I’ll immediately start with the answer- not a lot.
Grim Dawn is truly an achievement in video game development, almost everything is leagues above TQ, which was a great game by itself.
Buuuut I have an issue with the game where I couldn’t find written anywhere else.
The Bosses- I found them to be rather boring, sadly. Too many times I fought a boss and thought to myself- “that’s it?”.
This is mainly due to:
A. Almost no boss is a towering monstrosity. Most of them are 50% bigger than the player model at most.
While in Titan Quest- bosses were huge, non-humanoid, interesting, unique and memorable.
Memorable being a key word. I played TQ ages ago and still fondly remember a lot of bosses, while in GD, even though I’ll play it a lot more, I don’t really think I’ll remember any boss name beside the act bosses.
B. Lack of audio shift. There’s no change in soundtrack when you fight them (except very few act bosses). No victory tune when you win. Boss abilities doesn’t have the right oomf to it most of the time, even act bosses.
While in TQ everytime you entered a major boss fight (not only at the end of an act)- there would be a special, threatening soundtrack. When you would win there would the familiar “you did it!” tune we would all love to hear. And boss abilities became much more scarier just from the sound design of them.
Who can forget the Cyclops roar which would stun you? The Centaur horn? Abilities felt much more important and unique to that boss.
C. Not enough interesting mechanics. Most bosses have the exact same abilities normal mobs would have, or just generic boss abilities. How many bosses use a spreadshot around them in just variation of color/dmg type? The only exceptions again are act bosses, which still only consists of 2 phases gimmick and thats mostly it?
While in TQ, there was the 3 gorgons, each with completely unique abilitirs, the 3 blind sisters where only 1 had an eye at a time (gray sisters). Typhon, obviously. Again- keyword memorable.
Please mind you, I only played 30h currently on act 4 veteran with my lv46 Commando.
I’m a completionist so I try to get everything you can possibly have including notes, one shot chests, shrines, etc. I’m about 85% done with the base game. But regardless what the 15% part of base endgame is, and what’s in the 2 expansions- my point still stand-
I’m about 85% done with the base game, and almost all boss fights left me disappointed.
Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts. This one have been siiting with me since I started my playthrough.
EDIT: After reassurance from the devs and other replies- I null my A and C arguments. Only B argument is still relevant
Just wait till you encounter Grava, Alex, or Mad Queen….especially in SR. I’d say wait until you complete the full game, run a character to level 100 and do some endgame farming. There’s a lot of things to experience yet, and harder and more exciting/engaging bosses are one of them.
Haha, well we’ve taken virtually every mechanic from TQ and added many new ones, including the eye mechanic you’re referring to. I can only think of a couple that we did not use, and they were very specific use cases.
I will say that the base game bosses are kind of eh in terms of mechanics. They get a lot better in the expansions, specially the final bosses (Korvaak is a great boss fight).
But i will say this about Titan Quest bosses: They are all pretty much a joke from personal experience. Low damage, low health and incredibly easy to dodge attacks. And they somehow get easier in higher difficulties because the class and item balancing of Titan Quest is absolutely terrible.
Being memorable hardly matters when the fights themselves are uninspired and end too quickly.
I don’t even remember their abilities because they are too easy. I only remember a basic attack from the one with the bow. lol
I don’t get the complaint about the size of bosses when the game’s perspective is literally from the sky. The player is a Titan looking down at everything so it all feels tiny. This applies to any games using this perspective. Put the camera in first or third person and you will be able to notice the difference in size between player and bosses. When it comes to size, I think the only boss you are going to like is the second phase of Gargabol which is the tallest monster in the game. Maybe Korvaak as well.
Also, the lack of victory tunes in most points of the game is fine in my opinion. This game has a post-apocalyptic theme and it also has lovecraftian influence and Lovecraft is all about madness, despair and hopelessness. Even when you win, there isn’t a whole lot to be happy about when the world is still about to end. Warden Krieg is a good exception because you still don’t know the scale of the conflict that is destroying the world. It feels like a major victory (and it is for Devil’s Crossing), but then you actually start exploring the world and you only see more Aetherials, bandits, murderers, rapists, the cursed Arkovian undead, the cultists killing people and draining their blood to summon unholy entities from the void. And there isn’t a whole you can do about it. You can only claim tiny victories like killing Darius Cronley, the embodiment of humanities worst instincts. Eventually, you will be able to do something major to change the tide of the conflict, but it takes quite some time.
Unique music is only necessary for bosses and some of them are very subtle. When you fight the third act boss the shift in the music is actually difficult to perceive because the game puts more emphasis on a quiet atmosphere that is only disturbed by player and enemy noises and there are a lot of enemies before the boss room. Generally, unless you tinker with sound options, the voices and other sound effects will take precedence over the music.
Boss abilities are totally fine. Most of them are very well telegraphed and there is a decent variety of attacks. Some bosses are stronger versions of regular mobs, but they have specific gimmicks or arenas to make them more interesting. Other bosses have weaker versions of themselves that appear only after you have defeated them (Ch’thonian Unravelers are essentially a lesser version of Thall’Nosh).
I had to take a look at the Typhon boss you mentioned and I didn’t see anything unique about it. It breaths fire (very common ability in most games), shoots projectiles, summons burning rocks from the sky (meteor attacks are also very common) and swipes at the player. There seems to be a few statues you have to touch on the sides of the arena, but that’s about it, apparently. Sorry for the superficial look, but I haven’t reached him in TQ because I simply couldn’t get into the game. All the early skills from the masteries I tested were incredibly boring to play with which made me quit after finishing Act 1.
You just activate the Battle Marker (it’s a statue that makes you overpowered for a limited time) in the arena and easily kill him in like five seconds. Why the devs put that there, and the other statues for that matter, is beyond me.
And yeah, Typhon fight is pretty underwhelming from experience.
I agree, mechanically the GD bosses are easily on par with the TQ bosses (and tougher). Not sure which one is using the eye mechanic though.
In terms of memorable, to me it helps that TQ ties into existing mythology. That automatically makes it more memorable, you literally already have memories of them before you ever meet them.
Expected a thread to praise TQ and crap on GD in every way, the title is misleading!
There is a few of giant monsters you fight. Thall’Nosh, Loghorrean, Benn’Jahr (well, almost all obsidian defilers) are chonkers.
Although I think you meant monsters like the Manticore from TQ where it’s not as tall, but takes a good portion of the screen, which is intimidating.
Their size at time resulted in wonky interactions. Some had strange hitboxes and some interacted weirdly with projectiles.
The unique part comes simply from TQ having more budget than GD, the artists could make more unique models. Although this applied to story and super bosses only, quest ones were retextures of existing enemies (like in GD).
I feel like the memorable part comes from the fact that TQ was harsh, much harder than GD. It was difficult to get resistances so you relied on physically dodging enemy attacks. Some classes had op tools to kill bosses easily, sure (warfare and battle standard), but in most cases you had to overprepare. Some bosses were also just bullshit, Barnamu with long stun and then dropping the entire sky on your head. You either had to dodge the stun, have enough stun res or max energy shield from storm mastery to facetank the falling sky. Again, harsh boss mechanics is what made them memorable (imo).
It’s true that GD lacks the “cinematic” feel for bosses that TQ had. Charon taunting you before the bridge and his “River, rise!” shout with water pillars popping everywhere. It really looks great to this day. Again this is the case of higher budget that TQ had.
Krieg, Karroz, Loghorrean, Ekket’zul, Theodin, the Steward and Korvaak (and secret bosses) all have unique boss fight musics. Those have special music for each phase, short tune for phase change and victory tune as well.
TQ had similar amount of boss music. 2 - 3 per act I think. Some side bosses did have boss music.
This I blame on sound design of GD. Recently I have fought the Amalgamation. You can hear the music, you can hear ambient sounds, you cannot for the world hear any of the sounds that the boss itself makes. No Amalgamation sounds at all, no sounds for aether geysers it spawns, no sounds when it repeatedly smashes the ground. A lot of GD bosses are like that and I may make a thread in the future about this (what I think it is) issue.
Again, I think those are memorable because of how weak your character is. You don’t have high resists and hp like in GD. Especially Nessus is extremely dangerous for a first “serious” boss. It’s believable that spartan warriors couldn’t beat him. I still lure him out of the camp so that he cannot call for reinforcements, haha.
This of course applies when you play on normal difficulty and don’t prepare. On epic and legendary these bosses become extremely easy.
Many enemy attacks are taken from TQ. But it’s kinda true that GD bosses don’t do much with their abilities. Many side bosses feel underwhelming.
GD has a boss trio that reuses the grey sisters eye mechanic.
I don’t think there is a GD boss that is made of multiple enemies (kuba doesn’t count). Gorgons are cool though, kill the healer first and dodge the stone gaze of archer one!
Typhon is memorable because he punches like a truck. His abilities aren’t actually that unique. The Telkine before Typhon had more unique mechanics in the fight.
Typhon has meteor rain, flame breath, lightning/cold projectile, poison projectile, life and mana leech, and reflect temporary buff. The difficulty came from him having lots of damage types, eating your mana and being able to heal from you. Shrines around the area help a lot and once you wait out the reflect skill, you could kill him fairly quickly while dodging some attacks by side stepping.
Yeah, play the whole game and you may change your mind!
But you haven’t played the entire thing.
I will add that Theodin Marcell is my favourite boss in GD and my biggest problem with him is that he dies too quickly. Korvaak is second place and he has much more vitality than the shaper of flesh.
But it’s the problem of story bosses having to be kinda weak so that first time players have an easier time dealing with them. Korvaak is really the only story boss that is difficulty even on a semi maxxed build. #justicefortheodin
some
*granted you’re only at act 4 so there is still the expansions left so i’ll keep it related to that
my sentiment has always been Act 1 is phenomenal, not just in terms of scenery, theme, etc, it’s a good “tutorial” act while also setting just the right things up (specially on Vet)
got the good old “generic enemy is upgraded to (first) Boss) in Kyzogg”, nice and simple, “dull” like it sorta should be, ease you in to your first ass whoopin later
likewise the subsequent heroes and bosses as you travel through doesn’t spice things up too much,
got a little spiky boi letting you know about that ground stuff not supposed to stand in,
and likewise Viloth isn’t too spicey but still wanna dodge that Sigil.
Milton lets you know things can heal (and be a bit spongy), tho he’s slow enough you can manually dodge otherwise potential rough hitting slams
The first real encounter is then a little “surprise” in the Shambler poppin out the ground, and he can be a bit nasty, sometimes. Probably the first real encounter with CC, and where it can trip you up, since his slow af rock can hit pretty hard, so you get another lesson in dodging sht
After that we get Gutworm, maybe, depending on his spawn, and if he reminds me of anything it’s the, regardless what level i was
and hot dang if you don’t heed that warning you might get the aforementioned first ass whoppin.
Unsure if he got the “maneater” tag before released into the beta pool, or later after devouring a bunch of players because dang is that a fitting name. Dude is nasty af on Veteran at lower levels/“about the level you naturally encounter him”, traps and sht so you can’t kite that well/constantly, hits hard af so you better be a chonk boi or figured out some healing. Extremely simple boss design in itself, but the difficulty/threat of the encounter “at the placement in the game” makes it stand out that bit, a nice little touch imo.
Rest is fortunately nice and chill, more setting dressing and scenery etc.
Another spikey boi with green fumes in a cave.
And then we might get our 2nd “a more powerful foe"warning, assuming one went back and got a key from Direni
and idono, legit can’t decide what was “worse”, in terms of first time encounter ass whoopin, Salazar or Gutworm, because Salazar encounter is almost mean at that level, like, borderline unfair, because you get frickin locked in on top (yeye i forgot about portals and stuff)
And jeepers is that encounter nasty when you’ve not thought of vitality resit chaos resist, targeting the minion instead of the boss etc etc - lot of “wtf is this bs”/“help me”/”/panic!" threads posted here and there over time about Salazar first encounter and i kinda feel them, largely when you go back with hindsight info it’s easy to trivialize him at lower levels, but otherwise, darn that’s mean. You just beat Gutworm the maneater tossing out warnings so surely you can beat this skinny scrub with ease too…
anyways, onwards we go and there is nothing inbetween except more lore and stuff
Krieg i actually think is a good first Act boos, i think he’s a decent boss in general, even like the notion of “try hard and do this” little dev nod with the lvl 11 achievement (harder to do some years back)
Simple 2 phase boss as you say, but what he does he does well, nice telegraphed attacks on the nasty stuff, high dmg to be able to trounce you if not prepared, and the ramp up from phase 1 to 2 was decent. *could have made more use of the far away minion spawn, but not like it’s a big deal anyway being mostly white trash 1hit stuff
and our first gold chest for beating this big baddie
fantastic, phenomenal, all in all, if i had gotten in during early access or kickstarter i could have replayed act 1 on its own a bunch of times and not felt bad for it/the cost
then there is act 2…
granted imo act 2 is sorta divided up in 2 parts, the cronley part and post cronley part, and both parts aren’t bad/“equally” bad, but i maintain that it’s my least favourite act in the game
aside from feeling like it’s stretched out yet “short”, like there is a lot of running/travelling and only a couple of quests/“few” quests, or the setting/wild west semi desert/sand palette there’s not “much” to do and what there is to do is quick or not really exciting mostly
the highlight is probably either NPC encounters, which ofc are brief, or a potential RNG spawn encounter where you get ambushed by multiple shamblers
Exploration wise it’s, fine, serviceable, the map isn’t bad, despite the setting/area feeling “bland”, it’s what you get on desert map (legit thought of D2 act 2 but just a bit better/more lively and congruent scenery wise and better looking/more “real”)
quick generic rundown Wradlith, Balthazar, Ronaprax, Halion, Boris, Martin, i mean, it’s as simple as that, “tag”/name that’s it, slap move on
these days Boris is more interesting primarily because of his potential friends that can spawn in the Pit now, and from all the new complaint threads we know how awesome those are
Cronley is probably one of the worst bosses in the entire game, skipping over the previous encounters because aside from the quick troll encounter there is really nothing special or that good. But Cronley takes the cake in punk bitch mofo bossing, how is he the frickin leader and not Fabius ? Little cheating sob and his invulnerability shield and otherwise nothing going for him is running a crew that includes "lemme fck you up"Fabby? nah
*going back to act 1 because dynamite, yay
Rolderathis, okay, not as bad as his counterpart later, but kinda ok for some weird reason, never can quite put my finger on why i’m not totally disappointed by this dude
Secret boss pt1
Dreeg, actually kinda cool, like itself is silly non scary, but the adds is so cool and make you sorta weary/looking out and running forth and back because dafuq do you whack, eyes or boss
Kalis Ka is kinda cool, but mostly for the visuals, threat level at this point is not so high, could be dialed up a bit, would be cool to fit the boneyard theme
Balegor, idono, troll i guess
new boss in Galeslice and Father Abbadoth that wasn’t there my first time, but sadly i’m too prepped that i crush them easily on playthroughs these days
Twin Falls is good, gotta say that, i’m a total sucker for tombs and ruins so that is absolutely the first highlight of act 2, and probably also why i separate the acts in two parts. Ghosts do what ghosts do, nothing standout as they are just average joes really, which is fine.
idono, Ulraprax, is there, i guess, can farm jelly atleast
new boss Karnath in Coliseum that wasn’t there in my first times, i actually enjoy this boss design when i first encountered it, but ofc by now i know the gimmick and he’s just a Mossi wannabe
Kilrian i think was nice, not super duper special but really had that “where the fck did my HP suddenly go” with one or two of his annoying attacks, but more so it’s the setting overall, really lifts it up that final bit.
Broken Hills
new boss Naren Kur in new tomb, i think he has threat potential, but i’ve probably played the game too much by now, i think i might have had similar sentiments towards him like i did Zaria later if i played him for the first time
If you are lucky you explore the right way, and get into Steps of Torment, and that’s where fun really begins, probably one of my favourite places, with at the time one of my “nemesis” bosses (would come back to bite me much later)
Zarthuzellan is cool, pretty nasty caster, more so fn minions make you want to blend yellow bones on sight. It’s okay.
Ilgor is great, it’s just hilarious you beat this fatty, with his weak sauce spectre special, juuust long enough to think “huh, ok cool i guesss” - and then we get another phase 2 “back from the dead” boss design, yes it’s simple and gimmicky but it works here, the pause is just right, the setting is just right. - and you get fn skeleton priests again reminding you to instantly target anything with yellow colour little fuckers can heal from a screen away, given me so much trouble so many times when they are out of reach from inside
Alkamos is cool, i like him, “thematic”, and he was decently hard/hits hard enough to feel dangerous and make you think maybe wanting to start pay attention to your stats
Love that dungeon, farmed it looots, didn’t get tired.
Secret Boss pt2
Fck this bird, Solael, seriously. If Kilrian had that surprise where did my hp go attack this dumbass birb takes the cake in surprise dps if you don’t pay attention, idgaf about prior teachings about “dont’ stand in ground jizz” this birb poops out so much floor crap and spams dmg on you in such rapid succession suddenly it’s unlike most other things. I hate this feathered farting fck. - Awesome screw you high dmg boss encounter
on to Voldrak, which is serviceable, nothing special, slow hard hitting bit of stun, fine wont come back the gate is open now.
Cave, ikrix, okay.
Homestead, i like act 3, it’s big, it’s split, decent settings and i like the 3part theme of beasties, aetherials and ch’thonics. Farms weren’t really special fight wise, but map/caves/exploration felt great.
Ballog, nice “surprise” but that’s it really
Ravna, visually cool, decent phase change design, little squish, has potential for a punch, idono reduce cd on phase 2 rocks maybe so she can use it more?
Mr Precious, reference entry is all, probably wouldnt’ really stand out if it wasn’t for that, don’t think he’s supposed to be special, but could probably been cooler if designed later with newer skills in mind, like invisible disengage+shadowstrike combo or something idono. *i know actual invisibility was off because redundant or whatnot.
Amalgamation, kinda cool, because its skills are decent, it packs a punch, but in the end it’s just a big sponge with a bit of footwork shuffling, b+
Herald is weird, still don’t understand those bosses/enemies, like, ok you’re just gonna stand there while i whack you? k i guess
and then we dive into some people’s navigation nightmare or most disliked floor design
i don’t mind PV, let me be up front, i’m not a “hater” despite the aetherfire
starts off with another Herald, well, free kill standing still and whacking for a bit again i suppose
idono how to describe these fellas, Ordas is, visually cool, new aetherial on the block atleast, pretty easy tho
The Hulk, neat, i enjoy these, nothing really special, could have a bit more potential, but bros be brawling
Ygraad, Brandis, same deal as Ordas, rinse repeat i guess
Thelon, you likely wont get this on your first pass/until later since he’s rep gated quest target, he’s kinda cool, about time a possessed archmage got suped up a bit, dies way too easy/quick tho
and then we have them, the Three Stooges, fck those guys, like dafuq, talk about suddenly dialing up the difficulty of the place. High dmg output if your stats suck, while soaking up lots of dmg themselves, even after all these years, i’ve no idea how this encounter is actually supposed to be dealt with with just a regular char besides whac-a-mole approach. I both dislike them because they are suddenly tough enemies, and i like them because the whac-a-mole approach was different and “natural” without the same annoyance like ex mesmers
Pine Barrens,
Mogara, Bloodbriar, fits the setting, Mogara can hit a bit hard if you lucked out on the right items or didn’t get enough whatever it is she hits with.
Ungoliax did that thing Kilrian did where it makes you go “oops where did my hp suddenly go” which was fun, and nice lotr cave again never hurt anybody
Tyrant Hold, this place is a cool setting, enjoyed the little lore notes coupled together with the groble invasion.
Bloodfeast felt less special than Gutworm lets just put it that, if anything the trap system felt a bit more noticeable than himself, but still not terrible even tho very basic.
new boss in Arkovian Docks wasn’t there back in the day, i think Rutnick is cool, using some new gimmicks which is fine and can hurt if unlucky, being that bit different make him stand out a bit
Blood Grove is a nightmare, i don’t mean gameplay wise or quality wise, there is just so much going on it makes your head spin.
Surprise ghostie here, aetherfire there, Fort where, frickin Void rift. So much going on so busy, beasts ch’thonians atherials and couple human factions, non of the bosses as such special themselves but the map they are in.
Bolvar, okay actually, simple, but packs enough heat for what he does.
Ghost lady was kinda easy, nothing special other than surprise gimmick
Venarius, actually cool, but mainly because of the enemy type/model, i like those hulks, they make for decent enemy
Noveria, easy, simple, quick quest boss nothing there.
Ragnadar is a lil cutie, yay plushie , nothing really special as enemy tho
Forth Haron boss(es) is okay, nothing special in Sister Bravna or Ravok, thematic human standins for their respective faction
Zaria is a little dirty **** fck those crystals serious, i’m not the only one that’s had beef with them, wont be the last, those little pink feckin zap shts def stand out. Cheap af, but stands out at least
Karroz, another 2 phase pony, but my my what a phase change we got this time. It was fn glorious, and the difficulty spike? Unsure if it’s just me but Thall’nosh has some nasty sht all of a sudden. This is like the Krieg fight, just awesome, fitting, works, thematic, spices things up a bit (could be spicier but still), really fitting as an act boss
aaand then we have Asterkarn, which strangely has more of some the things i faulted act 2 for, yet feel 0 issue with here, i have no idea why, maybe it’s just because the scenery is so gorgeous to me, and the trek so fitting, but not having any quests for several zones, just travelling, it remains one of my favourite zones/“acts”
Yeti boi, nothing special, unsure why is boss not hero
Secret boss pt3
Bysmiel, again simple/regular, it’s fine, quick quest boss/reward
Secret secret boss,
MQ, holy fn jeepers citrus heck, yea… if that nasty ass bitch doesnt’ stand out i dono, talk about ass whoppin, am i glad my first char was not Hardcore, holy sht that would have been a hard lock for me for quite a while to get past her, optional or not
Secret boss pt 4
Sentinel was awesome, aside from spawning with what i guess was a retal shield a lot of the times which really hurt/“suicided” myself, he looks visually good, The temple is a new setting and its clearly his domain, eldritch realm skills attacks are cool, he’s a “right” amount of tough, and made for a good fight at this point. Fitting end to the questline, area/theme etc, a nice touch
Fort ikon, now act 4 begins for real
Lucius, ma boi
I think Lucius is cool, has decent array of attacks with varying dmg, solid boss, bit of a whiner when he get smacked
now depending on your faction choices you may face 1 of 2 different Bosses, Malkadar or Barthollem, both pretty simple, both okay in my book, chalk another one up to “thematic” if nothing else.
“sum guyGhoul”, rocks, idono what it is but kinda like that/those skills when boss be in a cave
potentially back to Death’s Vigil and fight Noveria again, this time a little tougher, kinda cool repeat
there’s Bane Gargoth in a void rift, in the minefield, he’s there, that’s about it
What do we have left, some rando (star wars reference?) ghoul, nothing special, meh i’m not bothered really.
where do we go first, well obviously since the Main Quest is telling me the big baddie world ending bossman is in the Tomb of the Watchers lets jump in the Void rift instead
Weird squid dude guarding a gate, nothing special, idono might put me in the mood for sashimi on some nights.
To be fair, Bastion of Chaos used to be right giant pita pathing wise in earlier days, tons of “gates” everywhere super annoying, a bit better these days
so we face off against some rando Ch’Thonian deadguard hero, cool little arena, no biggie.
Next up floor 2,
and some suped up Harbinger, Lagoth, makes Salazar’s little friend kinda look small, or alone atleast, cos this guy got Mesmer tricks up his void sleeve, pretty cool, if nothing else major, “something” on top would have been real nice, but it’s an ok 1 trick pony at least.
and then there is, idono thanlnosh squidlings, they hit kinda hard, look cool. Visually memorable atleast, and i paid attention to my stats a little more next time before going in against them again.
and then there is Sharzy, sweet little stingy sharzy, - he has a big stick and aint afraid to use it, well, actually he probably just farts and fans the flames most of all, but it’s a good fight i think, nothing special, but the again the skill array and dmg variation is solid, proper threatening and kinda dangerous. - Haaaate the dungeon, screw those gates, Sharzy is cool, even if it took over 1000hours to finally get him to drop his cool stick
and back to the Necropolis, down Tomb of the watchers since there is nothing left
another non-famous "do you want sashimi"tentacle boss, idono. Legit no idea what its purpose is
and another cultist, Thalonis is fairly simple again too, but sometimes he hits hard.
and down we go, final big baddie of the game this is what it’s all been leading up to
and holy fn sht, what an arena, what a start what a marvellous grotesque gaping fleshwound of a boss, Ch’thulu be proud.
and that’s about it, on a technical/gameplay level this is sadly about one of the worst fights in the game along with Cronley.
Loghorrean is big and ugly and detailed well animated has kinda some awesome skills
but it all falls totally flat, unless you somehow either accidentally mega screw up or deliberate fail to see anything; because he’s nothing but a 3x hp bar “sponge”
being stationary like that is probably the biggest downside of it all, means his mouth puke is no threat unless you fck up, half of his attacks aren’t used/doesn’t reach if close range enough, not even talking about the cheese strat where you stand “just” right and take basically 0 dmg/0hits, but just in general. His attacks that might reach you are slow and few, doesn’t do big dmg to justify either of it. Legit one of the bigger threats is the Tyrants he summons, atleast they can potentially dish some form of dmg out for a little while. I remember being almost in awe of this magnificent world ending tentacle mouth of the void, but the fight was way to easy, and way too dull to do this beastie, or the buildup any justice. When one of the coolest things in a fight, is a NPC getting sucked away all of a sudden, it’s just not great.
way many bosses coming before it was way harder and way more awesome, and all this, game ending, world consuming gash with eyes had to offer, was eye candy @_@, then it’s such a shame and letdown.
Unsure if his platform was somehow mobile and could rotate around the arena, randomly spawn more arms to slap you with nomatter what you did/stood, puke in different direction/distances, random doom bolts regarding of distance check, more/frequent tyrant spawns, or what it would have took to feel like it done everything justice, but it should have been so way way more awesome than it was, specially with everything that came before.
Fortunately, as we know, it was not the end of the game, and there is some cool bosses elsewhere in the game/in the expansion, some that follow the same/previous “staleness”, and then some really awesome ones; “the best is yet to come”
*Celestial Totems is a new feature from Forgotten Gods expansion and has encounters in some of the new/“hidden” areas in base game zones, i rather like these tentacle porn encounters for their toughness, repeat of the bastion of chaos Unraveler boss as they may be
**will note, there are bosses/enemies you either likely wont or straight up wont encounter in the game just on Veteran. Some are gated off by rep, or by quests, some exclusively to Ultimate. - Loxmere might sour your grapes already on Elite tho if RNGesus wills it
the Nemesis is really cool, and i highly recommend you don’t get spoiled by encountering them first in “high” Crucible or high shard Shattered Realm, meeting them in campaign is the most enjoyable first time encounter imo.
Super bosses/Celestials, they are what they are, deliberately ultra spongy and hard hitting simple as that, probably rough to make such tough enemies extravagant and complicated combat-wise on top i suppose
Secret Bosses/Celestials Ultimate exclusive, highly recommend, some are fantastic first time encounters and yet another ass whoopin
Lokar and Crate is pretty darn cool imo, and base game Ultimate secret boss was a surprise at least
didn’t wanna go into expansion bosses as such but
Theodin desperately needs higher defences, he is such a cool boss fight, and it’s such a shame you can basically 1tap him on Veteran if you accidentally built your character right
Korvaak i don’t have the same problem with, tho it would exist on Veteran, but since he’s a little tougher on Ultimate i’ll partly let it slide - Theodin sadly remains a cakewalk even on Ultimate
*would not object to MC Korvaak getting a little defence boost too so he really got to let loose those phase guns
Wow great responses! This shows a lot of dedication from the devs to the fans just by replying to a first timer (minor) critique post. Amazing.
From that and from the hype that is shown regarding later bosses from other replies- I’m sure to buy the 2 xpacks.
I think in regards to my minor rant- I’m content with replies to my first and last points. I might have been too harsh or TQ nostalgic there. And maybe the TQ settings made the bosses already become memorable since I was familiar with them.
But sadly my point about the sound design still bother me.
The reply regarding the depressing setting of the game therefore no need for victory tune- don’t think it’s a great argument. There could’ve been. A low electric guitar or a special accord to play not as a happy tone, but as one to distinguish that you succeeded to beat a threat in the world.
The reply saying that there are as much boss music in TQ as in GD- not true. Up until act 4- only 3 special boss battle music played. While in TQ the firat 3 bosses of the game each had battle music… Not saying the boss music should be unique to every boss, maybe even make only 2-3 more intense sundtracks for the rest of the boss fights, but atleast I would have some indication that this fight holds more siginifance than other, randomly generated bosses.
Maybe it is just the lower budget of GD in comparison to TQ.
Looking forward, I just think the devs would might want to reconsider adding to their already amazing OST and feel of the game by introducing boss music (doesn’t have to be specific to each boss) / win tune for every major (unique) boss in Grim Dawn Too™
The one thing I’ve found more enjoyable or, well, different in a pleasant way in TQ was the boss fights.
Part of it is that we’re fighting enemies we’ve heard stories about, like Polyphemus (even though he’s almost 1-to-1 the same boss as Voldrak or general troll bosses in GD), the Hydra, the Manticore (good god the Manticore!) so they automatically feel more memorable. GD has a harder time in this respect because it’s establishing its own world and has to get the player invested in it, where ancient myths have already done that work for TQ a thousand times over.
The other thing is boss mechanics. Now I’ll admit, none of my characters were particularly “tuned up” in TQ. I don’t like farming, I prefer just playing through the game as it is and making do with what I find. So I had a hard time capping resists in TQ, dunno if that was just a me problem or if that’s just how the game was. My damage also generally wasn’t great cause I didn’t have the BiS gear. Because of that, fights with bosses were quite the dance. I had to read every animation, every flinch, cause if the Manticore hits me with the tail spikes or the big claw windup, I’m dead. Same with even a fairly pathetic enemy like the Gargantuan Yeti. I don’t dodge the breath, I’m dead. I catch the frostbolt nova with my face, I’m dead. And so every fight was super tense, there was very few fights where I could just run up to the boss and hit them till they’re dead, like I can do in GD with a fully geared char. I remember this style of combat completely killed my interest in going back to D2 after that cause the “just hit them and pop pots” combat suddenly felt completely underwhelming.
But I think that’s more because in GD I generally play with characters that I’ve already mostly prepped up for lategame through the shared stash. When I did play a brand new character with nothing to draw on (my first char, or the one time I levelled a character starting on Ultimate from lvl 1), GD felt similarly tense in that respect. It’s just not the style of gameplay I experience much in GD whereas in TQ it felt like that’s what the game was. To be clear, I still have to be on my toes in a good number of fights in GD. But the tension generally isn’t at the level of “dodge this or instadie” like it was in TQ.
Anyway, I tend to feel a bit similar concerning the memorability of TQ bosses.
But I´d like to think that this is due to a psychological bias, doing its shenanigans with past memories.
Maybe you/me will think about GD bosses as high as of TQ bosses, after some years not playing GD.
…although I meant that there is as much boss music tracks, not the count of enemies that use it. In TQ the first three bosses (and more later on) use the same music for example.
Still there is more boss music types in TQ than in GD, so I was incorrect.
The most memorable enemy in TQ for me is not even a boss, I love the Machae enemies. They are extremely dangerous, basically bullshit levels of speed and damage, but they are quite squishy. Great visual design as well, charred like skin with colorful fumes coming out of holes on various parts of their bodies. I love how I always have to be tricky if I want to win the fight against packs of them (when there are master archers). Lure them around the corner and apply cc, dodge the arrows or try to burst down the archers (since they are squishy).
They may be unfair, but it’s an amazing feeling to beat them and you make good use of positioning and cc. I don’t think there is any enemy in GD that comes close to that, I never feel the need to apply cc during the fight when I can just outheal the damage.
Budget was definitely a factor, especially early on in development. With Grim Dawn’s initial success, we were able to raise the production value. For reference, the Forgotten Gods expansion features 25 music tracks compared to the base game’s 22 (of which not all were used in-game).
Man, I have no idea what you’re remembering from TQ that was harder than GD. I remember struggling with a couple bosses cause of resists, but that’s a stat check, not a challenge. I distinctly remember Bandari would one shot me cause too bad, my resists were too low for the FIRST difficulty.
Grim Dawn has definitely suffered some power creep over the years, but there is just no way it is an easier game for a first timer than TQ was, especially on Veteran.
One of my personal philosophies when designing Grim Dawn bosses (super bosses excluded) was to see if I could beat them with bad yellows and missing skill points. Sure, there are limits to how forgiving you can be or else an encounter can become trivial, but if I was able to outplay the mechanics that would one or two shot such a character, the boss was fair game.
Oof, poor Loghorrean…from the dread of Early Access to being called a sponge. I had to nerf him before the full release because of how much everyone complained about him. He did get a buff in v1.1.9.8 though cause someone complained he’s easier than Zaria and Karroz.
oh, there definitely are some memorable ones. It’s just that the TQ ones I often remember because they are tied to myths (minotaur, medusas, charon, …) while the GD ones I remember for being memorable bosses
Trash enemies is what I remember the most. They were much more threatening then GD ones and made CC much more useful. The aoe stun from War Horn is always useful, meanwhile I never take OFF because GD’s trash mobs are too weak to be an issue (I guess this comes from the fact you can get all resists capped in GD at level 30ish + good amounts of adcth).
Resists are a luxury in TQ that’s for sure. They feel like something extra, you get rewarded by getting proper resists by being able to facetank a threat (not always, sometimes you have to disengage and dodge anyway). Vitality resist is amazing vs Typhon for example as he cannot heal himself that much, making the fight definitely easier.
In GD, sure, resists are a stat check. You get showered in them constantly an they let you hug the enemy without having to worry much about dangerous attacks. I always facetank Krieg because I know with enough aether res I can outheal his stomp skill thanks to hp pots. Of course same will happen in TQ when you get resistant enough, but you won’t be always lucky to get said resistances unless you farm for components or items.
I assume you mean dying to meteor rain. This is not a skill you are supposed to take on your face. It’s like complaining that you die to Benn’Jahr exploding crystals, although in both cases you can get tanky enough to survive the ability.
Yes I am comparing a side boss with an endgame boss. Okay, lets say it’s like complaining that you cannot facetank Cronley because his aetherfires stack up and kill you, and that’s on the FIRST difficulty. I talked about the wrong boss, my mistake.
Bandari has two dangerous attacks if I remember correctly. A pink projectile that hits like a truck and applies a big slow and a fissure like skill. Both skill should be dodged unless you get enough resistances. I guess it’s comparable to any GD enemy that has a fissure like skill, so Gargabol or Ekket’zul. Can be tanked, but it’s risky.
Bandari’s soldiers are also difficult since they are constructs, so you cannot even heal from them.
I wouldn’t blame low resists here, more the ability to dodge the nuke projectile and fissures. More useful resists would be physical/pierce for his minions I guess. It’s like talking how you cannot facetank Cronley while standing in aetherfires, because those stack up and even high resists won’t help you much and it’s on the FIRST difficulty.
It’s definitely easier once you learn about crafting and faction gear. In TQ you are more reliant on RNG and you may want to farm some items before going further. In GD you craft decent items, grab faction gear and get one or two MIs and you are set for the entire difficulty.
Veteran is less of a challenge and more an annoyance. On normal I facetank bosses for 10 seconds and kill them, on Veteran I do the same but for 30 seconds.
This does make sense for story bosses so that casual players don’t get stuck so much. Optional/side content could be more difficult and more rewarding though (which kinda is, areas like East Marsh and Tyrant’s Hold are definitely more difficult which is cool!).
Ehh…
I know TQ is easy. Both TQ and GD are easy games. But I prefer the TQ’s kind of easy where you still have to perform actions with your character in order to survive. In GD the easy part comes from the fact you always have high resists and sustain so you just facetank everything. GD gets better on higher difficulties though where TQ loses its charm and becomes too easy.
Of course it’s easy to dodge Typhon’s attacks then burst him down while combat shrine is active, but I’d rather have this than just hugging Loghorrean.
little fuckers can heal from a screen away, given me so much trouble so many times when they are out of reach from inside 
, nothing really special as enemy tho
