Oh look at that! A blog post from the Alchemist of Gamespot. Did you know I'll be getting my own game soon? It's set for release after Atelier Ayesha hits Western shores. Pre-order from GAME now to unlock Yui Hirasawa K-ON! as a party member. Alternatively pre-order from Gamestop to ensure you don't get a pre-owned copy when you pay full price for a first-hand one.
Anyway, on to the most important stuff. I'm well aware of the fact that I said I wouldn't be updating this blog until February and March, but I recently discovered that I do in fact have exams, so I figured it would be a good idea to write something right now, in case I don't have time over the course of the next few months. That and the fact I was planning to make a blog post on my birthday too, which isn't too far away. Originally this was going to be a gaming update blog post, but I don't feel like rushing one out here with only a handful of games to talk about. So instead I decided to turn this into a blog post about Bosses. 
The last time I did something like this, I chose BGM tracks from particularly sad moments seen in various games. This time I'm skipping the BGM tracks altogether and just looking at the actual event itself, as well as a little bit of background information about the game in question.
As with last time I should warn you in advance that this blog post will feature major spoilers for the following games:
- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War5
- Ninja Gaiden (2004)
- Panzer Dragoon Orta
- DoDonPachi Resurrection
- Ikaruga
***Everything beyond this point may be considered spoiler matierial.***
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War - Solo Wing Pixy
Click the spoiler below for a synopsis of the Ace Combat Zero story and the events that lead up to the boss encounter.
***SPOILER*** For those unfamiliar with the series, the majority of Ace Combat titles occur in a fictional world known as Stangereal. This alternate Earth of sorts has numerous similarities to our own world in terms of its geography and global political climate.
In the early 1990's the Belkan Republic found itself in dire straits when a national economic crisis threatened to destabilize the country. In effort to reduce the impact of the problem, the Belkan goverment turned to its finance minsters for a solution. They proposed that the Republic contract its borders and relinquish some of its land to the surrounding nations, the Osean Federation and Union of Greater Yuktobanian Republics. However this did not have the desired effect. The crisis worsened as Osea and Yuktobania greedily swallowed up the land that was left behind while a new nation; the Republic of Ustio; was born in what was originally Southern Belka. In the years leading up to 1995 a right-wing extremist political party rose to power within the Belkan government. Shortly after getting into office, the First Chancellor began spending what little was left of Belka's treasury on its military.
On May 31st 1995, without warning the Belkan Heer Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine launched a full-scale invasion of Ustio. Caught by surprise by the unexpected numbers of the Luftwaffe and the Belkans' newly-developed laser weapons, the Ustian Air Force was swept aside and the Ustian capital; Directus; was quickly overwhelmed by the Belkan ground forces.
With their backs against the wall, the Ustian Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up a plan to secure a supply line running through Ustio, Osea and Yuktobania, and launch a major counterattack with the aid of the other two countires. In order to bring their plan to fruition, they determined it would be necessary to strengthen the ranks of the Ustian Air Force by recruiting foreign mercenary pilots. And so they did. And among those pilots was Larry 'Solo Wing Pixy' Faulke, a fighter pilot renowned for having returned alive from a mission after losing one wing, hence his moniker.
Chosen to lead Pixy's flight was Cipher, another skilled mercenary ace and a man known for his sheer ruthlessness. Over the course of the war Cipher and Pixy; or the 'Galm team' as they came to be known; assisted in the acquistion of the supply route, as well as the liberation of the capital. Eventually the two met a fellow mercenary pilot, and a member of the Crow team: Patrick 'PJ' James. PJ's ideals about using fighting as a means to secure peace conflicted with Pixy's own view on war being little more than a struggle between powers, a struggle caused by the presence of borders. PJ; still young and naive; was not convinced that war didn't have some noble meaning behind it.
As the war began nearing its end, something happened that shook the international community to its core, and lead to the eventuall fall out between PIxy and PJ. In late 1995 the allied forces of Ustio, Osea and Yuktobania pushed the Belkans back across the border into their own country. Having lost most of their aces to the UAF mercenaries, the Luftwaffe was in no position to offer much resistance to the bombing raids of the Osean Maritime Defence Force, as it struck city after city until it reached Sudentor, the capital of Belka. Ciper, Pixy and PJ were chosen to lead one of the escort flights for the bombers. Intially under the impression that the Oseas were there for a precision bombing mission, Pixy and PJ were mortified to learn that the bombers were carpet bombing the city. PJ's ideal of war being a just means to an end was shattered in the blink of an eye, and Pixy's view on the role of borders in the facilitation of human conflict was only reinforced.
By this point, reports had come in that Belkan troops stationed in Central Belka had been giving up their posts and willingly letting Allied troops pass through into Northern Belka. Unwilling to accept the possibility of foreigners setting foot on Belkan soil, the Belkan military leaders ordered the detonation of six nuclear bombs on the cities in Central Belka.
A mission to intercept a flight of Belkan cargo planes came in. Ciper, Pixy and PJ took off to carry out their mission. During the operation, a bright flash of light followed by a deafening roar filled the airspace over Central Belka. Realizing what had happened, Pixy found himself unable to accept being part of one of the warring parties, and went missing in action.
Shortly after the detonations, Belka officially surrendered and peace talks that greatly favoured the allied nations began. However behind closed doors, soldiers who had since grown disillusioned by the war began mustering their strength. Not long after the signing of the peace treaty, an extremely well-armed terrorist organization known as 'A World With No Boundaries' emerged with its leader vowing to remove borders from the world and thus put an end to war forever through the 'sacred power of creation'. Having secured five V2 ICBM's; each with the power to sink a continent; AWWNB announced its plan to end conflict by eradicating most human life across the globe, with the intention of destroying every barrier that existed, whether it be physical or political and forcing those left behind to band together in order to survive.
Cipher and PJ were chosen to attack the Avalon Dam, where the terrorists had built a secret base from which to launch the ICBM's. After successfully destroying the nukes, Cipher and PJ began their return home, only to be ambushed over the same area where the nukes were detonated, by none other than Solo Wing. Almost immediately after running into Pixy, the canopy of PJ's plane is pierced by a glowing, red beam of light, before it explodes. A firece battle ensures between the two remaining aces, before a missile strikes Pixy's aircraft head-on, severly damaging its frontal air intakes and causing it to plummet into the Belkan countryside below.
Escaping from the wreckage of his crashed aircraft, Pixy observes his surroundings and realizes that there are still people trying to scrape out a life for themselves at ground zero. It is at that point that Pixy comes to realize that eradicating borders and ending human conflict through the use of the V2 missiles wouldn't have solved anything. The survivors would undoubtedly find a reason to fight again. People would still fight amongst themselves over what would be left of the world. They would have made their own borders and continued to spill more blood.
Years after the end of the war, Pixy; determined to learn the true value behind having borders; enlists with the Independent States Allied Forces. His fate in the years that follow is unknown.
Pixy appears during the final mission of the game, piloting the ADFX-02 Morgan, an experimental Belkan air-superiority fighter armed with a laser weapon and advanced countermeasures. The fight is broken into three parts.
The opening phase of the battle sees Pixy activate his laser weapon. Taking him head-on appears to be the best tactic, as putting distance between yourself and Pixy enables him to hit you as he sweeps his laser at a 90 degree angle.
The second part gets more interesting, as Pixy unloads cruise missiles modified for use against aircraft. This isn't too difficult, as it's nearly impossible to get hit by one these.
The last part of the fight involves playing chicken with Pixy and attacking him from the front. An advanced countermeasure system renders missile attacks from anywhere but the front useless. This isn't as hard as it sounds, as you can simply allow Pixy to get on your tail before pulling an immelmann turn and taking a shot or two at him before he breaks off.
Ninja Gaiden (2004) - Alma
Within the secretive society of the Vigoor Empire dwell demonic creatures called 'Fiends'. While the lesser fiends feed on the living, the greater beings of this species turn their prey into Fiends themselves. Somewhere in the Imperial capital of Dworku is a woman who hunts the monsters by night. Rachel; a Fiend Hunter; stalks the Fiends through the sreets of the city in hopes of finding her sister Alma, and administering the only cure she knows for one unfortunate enough to have been turned into one of the monstrosities - death. While on the hunt, Rachel meets one of the last ninja of the Hayabusa ninja clan: Ryu Hayabusa.
When things go awry and Alma shows up at the Dworku monastery, it falls upon Ryu's shoulders to bring peace to Alma in place of her sister.
Appearing about halfway through the game, Alma herself manifests as a pink, winged humanoid with large purple claws. During my first playthrough, I seem to remember getting smacked about a lot as Alma literally started chucking rocks at me. Alma is considered by some to be the 'wall boss', or that which serves as a means to separate the players who will go on to complete the game from those who will move on to something else (not that there's any shame in doing that, mind you).
The boss attacks by floating about the area, launching projectiles at the player, and occasionally rushing them by swooping down to ground level. Defeating her is not an easy task, especially during a first time playthrough. Commonly used tactics include using flying swallow attacks to hit her in the air.
Panzer Dragoon Orta Abadd's Dragonmare
The final boss of the game, Abadd is a drone, or humanoid weapon. Abadd himself appears before Orta numerous times throughout the game, regularly encouraging her to embrace her nature as a fellow drone and to shun humanity. After mounting an attack on the Imperial City and The Cradle, Orta meets Abadd and his silver Dragonmare and fights him one last time.
For whatever reason I remember having to re-do this boss fight about a dozen times before I eventually got it right. Granted I wasnt actually making full use of the Dragons forms, which was probably why this one caused me so much trouble the first time through.
The boss has three forms. Initially appearing as an embryo shielded by silver crystals, the dragonmare creates floating entities that fire projectiles at the player. Dealing with this form is easy, and by using Glide wing to intercept the projectiles its easily possible to clear this section without taking so much as a scratch.
The second form is what causes things to get considerably more complicated. The dragonmare flies across the area, sweeping from left to right and right to left, unleasing wave upon wave of projectiles that home in the player. It was only after discovering that I could intercept the projectiles using Glide Wing that I managed to finish this section of the game.
The third and final form is that of a giant snake. While not quite as dangerous as the above forms, this form uses some of the same attacks employed by the second form, and as such is still relatively dangerous.
DoDonPachi Resurrection Hibachi
Its not clear as to who or what Hibachi exactly is, only that he/she/it bears ill intentions toward the world. An immensely powerful being, Hibachi appears at the end of the game to challenge the DonPachi squadron after they discover the truth behind the element daughters and Colonel Longhenas plan.
Ask anyone whos reached Hibachi, and theyll tell you this guy is nearly impossible to defeat. At first glance the bullet patterns he uses seem quite simple. After the first phase of the battle ends however, Hibachi begins spraying bullets everywhere and becomes a nightmare to deal with.
Ikaruga Tageri
The final Boss of the game, encountered in Chapter 5 The Stone-Like. Tageri is not a particularly hard boss, but does require almost perfect timing, as a lack of such almost always results in instant death.
Tageri itself utilizes a homing missile attack, similar in nature to the players own. The only way to defeat the boss is to alternate between polarities as the boss does so, using the matching polarity to absorb the energy from Tageris missiles before switching over and using your own before Tageri switches out its own polarity.
There finally done with this blog post. I lack the motivation to come up with a good closing for this, so this picture will have to do. Ms. Avary FTW! ^.^
Until next time.
~Alchemist3001
