Well, My most hated boss battles were in FF2. It also helps the difficulty if you run like a newbie (like I did) every time you got in a fight. Anyway, First on my list of tried-and-true annoying boss tactics is the "Bait and Switch" tactic, where two or more bosses are being fought against, tag-team style. Ususally these are two Elemental Type bosses, with opposing elemental strengths, such as Shiva and Ifrit in FF3. You prepare to whomp on the ice guy by making everyone with fire magic cast the strongest fire spell in the book, then the ice guy disappears and is replaced by the fire guy, and you say "D'OH!" as you heal him with the fire attacks. An example of this might be The Elements' final battle in the Giant of Babel, in FF2. You'd get EggFooYong to cast Ice 3 on that big red guy in the cape, then Rydia would cast Shiva ahead of time, causing you to cast Ice 3 on Kainazzo, curing him for 9999 HP. "D'OH!"

Another type o' evil boss battle is the "Dedicated Attacker, Healer, and Large HP Person" battle. These battles are identified by usually three enemies, one who heals, one who attacks, and one that has a Mega-death move that it only does when the other two are gone. Usually it's the Mega-death person that has over fifty-thousand HP. The most recognised boss battle that uses this wonderful means of frustration is the CPU of the Giant of Babel. There is a large orb that doesn't do more than sit there, and two smaller ones, one that attacks constantly, and one that heals the others constantly. You have to identify the attacker, kill off the healer, kill off the main orb, then kill off the attacker. kill the two weaker orbs first and the big orb starts casting a -9999 HP attack on everyone. "D'OH!"

Another battle that is less annoying than the above works almost the same way, but relies more on the co-operation of the enemy bosses. The only good example I can think of are the Sisters of Zot, Sandy, Cindy, and Mindy. Take one of the bosses out of the equation, and all sorts of crap happens to the bosses, from not being able to attack properly, to casting magic on themselves.

Some notable tactics that I got somewhat annoyed by are the "Fortress" type battle, which are classified by a boss that deals HUGE amounts of damage to the party, and can take damage all day without dying. One example of this are the Behemoth from FF2. You could hack away at them for five minute before they'd die, and they'd counter attack every time they were damaged. They were also invulnerable to all types of magic, so that was out of the question. The secret to beating them was a generaly useless spell called "Blink," which rendered you safe from two physical attacks. You had to cast this on the whole party to make sure they wouldn't die. It was a pain in the ass for sure.

Another type of evil tactic is the "Countdown To DOOOOOOOM!" battle, where the enemy had an attack that would be used at regular intervals, in which you had to heal and defend from the attack with all your characters, or you WOULD die. An example of this is the battle with Bahamut in FF2. He'd cast Nuke avery five turns, and you had to cast wall on everyone possible before zero. There was always one person without a wall, who would die for sure, and you had to decide who it was. I loved that part, 'cause it made me feel like I was deciding who lived and died. I knew I would just use Life 2 after the battle, but still, I loved it!

There are some variations on the above tactic. One variation I hated so much, I just decided to skip that boss. FF2 Odin anyone? Hell naw'! You had to throw EVERYTHING at that guy, and he STILL wouldn't die! He'd raise his sword! Quick! Slice him, Zap him, Nuke him, Throw spoons at him, ANYTHING! Ka-SHWICNK!!! Too late. "D'OH!"

One variation on the above tactic that I haven't ever seen is an enemy that has a countdown attack that heals ALL it's HP. Something like that multi-headed boss in the Land of the Summoned Monsters, except the healing can't be blocked. That'd be a pain.

So there are some good ideas. Thanks for printing this ('Cause today's my birthday!)

Jeff Cox-Grubbs