Atlus wanted to break the Shin Megami Tensei franchise in the west back in the early '00s, and it did so in the harshest way possible, as Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was one of the most brutally difficult games of its generation. Nocturne was notorious for having one of the harshest𒉰 boss battles in gaming history - the Matador. Many a gamer walked away from their PS2 in disgust after getting their backside handed to them by the Matador, which is why he deserves a sho🍸t at annoying players around the world in a boss battle.
What makes the Matador so hard in Nocturne is the early point during the story at which he is fought. There are technically harder bosses later in the game, but the player has more options available to them in terms of the party members they can use and the items they have at their disposal. Matador was intended to be the boss that made players master the intricacies of the combat system, and many gave up, as they never bothered to learn how buffs/debuffsꦛ worked in the Shin Megami Tensei games.
Setting The Scene - The Hunter
In Nocturne, Matador is seeking out the Candelabrum of Sovereignt🧔y, which is part of a set of eleven magical candelabrum/menorahs. The player can fight many candelabrum wielders in Nocturne, and defeating each one allows them deeper access into the my༒sterious Labyrinth of Amala.
In a Dungeons & Dragons game, the Matador can be hunting a powerful magical item that has fallen into the possession of the player. It's also possible that he is a highly-skilled mercenary, who has been hired by the enemies of the party to hunt them down. The players should at least be level 7 before encountering the Matador, so they should have performed enou🌸gh heroic deeds to have earned his attention.
The Matador is similar to Rubicante from Final Fantasy IV, in that he doesn't see any honor in defeating a wounded foe. Matador will make his intentions known beforehand and will wait 🃏until the party is at full strength before tackling them. Matador will monitor them via Divination to ensure that the party doesn't⭕ attempt to lay a trap for him.
Once he believes the time is right, Matador will call upon the powers of his Cap♎ote to drag the party into a pocket dimension of his own creation. This dimension should be around 60 ft in diameter and be ringed with impassable walls of infernal flame. He brazenly challenges the party to a battle as they recover from 'porting sickness, and the fight begins.
Matador's Stats
Strategies & Tactics
The Matador's strength lies in his ability to perform multiple actions per-turn, in ordeღr to negate the fact that he is outnumbered. He will use Capote as soon as possible and keep maintaining it over the course of the battle. Matador will strike distant foes with Mazan and will use Dekunda to try and wipe buffs as soon as they are lifted. A powerful move like Andalucia will be saved for characters with low AC (such as arcane spellcaꦯsters), and Focus will be saved for when he has cut down a few members of the group.
Once he is defeated, Matador will let out a hollow laugh, bow to the party as if they were a cheering crowd, and crumble into dust. The ⛄pocket plane will collapse and the party will be kicked back to where they were🤪 before the battle.