The Sentry gets no love

[Dinodinodude]

The Sentry in the Flying Fortress doesn't really get the mini-boss treatment, and if you don't know what I'm talking about that's my point. I didn't even remember it was a thing until I got to it in my hard playthrough. There's no pre-fight artwork like every other boss, and no advice is given after dying to it. Since Power Flower was given both of those, I don't see a reason not to give the sentry some recognition as well.

 

[The G-Meister]

Everyone hates it, that's why

Agreed though, it seems a little unfair. Can't believe I haven't noticed that when I've been playing for so long ._.

 

[Own]

The Sentry is all about burst DPS. The faster you can kill it without it potentially being shielded, the better your chances. You're encouraged to ignore enemies and just DPS race it.

It's not even quite a boss like Power Flower is, it has no actual attacks. It's a 'Kill waves of enemies' in disguise room. It's just... boring, since you've already done that with the southern island wave spawning spot. Especially inbetween Phaseman and Gundam, the momentum of coolness stumbles as you smash that and continue on to the next computer, it's the most forgettable fight in the game.

It seems so easy to actually turn it into a proper boss with an attack, too.

Normal Fight



Give it a bunch of mirrors around the room. Occasionally let it glow after each 2-5% of damage it takes, then fire a series of projectiles like your phase beam except red at a few targeted mirrors. They only disperse when they hit you or they're shielded, endlessly bouncing around.

Alternatively, treat it like the Toy Factory boss. Make it into a puzzle boss that starts the battle bubbled. Spawn a wave of enemies, when that wave is dead, it glows and powers up. A few mirrors drop down into the room. You have to figure out which one will result in Sentry's beam blasting itself, stand in front of it and bait the beam into that mirror. Bounce, bounce, bounce, BAM. Beam hits Sentry, it loses it's bubble, enemies start spawning again. Old mirrors break down after being hit, new formations of them appear each time you want to destroy the shield. Shield respawns after a % of HP has been done, repeat until dead. I'd have fun with that.

Puzzle Fight



Pls give new Sentry, @Teddy / @Fred

 

[Own]

Actually, now that I think about it, in the Flying Fortress you learn two things:

Mirror Movement and Perfect Blocking. The Sentry seems like it would be the perfect spot to be forced to use either one during a boss battle.



Eight mirrors around the edge of the room, four in the corners unable to be moved, the four N/E/S/W on straight indentions.

Phase 1: Sentry is bubbled, spawns in enemies rapidly up to # enemies (like Toy Machine).

Phase 2: Enemy waves wiped out, Sentry begins pulsing with light. Spits out 1-3 rapid phaseballs every 5 seconds.

Option A: Perfect block the balls back at it to knock off it's bubble and damage it. For speedruns and getting Arcade S-Rank. Auto-breaks shield if the perfect block is failed.

Option B: Push the mirrors into a position where the player can stand in front of one, bait Sentry into shooting at it and they can bounce-bounce-bounce to hit Sentry.

The 4 mirrors on paths shuffle to a random point, enemies continue to slowly trickle in while Sentry's bubble is gone. Until Sentry hits 50% HP, then...

Phase 3: Sentry re-bubbles. Enemies now spawn as groups, instead of one by one. Sentry now occasionally fires an orb even during the enemy phase. Wipe out groups, avoid phaseballs, get the mirrors back in position to knock off Sentry's bubble again and finish it off. Or just perfect block again, if you can.

---

Incorporating the mechanics of the dungeon would make it so much more fitting and interesting. <3

 

[Teddy]

Good ideas, and certainly more interesting than the poor Sentry as it is right now

This is kind of a wishlist-thing, though, since the fight occurs in the first dungeon. We actually didn't mean the Sentry to be a boss... it was just supposed to be a little challenge! The idea was to do one miniboss and one boss per dungeon, with some challenge rooms thrown in, but then we made like JW and scoped up for Temple of Seasons

So yeah, I think the encounter is sub-par compared to other stuff, and if it was placed in a later temple I would've voted for a remake, but in a first playthrough I don't think people really experience it that way since they "don't know any better".

If not a remade Sentry, perhaps its older brother Watcher can make an appearance as a throwback in the final dungeon

 

[DarkMetaknight]

If not a remade Sentry, perhaps its older brother Watcher can make an appearance as a throwback in the final dungeon

Or, as an alternative, have an arena challenge for Watcher. (Similar to Furious Giga Slime.)

After all, I don't think the arena gets enough love either. (At least in Stable, I dunno about Unstable) So, 2 birds with one update.