Metal Slime: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Metal King Slime DQVIII 1498.jpg|link=Dragon Quest VII|frame|Hard to find, harder to kill, but ''so'' worth it.]]

 

A normal video game [[Mook]] is a monster that shows up regularly in large numbers, exhibits [[Suicidal Overconfidence]], goes down in a [[Heroes Prefer Swords|sword strike]] [[Four Is Death|or four]], gives a little experience, and drops items that are either [[Vendor Trash]] or subject to the [[Antidote Effect]]. A '''Metal Slime''' is everything but normal: an uncommon monster with an uncommon reward that's uncommonly difficult to obtain from the monster before the battle ends.

 

This trope is named after the Metal Slime from the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series. Despite being most common in [[RPG]]s, a '''Metal Slime''' can appear in games of other genres. Not to be confused with a [[Metal Slug]], although finding ''those'' is a [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|fun reward in and of itself]].

 

* The Mini Smiles in ''[[Killer7]]'' fly at you at high speed. If they hit, they explode and temporarily blind you. Shooting red ones gives you a great deal of Thick Blood (which you use to power up), and shooting a yellow one heals you fully. The Camellia Smiles, likewise, run away as soon as they're shot and explode a few seconds later; killing them before they escape (which requires hitting their [[For Massive Damage|weak spot]] or a ''very'' fast character) rewards you with large amounts of Thick Blood.

* The Takkuri in ''[[Majoras Mask]]'', which drops a lot of money, but may decide to steal one of your items and run away with it, forcing you to wait until nighttime and buy it back from its owner. Yeah.

** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', one of the sidequests involves you searching the whole of Hyrule Field for Big Poes. You can only find each of them in ''very'' specific spots, you have to be riding [[Powerup Mount|Epona]], and you have all of 5 seconds to kill them with arrows before they vanish and you have to try again. Hope your aim is good.

 

* ''[[Need for Speed]]: Most Wanted'' has Sergeant Cross himself. A normal undercover Corvette will net you around the $20,000 in bounty. Destroying Cross's car, however, will net you a whopping $200,000!

** Depending on the circumstances under which you take out Cross's car, it is also a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

 

* ''[[Cross Edge]]'' has Lujit, a small, pink, Level 120 monstrousity from hell. It appears in a few normal dungeons, is about 70+ levels above what you will probably be at first potential meeting area, has ridiculous HP, sickingly large range attacks, does ludicrous damage, is very fast, almost impossible to run away from, regenerates, can take a metric ton of moves a turn, and if it gets first attack can clear your group in a single round. However it does have horrible defense and is VERY valuable to kill.

 

* ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]'' has the Fallen Survivor in The Passing. They have as much health as a Witch, making it hard to take down. They are also fire proof and they always choose to run away (although sometimes there's no good escape options). The reason you would bother fighting this zombie is because it can hold a mix of either first aid kits, pills, pipe bombs, or molotovs. A single hit from a melee weapon is still enough to take them down, but their habit of running away usually puts of wall of zombies between you and their wonderful loot. Especially annoying because sometimes they're just carrying two grenade items... which would normally be nice, but The Passing has lockers filled with infinite supplies of grenades scattered throughout the first two chapters (the final chapter has neither the lockers no the Fallen Survivors).

 

* In ''[[Drakengard]]'', there is one enemy per level that rises out of the ground when you enter his proximity, glowing either red or blue and switching between those two colors. You have roughly a minute or two to defeat this enemy. Only physical attacks can harm him when he glows red, and only magical attacks can harm him when he glows blue. If you defeat him, he drops an item which adds a certain amount of experience to all the weapons you have in your [[Hyperspace Arsenal]].

* ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)]]'' has the Thief, a ''very'' fast enemy who runs up to your strongest player and steals potions, keys or even points from him/her. If you manage to kill him you can loot up a 500-point gold bag from his body; otherwise you'll have to get back your loot on the next dunegon level.

* Fugitives in the third ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' game. Each map has one, they have a random chance of appearing every time you start the map, they appear on a few predetermined and out-of-place locations on the map (and unless you bring a max level [[Hattori Hanzo]], you won't know where) and run away about a minute after appearing. Fugitives only block and counter and have an extremely powerful block, making them impossible to kill without using a Basara art, Hero time or by loading your weapon full of Golden Centipedes. Each map's fugitive grants a permanent attack, defence or luck bonus when defeated, but only once for each character.

 

* In ''[[Wizard of Wor]]'', the Worluk appears once per level, moves quite fast, and can escape through the side doors. If it is shot before escaping, points will be doubled on the next level.

 

* Don't even ''start'' on the monsters that drop the [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Ultra_Rares Ultra Rare Items] in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]''. The odds of encountering one are so slim as to be meaningless. For each of them, one player per day gets a shot at the fight, and it's determined by some byzantine step-measuring system that gives that one shot to the first player who's there during the right time of day and has the step counter that no one's allowed to see in the exact right position. In theory. Wait, no, that's how it ''used to work'', and now nobody's got a clue. Essentially, if you're aware these things exist but haven't been informed that you'll never see one, you could waste ''weeks'' on one of these before giving up. Most veteran players have never seen one; fighting one is a once-in-a-lifetime event unless you search obsessively (read "search for it with all your turns every day for years").

** At least one person had defeated an Ultra Rare and come away with nothing, not even a consolation ribbon. The [[Self-Imposed Challenge|Black Cat familiar]], which is specifically designed to hinder you has many wonderful effects one of which is randomly destroying dropped items at the end of combat. Ultra rare items are not immune to this, at least one person has had the cat knock a one in a billion item down the drain.

** 11.6 CL. The landshark has 11.6 CL. That's higher than the player.

 

* Gold Beetles in ''[[Sonic Adventure Series|Sonic Adventure 2]]'' only appear for a brief moment in one specific part of each level, and vanish just as quickly. Destroying it nets you a huge amount of points for your score, which go a long way to earning a better rank for certain level requirements.

* Golden Mice and certain rare blue ghosts in ''[[Luigi's Mansion]]''. They all appear only in certain areas, after doing [[Guide Dang It|some random and senseless task, such as coming into the corridor from a certain room, examining a certain lamp a number of times, getting hit by the bat that is next to that lamp and then going to the place where the mouse spawns]], and if you don't catch them right when they appear (they move like greased lightning) they'll be [[Lost Forever]]...but if you manage to suck them up, they'll drop ''tons'' of money.

** Also, Golden Waddle Dees from ''Squeak Squad'' and Sneak Sacks in ''Epic Yarn''. The former is unreasonably fast and will [[Too Dumb to Live|sprint straight over the edge of a bottomless pit]] if you don't trap it quickly enough, while the latter moves at a speed slightly faster than Kirby can run at and will disappear if not killed in time. They leave behind treasure chests and dozens of beads, respectively.

 

* Iridescent Flint Beetles in ''[[Pikmin]]'' are invincible, randomly appear, scurry around, then burrow back underground. But if you can make a thrown pikmin land on its back, it will drop pellets and nectar. Skills players can get multiple payouts from the same bug.

** The sequel keeps the Flint Beetle and adds two cousins. The Iridescent Glint Beetle has a shiny golden shell and drops a Treasure or multiple sprays when hit. There is also the Doodlebug, which can drop sprays, pellets, or nectar, but periodically releases poisonous gas that can kill Pikmin.

 

* ''[[ADOM]]'' has the fast and powerful giant boars, which are only encountered in the wilderness, where it is possible for enemies to flee. If killed, they sometimes drop a giant boar skull, which is required for an [[Multiple Endings|Ultra ending]].

** Filk, the quickling bard also in ADOM fits the bill. He lives in (usually) a deep level of the infinite dungeon, has the highest speed in the game is extremely good at dodging your attacks. Killing him is also required for an Ultra ending.

* Smeagol in ''[[Angband]]''. He moves fast, is hard to hit, and can teleport away after stealing gold (or, in previous versions, items). Very difficult to kill when you're first likely to encounter him. Wormtongue is not as fast, but is also very difficult to hit when you first meet him, steals your gold and items then teleports away, and makes traps. This means that you might kill him, then fall through to the next level before you pick up the awesome artifact he just dropped. Hope you have preserve mode set. Many of the thieving monster in this game fit this to some extent.

* Jetpack [[Santa Claus]] in ''[[Toejam and Earl]]'' will occasionally appear, fussing over his sack. If you're lucky to see him from far away enough, you have a chance of sneaking up on him from behind (a mechanic no other enemy in the game uses) and get a few presents for your trouble. Otherwise, off into the wild blue yonder he goes.

 

* [[Trope Namer|Named]] for the Metal Slime (or Metaly as it's called in some games) from the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series. It's actually a [[Palette Swap|regular old blue Slime with metal coating]], but defeating one of them will get the party (or just the player in [[Dragon Quest I|the first one]]) lots and lots of experience. Actually doing so is a pain because despite its low HP, its defense is high enough that some attacks will outright fail, it is completely immune to magic, it's also lightning fast, and as noted, it likes to run given half a chance. It is not uncommon to encounter a large group of MetalSlimes (and/or it's relatives) and have all of them flee before your party can kill even one; in fact, it isn't even that uncommon to encounter a number of them and have every last one of the cowards bolt ''before the party can even act''. Other variations of this monster appear in the later games, such as the Liquid Metal Slime (known as the Metal Babble or Metabble in some games) and the Metal King Slime.

** The Platinum King Jewel deserves a special mention here- not only does it have the highest HP, defense, agility, and XP of the Metal Slime family, it also can use Dazzle to blind your party, making them miss so much that doing any damage to it is virtually impossible.

** ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' features Bulky Vendors: a variant of Metal Slime. While they appear randomly, run away, and can't be killed by conventional means, they are killed extremely easy with Reaction Commands. Rather than giving large amounts of experience, they drop rare items. The rarity of the item is directly related to its health, which is constantly depleting as soon as it spawns. But there's a catch: it's relatively slow when it first spawns, but as its health goes down, its speed goes up, and this thing almost literally bounces all over the place. So you're better off [[Guide Dang It|looking for Orichalcum]] then trying to get one from a Bulky Vendor. Regardless, when you smack them with a Reaction Command they drop a crap ton of materials used for synthesis with their rarity depending on how much health they had when you used a Reaction Command. Also, good luck trying to hit one with the Reaction Command when it's got a sliver of health left; when they've got next to no health left, they are probably the fastest enemy in the game.

** Bulky Vendors return in [[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days|358/2 Days]], only without the reaction commands. This time, they have to be defeated quickly before they escape—which is much harder.

* ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' had Shy Guys in camo called Shy Rangers appear in one area of the game. Unless you have enough speed from armor and accessories, they'll escape before you can even act, and will still escape the moment their turn comes up (Unless they're poisoned, which makes them fight to the death for some reason). They don't even drop anything or give enough EXP to make it worth going through the trouble—unless you throw a Yoshi Cookie to make Yoshi consume them; then you get a KeroKeroCola, the most powerful healing item in the game.

* ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' and its sequel ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' have Amazee Dayzees, [[Palette Swap]]ped versions of the more normal Crazee Dayzees. They have ridiculously high HP, the most damaging single attack of any [[Mook]], high defense, and to top it all off, they put you to ''[[Standard Status Effects|sleep]].'' Luckily, in the second game, a skilled player can defeat them in one hit by effectively utilizing the [[Action Commands|Art Attack]] move—and they drop gobs of experience points; this is especially helpful in the later levels of the [[Bonus Dungeon]], which is full of them. And you heal on leveling up! Also in the second game, it is quite possible to run into them at a point in the game where {{spoiler|Mario's partners have abandoned him}}. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks, Nintendo!]]

* The Totokos (Who resemble [[My Neighbor Totoro|a certain Studio Ghibli movie character]]) in ''[[Ni no Kuni]]'' give an absolutely huge amount of EXP or gold if you can defeat them, often much more then the bosses of a similar level, and also make good Imagen if you can capture them. However, they only show up occasionally, run away from you in the field, and will disappear if not caught quickly. Even after you catch them, you still have defeat them before they escape in battle, and the evolved forms of them frequently will use some manner of debilitating spell on the entire party to keep you from doing this.

 

 

* Nemesis from ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'' meets the requirements. Nemesis is an uncommon encounter, rarely spawning, appearing in out-of-the-way locations a fixed number of times. Nemesis gives rewards; [[Randomly Drops|randomly-dropped]] unique (though not necessarily useful) items. Nemesis has a reasonably reliable way to end combat without the player being defeated or getting the reward through the normal "flee" mechanic, a special ability such as blinding him and knocking him off a ledge. Nemesis has [[Preexisting Encounters]], so this trait manifests as Nemesis avoiding Jill in order to prevent the beginning of combat proper, such as outside the substation. And it is VERY difficult to obtain the reward before combat ends.

** ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has the Garradors. They drop a ton of cash upon their defeat. Upping the ante further, one Garrador that spawns in a cage actually guards a treasure chest with a very valuable piece of [[Vendor Trash]] in it, and predictably, it's pretty hard to get the item without killing the Garrador first. Garradors appear about four times in the entire game (one of which is a ''heavy Garrador''). Unlike Regenerators, who also share the aforementioned traits, defeating Garradors (or even damaging them) is almost never absolutely necessary, to the point where running from them is easier than fighting them thanks to the Garradors' crippling blindness.

* ''[[Opoona]]'' has the Star Human. In addition to being run-happy, it has both extremely high defense ''and'' high evasion, meaning that even ''if'' you can hit it with a physical attack, it's not likely to do much damage. The best way to defeat it is to spam it with Armagebbon, and pray to all that's good that it doesn't flee. To add insult to injury, it has a one-of-a-kind drop attached to it, too (as well as a [[Rare Candy]] attached to it).

 

* The Eridians in ''[[Borderlands]]'' appear in the last few levels in the game, give you ''shitloads'' of exp, are the fastest enemies in the game and have ''insane'' shields, but pretty low actual health. What's that, Mordecai? [[Game Breaker|One of your skills allows you to bypass shields ''completely?'']]. Score.

* ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' and its sequel ''Brotherhood'' feature pickpockets and Borgia Messengers who run away from you if they see you; if you manage to catch them, you get a hefty chunk of money as well as some rare trade items.

* ''[[Terraria]]'' has "Pinky," a tiny, rarely appearing pink slime that drops gold coins—hundreds of times as much money as an average slime. It also has a lot of health, and if you hit it too hard, it may fly off the screen into oblivion. Have fun [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|whittling]].

* ''[[Saints Row]]: The Third'' has Professor Genki, who can be found running around Steelport [[Ax Crazy|killing random people]]. He has tons of health but when defeated gives you tons of money and Respect.

 

* According to [[Dungeons & Dragons|Gary Gygax]], a similar creature appeared in the original Castle Greyhawk campaign he ran (not the version later offered by TSR). He threw a golden golem encrusted with gems (worth a small fortune if the thing were ever killed) at the [[Player Character|PC]]s, but made it fast enough to always outrun them when fleeing.