MeinMMO editor Jasmin was able to preview the game Aniimo several days before its official release. What she had never seen before in the beta phases were the boss fights against the alpha monsters, and they are incredibly fun for her.
Since the release of version 1.0 in Palworld, I have spent countless hours in the game. I love titles where you can collect monsters, which is why I am also trying to catch every monster in Palworld.
However, I find it totally boring in the long run to challenge the alpha pals and towers, because:
- You simply hit the opposing boss pal and dodge every now and then when it prepares an attack.
- You just have to hide behind a pillar in the towers to be safe from the attacks of the enemy pearl.
This whole thing has little to do with tactics for me, which is why the fights always feel the same. It just isn’t fun in Palworld. The difficulty is only determined by whether you have the right attributes and brought elements into the battle. It really doesn’t come down to skill.
I just realized with Aniimo that this is not the case in this game. Although the monsters look extremely cute and the game seems to be made for cozy gamers, the boss fights are exactly what I have always wished for in Palworld.
Boss fights in Aniimo require surprisingly a lot of tactics
I already knew from the beta how the course of Aniimo is. Back then, I was particularly fascinated by the monsters. Because they interact with the environment and also with yourself when you become one of these monsters.
In the current version, the alpha pals have been newly added. These are particularly strong creatures that you cannot just catch. Only after defeating them is there a 6% chance to catch the respective boss aniimo.
The special thing about these fights is that it is not just about simple hitting and pressing the dodge button once. Here, you also have a chance to win a boss fight with skill.
Right at the beginning of the game, you encounter a Cuwoll. This is a large sheep. During the fight, I had to transform into my aniimo and attack this sheep with everything I had.
At some point, the sheep changed phases and it was no longer enough to just hit it and dodge in between. Next to the Cuwoll, several small Nimbi, which are the pre-stage of the large sheep, spawned.
The Cuwoll then began to hover, so I could no longer attack it. I had to position myself between the large boss aniimo and one of the smaller sheep so that it rolls over them. The little sheep then got caught in the wool of the large sheep, making it a bit harder. After 2 sheep that I had to indirectly maneuver into the wool of the boss aniimo, it sank to the ground and I could attack it again.
It therefore requires tactics to defeat the alpha aniimo. It is not enough to just mindlessly hit all the time, but you have to move properly in the battle to even get to the next phase.
Another example is Irisal, a humanoid plant creature. I was only at level 18, whereas the alpha aniimo had a level of 27. A red text indicated to me that it was not a good idea to attack the aniimo. But I was confident in my skill, so I faced it anyway.
And indeed, the fight was really hard. I had to switch my fire-type aniimo after about a third of the boss’s health was taken away, otherwise it would have been defeated. With my second aniimo, I was able to defeat the opponent.
The good thing is: If you dodge skillfully, the game gives you the chance to defeat the boss opponent. Irisal used many area attacks or single projectiles that chased me. Occasionally, she even released many beams in all directions that spun in a circle, so I had to move and dodge these beams.
This all felt much more exciting and choreographed than the fights in Palworld. Every alpha aniimo feels different, and I think it’s great that I have a chance to defeat the opponent when I rely on my skill and not just on my status values and equipment.
Therefore, I can imagine that I will be motivated to play Aniimo longer when it comes to boss fights. I am already looking forward to finding and challenging more alpha opponents in the open world.
What is more important to you in boss fights: optimizing with equipment and type effects or pure skill? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
In Aniimo, there is also a special ball that would be practical for other monster-collecting games. With it, you can catch a variety of monsters in one go. What kind of special ball it is and what it looks like, you can see here: In Aniimo, there is a special ball that is perfect for collecting monsters
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