” By the way, he will capture his own Storm Lord. So this fight has everything it needs: special weapon, an inventive tie-in to the lore and the opportunity to be in the role of David fighting Goliath.
Mirror Knight
The Mirror Knight is perhaps my favorite boss in Dark Souls, appearing, oddly enough, in the weakest part of the series. This is a straightforward one-on-one battle: powerful sword swings can be predicted and reacted in time. And when his health drops to a certain level, he will summon an NPC or, even better, another player using his mirror shield. And this radically changes the dynamics of the battle - especially if a hero controlled by a person appears in the arena.
However, the summoned NPCs may not attack us, preferring to heal the Mirror Knight or even take our side. It is in this fight that the full potential of the unique summoning mechanics is revealed - it can turn a fairly simple fight into unpredictable fun. And the Ring of Steel Protection that drops from the Knight will be very useful.
Sister Friede
Can this three-phase battle be called the most difficult in the entire Soulsborne series? If you close your eyes to the existence of the Orphan of Kos from Bloodborne, then yes, you can. Sister Friede, who awaits us in the Chapel of Ariandel in the Ashes of Ariandel add-on for Dark Souls 3, actively uses ice magic and her scythe for deadly attacks. In the second phase of the battle, Father Ariandel joins her, and although the second phase is noticeably inferior in complexity to the first (even despite the old man’s size), Frida begins to restore her health. Which is extremely annoying.
And just when you decide that everything is over, Frieda will enter the battle in the form of Black Flame with additional damage from magic, fire and darkness. In this phase, she turns into a natural beast, and I'm embarrassed to even say how many hours I spent trying to defeat her. And this takes into account the help of the Slave Knight Gael, who will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Slave Knight Gael
I already published an entire article dedicated to how much I love this boss, so I recommend checking it out. By the time you get to him, he has completely gone mad, obsessed with finding a piece of the dark soul that his niece needs so that she can paint a new world for Gael.
The battle with him takes place in the arena in the distant future, when the whole world is about to turn to dust, surrounded by empty thrones where the pygmy lords once sat, whom Gael tore into pieces in the hope of finding that very particle. During this time it became noticeably larger; his cloak has absorbed dark magic, and his body literally glows with dark energy. Gael belongs on the cover of a metal band's album.
This is essentially Artorias 2.0 - an opponent comparable to a real player, with rhythmic attacks and amazing agility. And when his health drops to half, Gael becomes even faster and more furious, alternating between sword attacks and killer spells. As a result, we get an incredibly tense duel, the pace of which is constantly growing.
And by the time you get to the spell phase, dodging the sword and dying a couple of times from boomerang projectiles, you will understand the desired sequence of actions. Gael is the true embodiment of the "difficulty" that all Dark Souls players talk about, packed into one fight. Here it is important to show patience and attentiveness, which will allow you to ultimately win.
Soul of Ash
I still often think back to how well Dark Souls 3 ended. Even before the various DLCs came out, I noted that the Soul of Ash, the final boss of the third game, was a let down. Dark series Souls to a completely logical ending.
Even though Dark Souls 3 no longer looked as fresh as the first part, repeating already familiar tricks and recreating a slightly boring aesthetic, the final boss turned this weakness of the project into its main advantage. The game itself, throughout the entire plot, developed the idea of an endless cycle, preparing us for a serious choice - to interrupt or continue it, and the boss Soul of Ash became the embodiment of all the players who got to this point before you.
He constantly changes his style - he can be a knight, an assassin or a cleric. And there's something poetic about fighting a giant wielding a flaming sword.
It’s also worth noting the wonderful second phase of the battle, during which the boss uses Gwyn’s movements, and the corresponding theme song. This callback to the first game fit perfectly into the concept of an endless loop, which gave me goosebumps. A perfect ending to the trilogy.
Bed of Chaos
Brrr, Bed of Chaos. Not only was the journey through Forgotten Izalith (and the potential of this location clearly remained unexplored) boring, but also the battle with the final boss turned out to be indecently exhausting.
And if you don't use the quit-reload tactic, which is only available in this fight, you could end up spending a lot of time in the fight - especially once you've dealt with your roots. At this point, the floor under your feet will begin to collapse, and you will need to jump onto a very thin branch below, trying to dodge the boss's long arms. I hate this moment.
The problem with this fight is that, unlike other fights in Dark Souls, it depends mostly on the player's luck rather than on their skill. It's also a shame because the Witches of Izalith are one of my favorite parts of Soulsborne lore, so I expected more from this battle.
Greedy Demon
This parody of Jabba the Hutt is boring, clumsy and boring again. His sluggish and clumsy attacks alternate with ridiculous attempts to roll over the hero. And all this looks extremely mediocre. Even the location in which the battle takes place is inferior in atmosphere to any other point in the world of Dark Souls. Jabba the Hutt had at least a memorable laugh, and the Greedy Demon had nothing to surprise us at all.
Tireless Warrior
I'm going to say, without any joke, that the Tireless Warrior is one of the best bosses in Dark Souls, because nothing showcases the series' weird, dark humor more than the boss named the Tireless Warrior. He makes the world a better place with his mere presence.
Just hearing his name is enough to make you smile, isn’t it? And he looks very scary, as befits a giant living in a lava lake in the Dark Souls universe. Terrible fight. Great boss.
Vortex
The Whirlwind has already made its way onto our list of the best and worst bosses in PC gaming history as the most out-of-place enemy in the Souls series. As you know, the main trump card of Dark Souls is its difficult opponents, but not only is the battle with the Whirlwind the easiest boss fight in the entire series, but it is also noticeably inferior in strength to many ordinary opponents.
I really like the concept of the boss - a "many-faced necromancer" who summons copies and shoots magic projectiles, but in reality it all looks very boring.
His actions are predictable, and his copies are more annoying than difficult to fight. Even the Rite of Combustion looks out of place, and this, by the way, is the only advantage of the battle. It's funny that the skeleton wheels with their unpredictable attacks pose a much more serious threat than a full-fledged boss.
Tower Gargoyles, Dark Souls 2
Perhaps I got carried away with Whirlwind. It's quite possible that these gargoyles are the worst bosses in the Soulsborne series. Yes, they are more difficult to defeat, but they are almost an exact copy of the gargoyles from the first part. There are a little more of them this time (six enemies can attack you at once), but since these are optional bosses, I recommend avoiding encountering them so as not to waste time on a boring and dull fight. We still care about quality rather than quantity.
It’s good that this is an optional boss, because when you see him, nothing censored comes to mind. The Rat Guard Commander is not only one of the fastest bosses in Dark Souls 2, but also one of the deadliest. And the battle with him begins with the fact that he sends his radioactive minions at you. If by some miracle you managed not to suffer from the poison in the first seconds, the Commander will begin to spit poison in all directions.
I don't usually enjoy fighting giants in Dark Souls. Their movements are difficult to follow, but as it turns out, the lightning-fast attacks of the Rat Guard Commander are even more difficult to keep up with. By the way, this is not even a rat, but a wolf, which gives rise to additional questions to which I don’t want to know the answers.
Nothing warms you up on cold spring evenings more than the crazy swing of wizards. It's a fast, fun, dynamic game, and even if you die, it's the most epic death you've ever had in the world of board games.
The other day the third part of “Epic Battles” was released - “Mash on a Mushroom Swamp”. We descend from the Skull Mountain, leave the Octopus Slaughter Castle and go into the swamp to the mushrooms with bulging eyes. A new game includes 8 new sorcerers and 128 unreal spells! And also powerful sorceries, eternal treasures, double-digit receipts and other innovations!
Here are 7 reasons to gather a friendly group and have fun playing “Battle Mage Fights” or why this game is so loved all over the world.
Reason 1
The rules of the game are so simple that babies could play it. But you can't. This game is not for the faint of heart, the elderly, children, pregnant women, people with cardiovascular problems, fighters for literary language, and certainly not for schoolchildren.
Reason 2
Carefully! The illustrations are absolutely insane. Nick Edwards did his best. The level of his skill is amazing. Since childhood, he has been very fond of cartoons and comics, and draws his inspiration from there. Creating each picture, depending on its complexity, takes him from 3 hours to a day.
Reason 3
Three games have already been released in the series: Battle on Skullflame Mountain, Mayhem in the Slaughterhouse Castle, and Mash in the Mushroom Swamp. They can be combined with each other, which increases the number of ways to waste the enemy. At the same time, game executions are performed so stylishly that you get aesthetic pleasure.
Reason 4
The game is replayable. Yes, yes, you can play it an infinite number of times until you get tired of it. But will it get boring? Each box contains killer spells, artifacts, terrible creatures and many different desperate magicians.
Reason 5
The game is in complete chaos. In the next epic second, anything can happen. No one is immune from instant death. This makes the gameplay even more exciting and unpredictable.
Reason 6
The game is designed for 2-6 sorcerers, but nothing prevents you from gathering a larger group and having a blast. Ideal for a group of friends. The main thing is not to kill each other in a fiery rage.
Reason 7
There is a version of the game “Short Tournament” - kill everyone at breathtaking speed. The mode was created specifically for fans of fast games.
Don't delay! Hurry up, join the epic fights and smash your opponent to pieces.
The third round of the battle mage massacre will move to the swamp. More precisely, to a mushroom swamp. In short, it’s better not to interfere at all, if your mind and life are still at least a little valuable to you. Because the mash will be epic, and what else!
Epic battles of battle mages: Mess in the mushroom swampWe are waiting for the continuation in the spring. Everyone there will go crazy, but if ordinary people go crazy, then for battle magicians everything is much cooler. promises to tear you to pieces, put you back together, give you a magical kick and plunge you headlong into the thick of battle. And then how it goes. It’s only in snotty children’s fairy tales that for every embittered guy there is a fairy who will sort everything out. And here we have a harsh adult world, and quite a crazy one at that. So you’ll have to clear things out with your own hands; no one will even offer you a shovel.
You can’t get away with this with fireballs alone; you’ll have to use all your magical abilities and break through the swamp, surrounding yourself with unknown creatures and hoping that they are not as frail as they seem at first glance. The more sophisticated your spells are, the more likely you are to leave your enemy without a nose. Or without anything else, it’s up to your taste. Just be careful not to cut yourself out, you won’t get a reward for that. The goal of everything that is happening, of course, is to have a blast, but it would also be nice to outlive the rest of the magicians.
Along the way, don’t forget to collect treasures, because nothing can be found lying around in the swamps! But the main thing is not to overload on mushrooms!
If you liked the previous parts of Epic Battles of Battle Mages: and , but have no strength to wait for new ones, then pay attention to these games:
- - no more censorship, only the true essence of these “cute” animals. Furry terrorists will tickle your nerves with pleasure, threatening destruction and awakening your animal instincts.
"This is in no way a desperate attempt to make even more money off of the wild success of the previous two games!"
— Bosses of the office for inventing magicians.
Beware of walking through swamps, where the forces of intoxication and psychosis reign supreme. (Actually no, don’t be shy and come in.) Only the mushrooms here have eyes, like in one famous city. And they are watching. They are waiting for you to pour magic lyules into your enemies. Or you'll get the same thing for your nuts.
Once again you are given the opportunity to cause complete Armageddon! Mage Oldfag, Transgendrakon and Lady Siliconia are already welcoming you with open arms. So don’t wait, prepare a hellish buffet for them on their deathbed! Just be careful that you yourself don’t have such a breakdown that even Dr. Raptor won’t heal you.
Complete psychedelism, madness and sausage in every edible card!*
* Blatant lies only about edibility.
Main jokes:
- A standalone game that can be mixed with other Epic Battlemage Showdowns sets!
- 8 new sorcerers and 128 unreal spells!
- Powerful sorceries, eternal treasures, double-digit arrivals and other innovations!
- Drink medals are a new way to win epic battles!
Equipment
- 178 spell, treasure, and dead sorcerer cards
- 8 hero boards
- 7 medals of unfinished sorcerers
- 15 medals for drinking and 6 skulls
- 5 six-sided dice
- 1 mushroom
- Rules of the game
- Box size: 277x194x67 mm
- Card size: 63x89 mm
