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Favorite combat encounters. What makes them great?

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
It seems the 'dex is never satisfied with the combat encounters in RPGs. In whatever thread one enters, there is always the "poor encounters" stuff somewhere (ain't it like that with all things RPG...)

So yeah, which is the most memorable encounter that you encountered in an RPG? What made it great and what made it stand out?

The latest one which I can remember is the cyber troll in Dragonfall. You had a great powerful companion in that mission and the enemy hackers made the mission very dynamic.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,185
Location
Bjørgvin
The Ropers against the New Phlan Liberation Front in Pool of Radiance.
First time I remember I was deeply offended that the trolls will rise up again with full HP and then they slaughtered the party who's last words were "this is not fair". But I soon learnt that standing on the troll corpses made things much easier. Hiring a couple of Heroes as meat shields also helped a lot.

4x99 Berserkers in Bard's Tale, and then returning to the Review Board my party kicked in the wrong door and "You meet death itself in the form of 1 Hobbit".
The Captain of the Guard in Bard's Tale. WFT?!? He critically killed my character?

Fighting mirror images of your own party in Ultima IV.

All the epic fights against armies of kobolds and orcs in Pool or Radiance. Especially the ambush at Sokol Keep.

Slaying the dragon in Dungeon Master. Round and round we danced around the central pillar until finally there was a puff of smoke and when the smoke cleared the battleground was covered with neat stacks of dragon chops.

Using hearing instead of sight to keep track of dragons behind illusory walls when "waltzing" them in Chaos Strikes Back.

Fighting some mages in Bard's Tale 2's beginner dungeon. They were at 70' at kept summoning wolves, and it took what seemed like hours to finally defeat them.

The 3 Cuisinarts in Might&Magic 2. They sliced, diced and chopped my party into mincemeat.
Frist time I met Crazed Natives in MM2. :argh:

The first fight in Curse of the Azure Bonds where the party sides with the Thieves' Guild vs the Fire Knives. CoAB was my first Gold Box game, so this fight was special to me.
Defeating the Beholder Corps in same game without using the Dust (braindead AI helps).

Buffing the party in Icewind Dale and then walzing through the entire Frost Giant clan like a hot knife through butter.

Fighting the four Wizards of Thay in BG1 with the Sword Coast Strategems mod installed. It took my party more than a day to finally kill their leader.

Moving wounded and disorderly through The Underdark in BG2 and being surprised by a large band of bounty hunters. Too bad the WTF moment can not be replicated when replaying the game.

Final battles in Pools of Darkness. Not for the fainthearted.

Dragon King and his minions in Nahlakh. Only time I saw a character take so much damage that he slid all the way across the screen.

Monster of 1000 Eyes in Wizardry 7. Thought it was impossible, but then I realized Resurrection can be used in combats.

All these were great because they were hard and/or memorable.
 

Declinator

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
542
Knights of the Chalice: the "final" fight and the actual final fight. The former is mostly an interesting crowd control problem but the latter is one of the toughest combat encounters in turn-based games that I've faced. It is difficult to win without cheesing with certain spells and even then I can't win consistently but it is fun and certainly memorable.
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Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Difficulty, but only if the game provides you the necessary tools (whatever form they make take; items, spells, classes, races, etc).

Example:


Was very, very satisfying wiping those fuckers out after I eventually learned what I could do to beat them.
 

eggdogg

Learned
Joined
Dec 31, 2016
Messages
102
Blackguards had some good encounters. Every fight felt like a new and specific event.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Planescape Torment: the first time you fight a swarm of cranium rats. If you play conservatively, that might be the time when you piss off the Many-as-One. That was a big shock when they drop some high level spell on ya~.

UFO Afterlight, the accidental opening of the Gate event. Just thinking it's a normal battle against robot, but a swarm of lizardmen appear. My remaining weapons were barely enough to fight off the first wave then the second wave finish my team off. Unbelieving, I reload the fight and barely escape with my team. Many total runs later when I git gud, I can check the enemies identity and the second wave is composed of actually higher level enemies of late game. That is a method of making a surprise battle.

Hammer & Sickle. The meeting with grassroot spy, Pavel. Obviously, it's a running fight in which we both try to avoid US troop casualty, and killing off the enemy pursuer. A logical answer is to slip away stealthily. A better answer is to take train back to gather your team and counter ambush the pursuers, something only possible if you dont play cheapstake with the blackmarket engineer earlier.
Also H&S, the very last fight. If your MC is top of the line sniper, he can detect an ambush sniper and kill that bugger off before the event. It has no importance save for the fact that we save one round of action to deal with him, and his death prevent enemy side from having high height vision of battlefield.
 

Dorateen

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
4,332
Location
The Crystal Mist Mountains
In addition to the classic encounters of the Gold Box games (The assault at Sokol Keep is an all time favorite) I would add the battle for the Holy Avenger in Icewind Dale 2. Still one of the most well-designed set-pieces of the Infinity Engine catalogue.

It starts with the legendary blade appearing, but the Lost Followers of Bane as well. There was just enough time for a speedy character to nip the Holy Avenger from the grave, and then transfer it to our party’s paladin to use in the fight. This was party vs. enemy party at its best, separating and isolating high priority targets. Taking down the mage first, then the infernal bowman. Our cleric was valuable not only using resurrection once, but also banishing some of the undead that were summoned. At the end, the evil fighter Veddion Kairne was going after our vulnerable elf fighter/sorcerer, but our cleric was able to get off a sanctuary spell just in time. The last follower of Bane turns around only to be greeted by a Holy Avenger to the face!

Great combat encounters are defined by opening opportunities for each member of the party to play a vital role, whether providing support or affecting a direct impact on the course the battle. Unique opponents memorable for their deadliness is also a key factor.
 

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