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What's the best combat encounter in a game ever?

Lazing Dirk

Arcane
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Dec 12, 2016
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Shooting up your ride
Oh wait I know, the end of NWN2 where you get the opportunity to side with the Big Bad and kill those NPCs you've had to put up with the entire game, after loading them down with junk and taking their best stuff. Bonus points if Neeshka is still alive. Does involve actually playing that far though. Then doing the same in the expansion, with added soul eating.

It's hard to think of any specific encounters since a cool encounter the first time around might end up being an unmemorable stomping with another character, and many combat encounters are memorable only because of who or what you're fighting, rather than the actual combat. I'm not sure if that really counts; IF ONLY THE OP ACTUALLY POSTED SOMETHING. That big base in Underrail (Warehouse Block Beta) was generally good fun though; trying to sneak around and pick off lone enemies, setting up traps for ones that might surprise you, then finishing off the rest. As far as turn-based combat goes, Underrail is probably my favourite of the ones I've played. It was very good at giving you lots of ways to prevail with multiple effective builds and playstyles, and being able to kill mobs far stronger than you with some creativity (stealth kills, using traps and chokepoints, ducking in and out of cover, etc). Its combat might not be the flashiest or most nerve-wracking or the most complex, but certainly consistently good fun, and rarely ever felt unfair.
 

Syme

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
325
I always loved it when Baldur's Gate 1+2 threw a balanced enemy party at you rather than a couple of big monsters and/or hordes of minions. The mercs right before Sarevok, the Iron Throne, the Twisted Rune, the hidden slaver mansion in the Temple District, the final seal in Watcher's Keep etc. etc., they were all really great fights.
 

typical user

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
957
Attacking prison in Jagged Alliance 2. I blew up wall with C4 and the sprinklers started to rain mustard gas. My mercs were decked out like some spec-ops unit, everyone put gas masks on and an ex-merc from A.I.M. mercenary darknet organization began an assault with elite troops.

Or attacking that rich people town in Arulco, wounding Magic and realizing I have no medpacks - I had to call a helicopter from Drassen for evac. I don't remember if I save-scummed since Magic was bleeding out.

Or actually slaughtering whole of Shark Club in Fallout 2. It starts with innocence, I sleep with Angela Bishop, plant explosives on Boss' safe and one of the goons dashes to check all that noise. Then it turned into blood bath. The climax was when bouncers decided to join in, a stray bullet hit one of the prostitutes on the street which lead to a three party war between me and my squad whole gang mob and pimps with their bitches armed with shivs. It was surreal but the amount of death surely went as stuff of legends in the regular townfolk.

Non-RPG I think it is the final fight between Kain & Raziel.
 

Andhaira

Arcane
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
1,868,966
If by best you mean most memorable:

Off the top of my head:

-Final fight in Star Trail. Did not expect to fight a fucking DRAGON. Great encounter, great artwork and animation on the dragon.
-Sewer water-dragon fight in Shadows over Riva
-Firkraag fight in BGII (Twisted Rune is a runner up)
-All demon fights in Ultima 8
-Dark Sun 1 beginning, the arena battle. Honestly one of THE BEST ways to start off a party based, turn base crpg.
-First battle against Nighthawks in Return to Betrayal at Krondor. Did not expect them to get the fuck back up! (and I had already read the novels at the time; this nighthawk undead shit wasn't hinted at there!)
-Many battles in Final Fantasy Tactics, especially ones in which you have control of Agrias Oaks (love the holy knight job!)
 
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Raghar

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
22,500
Lavos, in Chrono Cross is hard and you have to make an specific sequences of color moves. Its more memorable than hard.

Any boss in Battletoads (NES), Ninja Gaiden or Batman, can be a good choice :)
That village elder from Crono Cross was more memorable fight. Lavos exploded too fast. Perhaps grabbing weak starting weapons would be smarter idea.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Fighting the Trolls and Ogres in the Old Rope Guild in Pool of Radiance, especially when you didn't expect them to be there and especially when your party is only 1st level and you still manage to come out victorious.

Nice nostalgia post, complete with pink highlighting for the fag-factor.

Because in basically every RPG out there, from pre-PoR to the current gen, from god-tier to shit-tier, there is stuff that you didn't expect to be there, that you can run into at first level, and from which you can emerge victorious.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Lilura's crusade is no longer for the Renaissance, but to combat the Golden Age nostalgia.

Crusade? I don't think so. If I wanted to launch a crusade, I'd start making alts and spam the living fuck out of a buzzfeed like reddit.

Combative? No, I just judged someone's post as nothing more than nostalgic.

But if you want to take me on, please do. (It's better than pretending that I have an insidious agenda or am the only one on the 'Dex with an agenda, as you've been trying to do lately.)

iow, pick a Golden Age RPG and write about its great combat. Go into a bit of detail if it's possible. Demonstrate the greatness of Golden Age combat. Show us that "Golden Age" fans deserve to be regarded as hardcore, monocled and grognard, and that "nostalgia-goggled ponce" does not apply.

And then I'll throw Jagged Alliance 2 back in your face and we can call it a day.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Firkraag fight in BGII

Some nasty SCS stuff:

firkraag.jpg


beholders.jpg


adamantite%2Bvampire.jpg


trolls.jpg


marilith%2Band%2Bnabassu.jpg


heart%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bdemon%2Bglabrezu.jpg


lavok.jpg
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Granbretan
The fiery Skeleton King of the Tombs of Ephyrea in Severance stands out as a good scrap.

Moridor's Box Demon from Torment was a nice callback to an early encounter and quest as well as a nice test for my melee Nameless.

The big rumble with the red cult leader in ToEE where St. Cuthbert and Iuz turn up at the end was pretty raw as I remember.

First time I got utterly raped by Trolls in northlands of BaK, saved by a half dead Owyn using the tuning fork that I'd totally forgot about at first.

Getting mobbed by legions of Skeleton Warriors under Darkmoon in EotB 2, that was tense as fuck even wi an exported from 1 party.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Moridor's Box Demon from Torment was a nice callback to an early encounter and quest as well as a nice test for my melee Nameless.

12th level Warrior TNO has 3.5 ApR, 25 Strength, 25 Constitution and Grandmastery. Drops like a sack of shit.

The big rumble with the red cult leader in ToEE where St. Cuthbert and Iuz turn up at the end was pretty raw as I remember.

Max Power Attack Fragarach is where it's at for that one. In Co8 + alpha of Temple+ Iuz gets 9 attacks.

 
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Generic-Giant-Spider

Guest
-Many battles in Final Fantasy Tactics, especially ones in which you have control of Agrias Oaks (love the holy knight job!)

I agree with this. As gay as the Final Fantasy games can be, Tactics is the only one I ever liked. If you count Vagrant Story you can include that too.

But Tactics had some really great fights. Dorter City Slums being the welcoming newbie rapewagon and even has the distinction of having its own theme music, the Execution Site, the duel at Lionel Castle, that huge multi-fight against the Knights Templar.

It's too bad you can powerblast that game so easily and completely destroy its challenge in a couple hours if you truly want to.
 

Neanderthal

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Granbretan
Moridor's Box Demon from Torment was a nice callback to an early encounter and quest as well as a nice test for my melee Nameless.

13th level Warrior TNO has 3.5 ApR, 25 Strength, 25 Constitution and Grandmastery. Drops like a sack of shit.

Didn't have 25 con, too much for a fairly balanced build, but I had almost as good a regeneration rate thanks to Justifier and Lost Incarnation tattoo. Still fairly tough fight.
 
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So many battles in ToEE were good. My characters had hit max Level 10 long before I got there, so I went nuts with crafting and enchanting. My wizard and sorcerer plowed the whole field with AoE in two rounds, and my two enlarged polearm masters (fighter/rogues) tripped and whipped Hedrack. Even Iuz got tripped, lol. I think I killed him in 3 rounds. I don't even remember Cuthbert showing up.

On another ToEE play-through I was basically stalemated with the final boss, whom eventually tipped the scales in their favor by summoning a Glabrezu demon! I nearly shit my pants. What was more incredible, was my mage had a turn before it could act. I cast a dominate spell on it, and it worked! The demon shredded the fungus lady in a few rounds. So awesome. I'll always remember waltzing into the gatehouse at the temple for the first time and finding 30 guys waiting for me, lol. There was also the battle with the Balor that I won by the thinnest margin by using solid fog and magic missile. Such a close call.

Then there is Baldur's Gate series of course. The upstairs Slaver Mansion, the mercenary groups in the inn & sewers. Firkraag and liches. I had some really crazy ones where I pushed my luck with my wild mage accidentally gated a demon in. It chased us all outside, at which point our 3 way brawl became a 4 way disaster when the Cowleds showed up to join the fray.
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
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Free Village
Moridor's Box Demon from Torment was a nice callback to an early encounter and quest as well as a nice test for my melee Nameless.

13th level Warrior TNO has 3.5 ApR, 25 Strength, 25 Constitution and Grandmastery. Drops like a sack of shit.

lul @ playing PS:T without spreading points out into WIS and CHA, at least.
 

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