It is appropriate to take pride in accomplishing difficult tasks or being satisfied with a hard day's work. However, sometimes people have to find an easy way to do something once considered nearly impossible — and in gaming, sometimes this can help lessen frustration.
All the bosses detailed below are difficult bouts on the surface. However, a little snooping and observation reveals a way to make the fight a piece of cake. Pretty much all of these methods are accessible in the game without cheats and are often even hinted at in the story. They're perfectly legitimate, so there is no reason to feel bad if one needs to utilize these exploits to gain the upper hand.
7 Metal Gear Solid – Psycho Mantis
Before the actual fight with this boss, he makes the player uneasy by reading their memory card. Once the fight begins, the player will find it almost impossible to land a single hit.
Call the colonel on the codec, and he will relay an important piece of information. Simply take the controller out of the first port and put it into the second one. Mantis will be unable to read the player's moves after this. Fortunately, this can still be done on the newer releases on the PS3 and when playing on the PSP.
6 Dark Souls 2 – Mytha, The Baneful Queen
Mytha, The Baneful Queen waits for players inside a pool of poison. It is impossible to avoid its damaging effects during the fight. This basically gives players a time limit to beat the beast.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to drain this pool and simplify the encounter. Burn the wooden windmill blades in the area before the boss arena, and the pool will be gone by the time of the fight. With this hindrance out of the way, Mytha ends up being one of the easier battles in Dark Souls 2.
5 Doom 2 – Icon Of Sin
Doom 2's gameplay and graphics are similar to its predecessor, only the levels themselves are harder. The final boss, the Icon of Sin, is perhaps the hardest challenge the game provides. It is made all the more difficult by the endless swarm of enemies that the boss throws at the player.
If players are somehow able to break through the boss's model with a boundary-breaking glitch, they will find the enemy's weak spot. It turns out to be the decapitated head of one of the game's designers, the legendary John Romero. It's a little meta to find that it was really one of the developers who has been killing the player this whole time. After all, he did design the levels.
4 Metal Gear Solid 3 – The End
The End stands toe to toe with some of the best boss fights from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. It is an epic sniper vs. sniper battle taking place in a massive area. Players can approach the fight in a number of ways. They can try to snipe the old timer from far away, or sneak up behind him and get a few shots off at close range. This might prove troublesome for many, though. It is much easier to beat The End in one of two other ways.
Earlier in the game, players see him during a cutscene with Sokolov, Volgin, Ocelot, and The Boss. After the scene, he is still visible before being rolled away by a guard. Take out the sniper rifle and kill him here. Just watch out for his wheelchair wheel, which comes flying toward Snake and does serious damage if it hits him. Alternatively, shut off the console during the fight and turn forward the PS2's clock by two weeks. Start up the game again and the boss will have already been defeated, including a unique cutscene.
3 Bloodborne – Father Gascoigne
Father Gascoigne is the first major challenge in Bloodborne. He is fast and unpredictable. Fortunately, there is a simple way to get him stuck on the stairs in the area where he is fought. Players just have to make him chase them down the stairs and then dodge at the right moment toward the other side of the staircase.
If done correctly, the boss will remain on the stairs swiping at the player, but forever being unable to land a hit. Players are still able to deal damage, though, giving them the ultimate advantage. Some bosses in these games are so hard, one cannot be blamed for taking advantage of exploits.
2 Fallout – The Master
Fallout's side-quests have numerous branching paths and resolutions. This open-ended design applies to the main quest as well. The Master can be an incredibly difficult fight of muscle against muscle, or it can be defeated with a simple skill check if one's stats are where they need to be.
Instead of defeating the boss in combat, simply convince him that he failed in his goal when making the super mutants, and the antagonist will self-destruct. It might rob players of some of the satisfaction of fighting, but it will make some feel smart.
1 Demon's Souls – Every Boss
Demon's Souls is one of the first games of its kind and contains loads of exploits players can use to get around some extremely tough boss fights. Thankfully, the remake kept most of these quirks to make largely the same experience as the original release. This includes using magic to make many of the game's boss fights a breeze.
Whether it was intentional or not, ranged magic makes quick work of many bosses who are otherwise almost unbearable. With magic, players are able to keep a safe distance from almost all enemies, already being out of range of most attacks.