Coooooool Fight Ideas

[Duelle]

Here's something I put together for the Chrono Trigger thread. I still want this to happen. :O

Crossover Event - Chrono Trigger

Premise: A mysterious man draped in a cloak is causing trouble around the capital cities. Those who cross paths with the man get the impression that he is looking for something, or someone. Upon realizing his quarry is nowhere near, he'll vanish to parts unknown. The local authorities in the city states have placed their forces on alert for this individual. Adventurers, as is always the case, get dragged in as well. This would be split over three quests.

Quests

His name was... - The reporters of the Mythril Eye are working on a story about the disturbances caused by a mysterious traveller that comes and goes as the wind. One such reporter would like you to help investigate where the man has been sighted to help piece the puzzle together.

A radical dreamer - The best lead so far on the location of the man comes from Aleport, where a girl named Sara/Schala seems to have been attacked by the mysterious traveller.

The Black Wind Blows - The man has been seen entering Pharos Sirius. While unaware of his intentions there, a dangerous person entering such a place can mean nothing good. Intercept the man and stop him!

Battlefield: Beacon Chamber (the place where you'd fight Siren during a normal PS run)
Party Size: 8 players

Boss: Magus
HP: 666,666
MP: ????

Mechanics

Realignment - Magus will take full damage from one of three types of damage (melee, physical ranged, magic). The other two types of damage deal 40% less than normal. Is immediately followed by one attack that affects the whole party.
--Fire II - Deals fire damage. Used when Magus resists all but Melee attacks.
--Lightning II - Deals lightning damage. Used when Magus resists all but Magic attacks.
--Ice II - Deals ice damage. Used when Magus resists all but Physical Ranged attacks.

Dark Mist - Magus teleports from his current location to another part of the room. 3 seconds after he teleports, dark mist will form within a 3 yalm radius of where he stood and triple in size over 9 seconds, then slowly dissipate/shrink over 30 seconds. Inflicts blind, poison, infirmity and deals damage over time to anyone it comes in contact with.

Hell Geyser - Place a debuff that reduces the max HP of Magus' current target by 20%. Stackable.

Dark Bomb - Marks two party members, and after 4 seconds both party members will detonate dealing damage to all party members within 5 yalms. Will detonate early if the affected party members move while dark bomb is active. Early detonations deal increased damage.

Black Hole - Magus teleports to the center of the room, drawing in everyone to his position and placing the weight debuff on the group. Instantly dissipates any Dark Mist present on the battlefield.

Ice Beacon/Fire Beacon - Used when below 45% HP. Marks one player with Fire Beacon and one player with Ice Beacon. If the ice and fire beacons are within 10 yalms of each other, a tether will form that reduces their movement speed by an additional 10% and increases the damage dealt by Dark Matter by 300% and increases its area of effect to the whole battlefield.

Dark Matter - Immediately cast after Black Hole. Deals massive damage to anyone within 15 yalms of Magus. Ignores all damage mitigation effects and immunities.

Raven Scythe - Magus will send a shadow version of himself towards a random party member, damaging them and knocking them back.

Omega Flare - One-shots the whole raid.

Encounter

The main mechanics for the group to deal with are the management of Hell Geyser stacks on the tank (2 stacks would force a tank switch) and positioning the boss and the party away from Dark Mist. Ranged and casters in particular are at risk of being knocked back into the mist by Raven Scythe unless positioned properly. Raven Scythe ignores party members afflicted by Dark Bomb as well as the current tank.

Dark Bomb adds the challenge of careful positioning since once a party member is afflicted with Dark Bomb, they cannot move without making the bomb detonate prematurely.

Barrier switches are designed as they are because you'd otherwise make BLMs the only viable class for the fight. Each time Magus uses Realignment, the associated attack is used on the whole group, regardless of their distance from him (so if you get hit by Fire II after Magus uses Realignment, you know he's taking full damage only from melee attacks), etc.

The Black Hole + Dark Matter combo is simple in concept but requires you to get away as fast as you can, because Dark Matter will one-shot non-tanks.

Once Magus gets below 45%, he'll throw in something extra for Black Hole phases. He'll mark two party members with the debuffs Ice Beacon and Fire Beacon. The two beaconed players have a tether between them so long as they are within 10 yalms of each other. This means both players now have to make sure they are far apart that it breaks the tether before Magus finishes casting Dark Matter, otherwise it's an instant wipe.

Once he gets down to 5% he'll erect a barrier that reduces damage taken from all sources and slowly begins casting Omega Flare.

Rewards:

Dreamstone Sword (Gladiator's Arm)
Dreamseeker (Parivir's Arm; yes, this is a katana)
Dream Reaper (Marauder's Arm)
Spectra Spear (Lancer's Arm)
Hero's Blade (Fencer's Arm; a rapier)
Crisis Knuckles (Pugilist's Arm)
Prism Daggers (Rogue's Arm)
Stardust Bow (Archer's Arm)
Wondershot (Musketeer's Arm; a pistol)
Spectral Staff (Conjurer's Arm)
Rainbow Rod (Thaumaturge's Arm)
Chronology of Zeal (Arcanist's Arm)

Notes

- I know this won't happen because SE decided to do the dumb "Magus lost his memory" thing in the DS re-release of Chrono Trigger.
- I couldn't decide on what timers/cooldowns should be used between each ability. Ideally Dark Mist should linger enough that it only fully dissipates once Magus has placed a new patch of mist in a different part of the battlefield.
- Fire/Ice/Lightning II should not deal really heavy damage, but should be something to keep the healers on their toes, as it would be incidental damage with the chance to kill someone if they get careless.
- Dark Bomb's damage would need to be tweaked. I'd want it to be heavy damage so that the healers have to tend to the players affected by it, but seeing that movement is key to the fight and this one ability is there to hinder movement, I'm not sure if it should be reconceived as something else. Otherwise you have the chances of Dark Bomb followed by Black Hole + Dark Matter. BH+DM forces the group to run away to prevent the wipe, but both party members affected by DB would have to move, forcing a premature detonation while everyone is clumped together; this would in effect also wipe the raid or put them dangerously low in HP. I guess DB could be changed so that its damage is spread between affected targets like Imperuim from Syrcus Tower...
- The rewards would obviously have to be connected to the Chrono Series, which does mean taking stuff from Chrono Cross to fill the weapon gaps while still keeping it in theme with Magus. I took the liberty of adding weapons for Parivir, Fencer and Musketeer.
-I havent written a full story on this, but: Magus ended up in Eorzea during his search for Sara/Schala. He hears of a girl named Sara/Schala that lives in Aleport, but finds out it is not who he seeks. He learns of the massive corrupted crystals that are still imbedded inside Pharos Sirius and devices a way to use their power to reopen the dimensional gate that would take him to the next realm. Much like his encounter with the gang in Chrono Trigger, the adventurers interrupt him as he's trying to finish his big spell. Things end better since the whole thing was basically a big misunderstanding, with Magus gaining what he needs to move on to the next world while you get a nitfy weapon.

---------------------------------

This aside, class callouts could be a fun encounter mechanic, so long as the effects of the callouts are balanced so that raids don't stack one job and exclude another. Here's how I'd to them:

◾Dragoons, show me how high you can jump! (all DRGs in the raid jump but instead of hitting the boss, land in place and take falling damage)
◾Paladins, I've heard you can withstand any attack. Show me. (boss becomes immune to damage)
◾Warriors, give in to the beast! (all WARs in the raid go berserk, attacking both friend and foe)
◾Bards, you wanted to dedicate yourselves to singing. Your wish is granted. (BRD MP is set to 0, and forces the BRD to sing Fool's Requiem, draining the BRD's HP while also damaging the raid)
◾White Mages, let's make those heals more interesting! (direct heals do damage equal to the amount they would normally heal)
◾Black Mages, you've meddled with powers beyond your understanding... (meteors rain from the skies, continuously damaging the raid)
◾Summoners, let's see how you like bigger egis! (triples the size of summoned Egi, increasing the Egis' damage and turning them on the raid)
◾Scholars, show me the power of your faeries! (boss is affected by both Fey Glow and Fey Light as well as a damage absorbtion shield)

And because I can:
◾Red Mages, a fate worse than death awaits you... (all RDMs in the raid get a damage down debuff that reduces their damage dealt by 99% and the boss gains Haste and Refresh)

[Azurr]

NPC boss team to fight with skills that rival those of actual players, like if you go after the healers the tank and dps will go all out defending them, will be able to take 'aggro' making you unable to deal damage to anyone but them. They will be able to use combos as well, so a take on moogle fight but with more random chance involved. Could be bad guys like garleans or good ones like the job/guild masters. Would up the challenge if everyone on NPC team could heal one another, not just healers. If you bring all of them too close they will wipe the PCs with the combo, so flaring isnt the answer xD

[TessaJalloh]

Doom Train.

that is all.

[Morningstar1337]

I'd like to see more dungeons that rely on DPS than the tanks or healers (IE: The three expert dungeons we have.) As well as dungeons that force a strict no-speedrun policy with gates / etc.

I'm pretty sure that last one is covered with Satasha HM and to a lesser extent, Snowcloak's gates.

Anyway I want to see a dungeon based on the constellations of our world. A wall-less (as in the walls would be invisible) labyrinth with a beautiful backdrop of stars and nebulae and mobs based on the constellations.

I also want to see a clockpunk dungeon (WP dosne;t count, the gears weren;t visible enough) with lifesize mammot versions of the 5 races and a boss that would turn the party into windup mammots (complete with mechanics such as a timer that renders you unable to act if it runs out)

On a non dungeon front I would also like a Primal boss rush. From Ifrit all the way to Bahamut, and every primal in between.

[HakuroDK]

The following "Cooooooool" fight ideas I have:

Boss Teams:

-The Wolf and the Raven: A fight against Nael Van Darnus and Gaius Van Baelsar simultaneously. Unlocked via Wandering Minstrel
-The Invasion Force: A fight against Rhitatyn Sas Arvina, Livia Sas Junius, and Nero Tol Scaeva. Unlocked via Wandering Minstrel
-A Dance of Song and Shadow: A fight against Siren and Diabolos. Unlocked via Wandering Minstrel
-An Unlikely Alliance: A fight against Gilgamesh, Ultros, and Typhon. Unlocked via Wandering Minstrel

Powered-Up Bosses:

-Ultima Perfectus: A fight against an Ultima Weapon that has absorbed the abilities of Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, Leviathan, Ramuh, and Shiva. Unlocked via Wandering Minstrel
-It's Morphing Time!: A fight against Gilgamesh with all eight arms. Unlocked via Hildibrand quests.

Vintage Bosses:

-The Blighted Despot: A fight against Scarmiglione.
-The Drowned King: A fight against Cagnazzo.
-Delta Attack: A fight against Sandy, Cindy, and Mindy.
-The Empress of the Winds: A fight against Barbariccia
-The Autarch of Flame: A fight against Rubicante

-The All-Seeing: A fight against Catastrophe
-Death Incarnate: A fight against Necrophobe
-The Cursed Tome: A fight against Byblos
-The Vile Book: A fight against Apanda

[kyuven]

I'd like a boss that changes attacks and patterns based on group performance. If it's taking a lot of damage very fast, it'll switch to a defensive posture. If the DPS is lower but the tanks are mitigating or soaking a lot of damage, it'll switch to an offensive posture. If the healers are overhealing, it spawns adds to deal with them or throws a debuff. If too many rezzes are cast, he saps their MP.
That's just a half-baked example, but basically a fight that would require the group to have control over their roles.
But really I'd like a fight where MP and TP management matter more than for just a prolonged DPS race.

[Kenji1134]

In RIFT there was an amusing boss fight which could be replicated here.

8 man dungeon.
You fight the boss in an arena, filled with "spectators" who hate you for whatever reason.
At 75% the spectators "start getting restless", and begin throwing cans (low damage and 2 second stun), rotten tomatoes (9 second dot), and banana peels (ground effect that acts like Shiva's Permafrost).
At 25% the boss goes immune and forces the person with the highest hate into a 1-on-1 cage match. (Lets hope your tanks did not just die)
Now the fight splits into 2...

In the cage: The boss begins using line, cone, and circle aoes, no autoattacks. Your job is to simply dodge everything for 20 seconds. If you die, the boss gets a 20% damage and mitigation buff for beating you.

In the arena: The crowd starts throwing rocks (aoe raid damage, hits everyone within 5m of the target, dont stack)

In the cage: After 20 seconds of dodging, the boss (slightly demoralized) takes on a defensive stance and begins charging a "near" oneshot attack. They must be hit 10 times within the next 30s to break their concentration... However they also gain a damage reflection buff which deals the same amount of damage back to the player (hence you want a tank for this). If you dont land 10 hits in time, you are dropped to 1% health, and thrown out of the arena, unable to return. And the boss also get their 20% victory buff.

In the arena: The crowd gets downright mean, and starts dropping from the stands to attack you. They dont hit hard, but there is a LOT of them, your 2nd tank better be on their toes.

In the cage: The boss, now quite demoralized and angry, blows up the cage (dealing 3k damage), throwing everyone to the sides of the arena and wiping out all of the adds.
The boss now has a -20% damage and mitigation buff, but attacks random players. The boss also occasionally runs to the middle of the arena to pick up a piece of the broken cage, effectively a spike, and charges someone with it, impaling them onto the wall. (Unavoidable Knockback to Wall, Small dot, target is bound for 30 sec) After 30s, he will go for another spike.

At that point, just finish off the boss.

[Bucy]

Just today, during a T8 run (SCoB Turn 3), I had a thought after triggering a mine into a chain reaction of me setting off every mine; it would be interesting to have a fight that uses motion as a key feature. Utilizing fight mechanics and job abilities, it would be great if we had a fight that has a player or players hurtling around to be maybe used as a weapon to damage a boss or win a fight. Fight mechanics like bombs laid out in sequence, player abilities like SS, adlo, cover or HG, could make for a dazzling fight.

[Invision]

i would like to see an area style fight with endless mobs and bosses increasing difficulty each round you complete. maybe have a chest you can open after every few rounds to buy buffs for the next phase. make it interesting where the mages cant revive players unless they buy the buff from the box, maybe add unique weapons only found and used there, or let us go nuts with dual axes with war.

[Shurrikhan]

Doom Train.

that is all.

^

Train fights, or any actually entertaining and less gimmicky (or gimmicks and waits smoothed out into enjoyable gameplay instead) Imperial base assaults, complete with multiple routes of execution / different strategies for completion. Preferably both at once.

That said, I don't want a fight against some train's face. I want a fight on and in an awesome train, that also happens to fight the train itself in a sense, preferably with multiple ways of doing this.
Imagine, you can hope onto the roof of the train in order to skip traps and adds within, but must deal with dodging (or be nearly one-shotted and knocked back into the next roof opening/gap down the line), and occasionally blast away unavoidable obstacles via strong abilities comboed in preparation off the dodgable obstacles and instant-cast Flares/Holy's, etc. You can derail a car onto a parallel route moments before another team destroys an engine or power source within the train as to overtake several more cars and jump back across before the train's momentum gives way, reprogram certain armory or robotics cars, and face off mini-bosses and the main mechanism of the train (possibly at multiple times, learning from your team's actions and possibly requiring equipment for yourselves or additional sabotage onto it each time), ending finally in the boss room (likely the front of the train, with a giant bomb).

Okay, that's a pipedream, for sure, but whatever.

I'd also like to see a dungeon at some point that both requires and allows for many teams of less than 4 players, such as in a... jungle prison escape (?), where teams need not only defeat their enemies, but also, for the opposite teams, to simply survive against an intensive period of attack while conditions outside are changed by other teams.

Or hey, during a Imperial Assault dungeon, maybe have equippable magiteck that makes each role a bit more versatile and capable of surviving in small, well-coordinated duos... Kind of like an incredibly powerful trait--choose wisely.