Current Events > Left 4 Dead 2 question

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Is there a specific name for the kind of boss encounter the Tank is?

It doesn't have a boss room, it just spawns in a bunch of different spots on every map in the game.
It's not a typical OP boss fight either, it's got limited run speed, loses forward momentum if it jumps and it's usually done for if it gets hit with a Molotov.
If all 4 survivors attack it in an open space, it goes down pretty fast without doing much damage, instead it's reliant on other enemies and the environment stalling the survivors so it can run in and capitalise.
And there's a player controlled version in versus which can use a bunch of other strategies since it can communicate with other infected players.

The Tank's a lot like one of those giant, moving spike walls that chases you through an obstacle course in a 2D platformer.
It feels weird talking about it the same way you'd talk about a traditional boss fight in a game. What's this kind of boss called?

never heard of a specific name for this

As far as I remember no they are just special infected spawning in occasionally, the closest second would be encountering a Witch, followed by a Boomer

mid boss? sub boss? special enemy? why does it need a name

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

mid boss? sub boss? special enemy? why does it need a name

Doesn't really, I'm just curious. I don't think I've played another game with an enemy quite like it.

If someone asks me my favorite boss fights and I say the Tank from L4D2, is that a cheater answer because it's like picking a random spawn rather than a traditional boss encounter?

Baha05 posted...

As far as I remember no they are just special infected spawning in occasionally, the closest second would be encountering a Witch, followed by a Boomer

What about in finales where you're guaranteed to get at least two Tanks most of the time? It's the same enemy except you're locked in with it. Would that be considered a boss fight while Tanks in non-finales aren't?

The Witch doesn't qualify as a boss encounter to me, she's more like a proximity explosive the team just has to try not to go near.

you mean like a trope name for the genre of boss type?
not just "the L4D2 Tank sections"

ROBANN_88 posted...

you mean like a trope name for the genre of boss type?
not just "the L4D2 Tank sections"

Kind of, yeah. I wanna see other takes on the idea.

Big slow thing jumps in, theme starts playing, immediately becomes the focus of everyone else in the game. Circumstances mostly outside of its control often dictate whether it does no damage then gets set on fire and dies in a minute, or downs all 4 survivors in 5 seconds by rolling a car over them.

Another thing, outside of finales you don't actually have to kill them. If you could run past one and stay ahead, you could just run to the safe room, close the door and end the level.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

If you could run past one and stay ahead, you could just run to the safe room, close the door and end the level.

Imagine the survivors getting in the heli and flying away just for a tank to throw a rock and destroy the thing, killing everyone lol

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Kind of, yeah. I wanna see other takes on the idea.

Big slow thing jumps in, theme starts playing, immediately becomes the focus of everyone else in the game. Circumstances mostly outside of its control often dictate whether it does no damage then gets set on fire and dies in a minute, or downs all 4 survivors in 5 seconds by rolling a car over them.

Another thing, outside of finales you don't actually have to kill them. If you could run past one and stay ahead, you could just run to the safe room, close the door and end the level.

The way you describe it makes me think of Big Daddies from Bioshock which sorta fills a similar function. From what I remember you had a choice in whether or not you wanted to engage with most of them, which was apart of the morality thing with the sisters

I'd say both the guaranteed and random Tanks count as boss fights. They are at the very least boss-type enemies, and that is essentially a boss fight. The only other games I can think of with a similar type of encounter are the games inspired by Left 4 Dead.

bioshockjack posted...

The way you describe it makes me think of Big Daddies from Bioshock which sorta fills a similar function. From what I remember you had a choice in whether or not you wanted to engage with most of them, which was apart of the morality thing with the sisters

That also means lots of prep time, which you don't get with a Tank spawn. In Bioshock, I used to throw down a bunch of bombs, aggro it and then it'd run on them and lose most of its health immediately. They give you Vita Chambers too so they don't have much intimidation value.

They also hit pretty hard but they aren't gonna straight up launch you off a roof and one-shot you like in L4D.

Vermintide 2 does this with bosses. almost mechanically identical to the Tank but has an HP bar

I remember fighting one with a frying pan. I don't remember if I beat it. But it was at thr end of a level and all my team mates had boarded up in the exit point and this mother fucker drops in. Had no ammo left just a frying pan. In fact I think there was an achievement for going through x amount of stages with just the frying pan. Mighta been what I was doing. Anyways I survived. But it was tough. Like said idk if beat it but I made it out. I know I whacked it several times with that pan though

Hate zombie shit but I kinda miss that game. I was a witch hunter. Everyone I played with hated witches but I went after them with a vengeance.