With a series so famed for the
brutal difficulty of its bosses, it was impossible not to include a fight from
Dark Souls on this list. There are a lot to choose from, and I am lucky in that
I have only played the first game in the series to its fullest and so don’t
have to pick out of a much wider pool of excellent monsters.
With that in mind, for this list
I was tempted to pick Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, because it required a thorough
knowledge of mechanics being used throughout the game. With the difficulty of
the fight itself, Gwyn serves as a fitting final boss to conclude the
adventure.
However, as I have already gushed
about the use of boss mechanics to sum-up and test game mastery from the player
in my entry about The End, I have decided to go with Ornstein and Smough.
There’s not much else to say about this battle that hasn’t been said in other
analyses of the fight, but I will certainly try.
What I enjoyed most about the
fight was the flow of the gameplay itself. Constantly dodging attacks from both
adversaries proves for a terrifying and exciting experience; Ornstein attacks
with his speed and powerful lightning attacks, while Smough assaults you with a
slower, but devastating barrage of attacks with a large range. This results in
an intense fight that requires mastery of dodge-rolling or a hell of a lot of
blocking power. I remember reading about this battle and thinking how screwed I
would be when I got to this point in the game, but what I didn’t expect was how
much I would enjoy the actual fight itself.
The intensity of the fight never
lets up in true Dark Souls style, and this only serves to make one feel a
massive sense of reward upon coming out the other side victorious. I remember
the immense feeling of catharsis from the first time I beat Ornstein and Smough
and it has rarely been topped to this day.
It helps with this boss battle
that the gold armour of your adversaries makes for a cooler look that gives one
a sense of intimidation when you first encounter them. On top of the grand
aesthetic of their massive surroundings in Anor Londo, the sense of scale that
you can get from this battle is particularly fitting and worthy of merit.
I wouldn’t recommend Dark Souls
to anyone but the most experienced of gamers and those willing to trudge
through adversity for great reward, but for those dedicated players, the game that
serves up this boss battle is an artful and rewarding experience that most
wouldn’t hesitate to say is worth the difficulty.
