Board 8 > Best/Worst #26 - Dark Souls Boss

(+) Yeah! (+)

Welcome to the 26th episode of Best & Worst... stuff.

Today we have Dark Souls.
Requested by @BetrayedTangy !

Which boss do you like the most?
And who is your least favourite?

Voting Form:
Best:
Worst:

Dark Souls Bosses
(Pictures from top to bottom, left to right)

Asylum Demon
Bell Gargoyles
Gaping Dragon
Great Grey Wolf Sif
Iron Golem

Dark Sun Gwyndolin
Seath the Scaleless
Centipede Demon
Gwyn, Lord of Cinder
Atorias the Abysswalker

Taurus Demon
Capra Demon
Stray Demon
Crossbreed Priscilla

Pinwheel
The Four Kings
Firesage Demon
Black Dragon Kalameet

Hellkite Dragon
Moonlight Butterfly
Chaos Witch Quelaag
Hydra
Ornstein and Smough

Gravelord Nito
Ceaseless Discharge
Bed of Chaos
Sanctuary Guardian
Manus, Father of the Abyss




Previous Results ( Best | Worst ):

Kirby Super Star Game Mode: Revenge of Meta-Knight | Gourmet Race
Final Fantasy IX Character: Vivi | Amarant
Super Mario Kart Racer: Koopa Troopa | Donkey Kong Jr.
Jackbox Game (Pack 1 - 4): Trivia Murder Party | Monster Seeking Monster
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Course: Canada | Foundry
Kirby Copy Ability: UFO | Sleep
Final Fantasy XIII Character: Vanille | Hope
Cuphead Boss: Werner Werman | Rumor Honeybottoms
Twisted Metal 2 Car: Axel | Spectre, Grasshopper
Jet Force Gemini Level: Eschebone | Cerulean
Final Fantasy X Character: Tidus | Kimahri
Ocarina of Time Dungeon: Forest Temple | Jabu-Jabu's Belly
Wii Sports Sport: Bowling | Boxing
Daytona USA Track: Expert | Beginner
Mario Party 4 Minigame (4p): Booksquirm | Mario Speedwagon
Kid Chameleon Helmet: Maniaxe | Eyeclops
StarCraft Species: Protoss | Zerg
Super Metroid Boss: Ridley (2) | Spore Spawn
Mario Kart Double Dash Track: Baby Park | Luigi Circuit, Dry Dry Desert
Bart's Nightmare Level: Bartman | Temple of Maggie
Link to the Past Boss: Helmasaur King | Moldorm
Super Punch-Out Opponent: Gabby Jay, Masked Muscle | Aran Ryan
California Games Event: Foot Bag | Surfing
Street Fighter II Stage: Boxer | Dictator
Doom II Weapon: Super Shotgun | Fists

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Kirby Super Star Game Mode Results

Revenge of Meta-Knight: 9 - 0
The Great Cave Offensive: 7 - 0
Milky Way Wishes: 4 - 0
Megaton Punch: 1 - 2
Dyna Blade: 0 - 2
Spring Breeze: 0 - 3
The Arena: 0 - 3
Samurai Kirby: 0 - 5
Gourmet Race: 0 - 6


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Bonus Discussion Topics

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Q2. What makes this game so popular?
Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?


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Best: Atorias the Abysswalker
Worst: Stray Demon

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Just the one time.

Q2. What makes this game so popular?
Being seemingly difficult in an era where games generally became easier definitely helped it. The exploration aspect most probably though. There are so many things to discover and find everywhere and while certain things have to be done in order, you are generally free to choose your path. Most of the difficult things are just about finding the right strategy. It's more trial and error, which makes things more satisfying.

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
It's probably in three digits (might be well into it too, I'm bad at estimating) hard carrying by a handful of places.

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
I've only played the first one so that.

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole f***ing ton of souls and you absolutely lost your s*** and rage quit?
I have never rage quit, but it can be annoying of course.

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
No, and I doubt I ever will. No death run sounds like no fun run.

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Voting Form:
Best: Black Dragon Kalameet
Worst: Bed of Chaos

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Best: Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. Just a good one on one fight that was tough but didn't feel unfair. Honorable mention to Ornstein and Smough. Cool fight even though I got stuck on it for like 3 days

Worst: The Four Kings. This fight is dumb, it's just a pitch black area, you lose a ring slot just to survive down there, way more than four of them spawn. There's nothing good about this fight. Dishonorable mention to the Bed of Chaos

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Once

Q2. What makes this game so popular?
The concept is good, it makes you feel really accomplished when you win, and the way they make you look for the lore is enticing to some people

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
I wouldn't be surprised if it was like, 500

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
This is the only one I've played

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
A couple times I walked off a cliff by mistake on my way back to a boss and lost a lot of souls. Those were the worst

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
No thanks

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Ceaseless Discharge

SpikeSetsFire posted...

Bonus Discussion Topics

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Q2. What makes this game so popular?
Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?

1. 10+
2. Combat, Bosses, Atmosphere, Lore
3. No idea. Never counted
4. Dark Souls
5. I have lost a ton of souls in every game in the series but nope I never rage quit anything
6. Nope

Best: Artorias, he's everything perfect to me in both the fight and his character/lore. One of my favorite bosses in any game really, him and Sif are such a good duo

Worst: Pinwheel I guess, I mean he's kind of funny but that's about it. Bed of Chaos is the obvious answer but the gimmick to that one is kind of hilarious to me

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Uhhhhh like 5 or so I think? And many more at least getting through to Anor Londo

Q2. What makes this game so popular?
The world is really fun and the lore is neat, and for being a big budget mainstream type of game it still maintains a sense of weirdness that's charming

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Ha

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
Dark Souls > Dark Souls 3 > Bloodborne > Demon's Souls > Dark Souls 2

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
Oh for sure

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
Ha

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Best: Great Grey Wolf Sif
Worst: Moonlight Butterfly

Dark Souls 2 is actually my favourite. >_>


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Best: Artorias
Worst: Demon Firesage

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Three. I did the platinum
Q2. What makes this game so popular?
At this point? The memes. However I think it's built on a really strong foundation of having an interesting world, incredibly fun and rewarding combat and the sense of community the game builds through Soapstone messages.
Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Oh man, that's a tough question, I want to say less than 1000 at least, because Cuphead killed me way more
Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
The first one. I tried 3, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
I don't think I ever actually ragequit the game. Anytime I raged at the game I kept trying again.
Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
No, but I did watch the WR no damage run which was crazy impressive.

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Best: Ornstein and Smaugh
Worst: Stray Demon

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Best: Ornstein and Smaugh
Worst: Bed of Chaos

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Bed of Chaos

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Best - O&S
Worst - Tough one. I'll pick the obvious one in Bed of Chaos but there's a few other stinkers!

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Don't even know at this point

Q2. What makes this game so popular?
Difficulty. Exploration. Unique (at the time) gameplay. A really well put together world.

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Hundreds.

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
This one, although DS3 is a really great finale.

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
Have not rage quit, but I've definitely lost some large amount of souls that hurt me deep.

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
Not officially, but I've played it so much I can get through most of the game without dying, and while I won't ever speedrun the game (running past 99% of enemies and using weird glitches and stuff) I can probably beat the game in a few hours if I want to.

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Bed of Chaos

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?- No idea, 20+ at this point, but I do not think it's up to 30.

Q2. What makes this game so popular?- Difficulty helped of course, but I think it's just because it's a really well-made game.

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?- Hundreds

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?- Dark Souls

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?- No, I get frustrated and disappointed, but never out of rage, and I've lost while holding millions of souls(it was late game like NG+3 or something.)

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?-No I have thought about it, but I don't have the time to put into a speed run, maybe in the future.

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Best: Quelaag, though that could be because my Sorcery build was ideal to murder her before I had spoiled just how batshit pyromancy was in 1- which she's very strong against. She was my primary source of Humanity farming for the longest time, not least of which because Blighttown itself was suffering and I couldn't bring myself to climb up out of it without grinding.

Worst: Bed of Chaos. Not even a contest for me. It speaks volumes when the ideal speedrun strategy is to glitch-firebomh it so you dont have to deal with the instadeaths and jank ledges/hitboxes... ick.

A1: Three times. First as a sorcery heavy build with Moonlight Spear, once as pyro fisticuffs, and once as a Havel serial fatroller.
A2: Build variety and great worldbuilding.
A3: Probably the upper double digits to low triple digits. I know Bed of Chaos, Crystal Cave, Blighttown, and Capra Demon all made me hate my facsimile of life.
A4: Souls 2, honestly, despite its detractors.
A5: Yes, but not in 1. The Shrine of Amana from 2 did... things to me. None of them were pleasant.
A6: No, I'd rather watch them than attempt it. I dont like the idea of having a personal run be completely set back after a time investment, no matter how short (which is why I'm currently taking a break from Sea of Thieves.)

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Best: O&S
Worst: Capra Demon

I fucking hate the close-quarters hope you're lucky when you roll bullshit that comes with the Capra demon. I've died more to that boss than any actually difficult one. I'd rather fight three bed of chaoses.

1. A few times. I've played it a lot but only beaten it like 3-4. My ADHD makes it hard for me to beat stuff like this more than a couple times without losing that sweet dopamine hit.

2. So many different ways to make a character. The lore is incredible. I love ambient world building and discovering small details through weapon/item descriptions. It's like a treasure hunt. I think the community can be pretty great, too. I've only had one or two bad experiences.

3. So many. Several hundred.

4. I've only beaten DS1, but I've played a lot of DS3. I like DS1 more.

5. Yes. Quite a few times.

6. Speedrunning and stuff like it holds zero interest for me.

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Pinwheel

Artorias is easily one of the best FROM bosses IMO. Absolutely loved learning that fight, extremely tough but fair. I'll go with Pinwheel for reasons similar to Bane.

Q1. ...It's either once or twice. I forget. I think once and then a fair way into a second playthrough? Think I was considering going for the platinum but then decided "nah."

Q2. The combat is just (usually) very fun and it's very fulfilling and rewarding to run into a fight that just completely overwhelms you but then slowly learn the mechanics of the fight and watch as things start making sense and click together until all of a sudden you're the one who is dominating the fight. It (usually) has little to do with stats or weapons, just your skill/knowledge growing and it's a great feeling.

Q3. many times. Surely triple digits.

Q4. Bloodborne > Sekiro (if it counts) > Dark Souls 3 >= Dark Souls 1 > Dark Souls 2.

Really like all of them and the Dark Souls trio in particular I had rotating places constantly as I played them. DS3 and DS1 are about equal I think and I think I'd give the edge to either over 2 most of the time. Bloodborne was my entry point to the series and remains my favorite but Sekiro's gameplay is absolutely sublime and an easy #2.

Q5. Have a died with a lot of souls? many times. Has it made me rage? yeah. Quit? I... don't think so. But also I may have ended a session maybe on the assumption that I was clearly not in the right headspace/tired/tilted or whatever. In the spirit of the question though I think my answer is a no because I definitely don't believe I ever ragequit without going through that kind of self-assessment first.

Q6. Nah, I'm not nearly that good.

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Best: Gonna go with O&S. There are other good ones of course, but O&S are a wall and some of the closest the series gets to straight-up character action.
Worst: Hydra. I was going to say Pinwheel for being an absolute wuss at the end of a pretty scary area, but then I remembered having to find the perfect spot to not get shot by Hydra, enticing it to throw down its heads in melee range, having bad water movement without that ring, and the fact that there's a big death hole that you can only kind of see that it camps behind.

Q1. I was somewhere in NG++ when I finished I believe. Unless that only counts as one playthrough.
Q2. The series is most famous for being hard, but it has many strong aspects: Level design, atmosphere, lore, enemy design, RPG depth, action combat design, flexible gameplay styles, mulitplayer integration...
Q3. I'm sure I died a lot in general.
Q4. Favorite Dark Souls? I've only completed 1 and 2 at this point, so... 1.
Q5. It's very demoralizing to lose souls or waste resources. I completed my playthrough though.
Q6. I am in no way skilled or determined enough for that type of challenge run.

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Best: Ornstein and Smough
Worst: Bed of Chaos

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I think Pinwheel is fine, in theory. Honestly just needs more HP and damage to be a real boss fight.

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Bed of Chaos. Any other answer is objectively incorrect

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Pinwheel just needs to git gud. Learn to roll and parry and stuff.

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"Isq, that's low" a friend of mine mentioned. "What, the deaths?" "Yeah." "You've seen my bow build in 3, right?" "...Say no more."

I play entirely too cautiously through these, apparently.

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Best: Great Grey Wolf Sif
Worst: Bed of Chaos

Q1. 3 times
Q2. How good the combat feels, cool af boss fights
Q3. Hundreds, easily.
Q4. Bloodborne. But if I have to pick a Souls-exclusive, then 3.
Q5. My first time through, yeah. I rented the game because I didn't know if the difficulty would drive me away, and it did once. But then I decided to start over as a different class and give it one more shot, and I ran through the entire game in a matter of days. So good.
Q6. Nah, that'd probably ruin it for me. I'm still not great at it so that'd just frustrate me.

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Best: Ornstein and Smough
Worst: Hellkite Dragon

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Bed of Chaos
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KamikazePotato posted...

I think Pinwheel is fine, in theory. Honestly just needs more HP and damage to be a real boss fight.

It's not just that. His AI is really not aggressive enough to be a real threat on his own (even if he actually clones). So it's not surprising that they casually put 6 or so of him along with never ending tiny skeletons later.
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Also Hellkite and Hydra aren't bosses, but if you count them then a bunch of other things should qualify as well.
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Best: Ornstein and Smough. A 2 on 1 fight that never really felt unfair.
Worst: Bed of Chaos. The ONLY good part was that the parts of the floor that fell away, stayed like that in repeat runs to it.

Q1. How many times have you beaten this game?
Once, though slowly playing through the remaster now.

Q2. What makes this game so popular?
Not really sure. A difficult game that doesn't hold your hand, where most deaths actually feel like you learn something.

Q3. How many times do you think "You Died"?
Easily over 100 lol

Q4. What's your favourite Dark Souls game?
Haven't played through 3 yet, but I prefer the first to the second.

Q5. Have you ever died and then died again losing a whole fucking ton of souls and you absolutely lost your shit and rage quit?
Didn't rage QUIT, but definitely raged after I lost close to 100k souls and then died before getting back.

Q6. Have you ever attempted a 'speed run' or 'no death run' of this game?
Absolutely not and never will lol

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I would like to change my Best answer to Ornstein and Smough after further consideration

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Best: Artorias
Worst: Centipede Demon

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