04a6a5 No.14549704
To be fair, final bosses and bosses in general are a bit less common than they used to be; however, the topic of this thread will be about what makes a final boss great. Anyone can tell you the major tropes which final bosses usually use, such as
>this isn't even my final form
>beat impossible odds using the power of friendship
>protagonist unleashes final form and is strengthened
or perhaps the final boss is similar to a cutscene where it isn't very difficult and the gameplay itself is downplayed in favor of the story. One such example is in Mother 3.
In the end, I think it's fair to say nobody really cares for those types of lackluster final bosses. The best ones are those which make you palpitate and arch your back, focusing you entirely on the game. For JRPG fans, the best feeling in the world is fighting a very tough boss with no visible health bar and finally, after God knows how long, finally seeing the enemy explode/dissolve/or whatever they do when defeated and the subsequent victory fanfare.
What are some examples of such final bosses which really kick the intensity dial up to 10? The bosses in the pictures I posted don't necessarily follow these criteria, but for many people, they are the most memorable final bosses.
On that note, are the most difficult bosses always the most memorable? What exactly makes one boss memorable over another?
194583 No.14549731
>>14549704
>DS3 final boss
>good
It's literally just a "hey remember the gwyn fight"
Almost none of the bosses from that game are really memorable since they all follow the same format
7d99ee No.14549736
Bayonetta had a good final boss(s).
fce8ab No.14549738
my favorite final boss from the past few years
acaedf No.14549750
>>14549738
>when the singer literally starts fucking crying during the song in the Japanese version
goty of 2017 for me
04a6a5 No.14549753
>>14549731
I see what you mean, and in retrospect perhaps Gwyn is a better final boss than Lord of Cinder, but I think most people remember the DS3 final boss because of the music. He wasn't very difficult by any means, but, as I mentioned, difficulty and memorability may not be mutually exclusive.
3d8831 No.14549759
>>14549731
About souls bosses like that (just beat DaS2 last month, and just killed a hoard of priests "boss" in DaS3 last weekend), I think most of them are forgettable because most of them are just "large" knights. When it isn't "large" knights it's Billy Mays fights… "but wait; there's MORE!". I know Souls games aren't known for highly detailed lore, but I feel like the huge boss diversity and mostly compelling story for each made DaS2 and DaS3 (so far) feel shallow and repetitive.
Thinking about it right now the only boss fight I find memorable from DaS2 was the Ancient Dragon. The only reason I remember it is because it was so fucking easy compared to how difficult I imagined it would be.
fce8ab No.14549768
>>14549750
>when the chorus of the game developers starts singing along
still the best game from the past 11 years even if it makes some people poopie their pants
d6cd7b No.14549769
>>14549738
I mean, I'll remember it for the rest of my life as the final bossfight that made me feel something other than rage or smug satisfaction.
0aeace No.14549770
FFCC's Raem comes to mind.
He basically stops you from freeing the world off Miasma, before you can deal the final blow to the Meteor Parasite and then you have to beat his ass a few times.
The fights themselves aren't all that hard but the build up was really nice, especially for his final form and the way you beat him.
4de6f7 No.14549791
>>14549738
Fucking This.
The questions, the encouraging messages, and that fucking chorus when your fellow gamers come to take the hits for you makes this a boss I will likely never forget
2f5b44 No.14549796
>>14549704
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth has a really good Final Boss Battle. It might hit the typical tropes as mentioned but it is really well executed.
if you havent played the Series yet then wait for the re-release of the first game which will hopefully soon come out in order to enjoy all the Buildup of the entire Story.
806874 No.14549799
YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.
Out of all the amazing boss fights, the Shadolord fight was the best in the OG NieR, glad they saved the best for last.
462619 No.14550042
>>14549704
Yakuza 0's final boss is up there with DMC3's Vergil and DMC4's Credo/Dante fights in terms of my favourite "rival" boss fights. It's the best kind of rival fight where their moveset(s) aren't exactly the same as yours, meaning you don't already know all of their moves, but are still similar enough for it to be called a mirror match. It's also thematically fitting that he fights similarly to how you do which is nice. Apart from that, his animations are beautifully detailed, the music's great, the dynamic intro is energetic as fuck and he's reasonably difficult too.
Yakuza Ishin has a very good (and, I think, much harder) final boss too, pretty much everything I said above applies to him as well. His second phase is quite interesting in particular because he dodges immediately after almost every time that you successfully hit him, which would normally be annoying, but it works very well since the style you're encouraged to use during that part lets you immediately cancel any of your attacks by dodging as well. So it ends up looking almost like a dance, which is what the style both you and he use during that phase is named after.
Apart from that series I really liked Grigori and Daimon in Dragon's Dogma. Both had good music, good build-up and felt like a good test of all the stuff you learn over the course of the game. I didn't really like the part of Grigori's fight that forced you to use the ballista to shoot him down but the rest of the fight is good enough that it's still up there for me. I also like the final bosses of the first two Fallouts, mostly for all the different options they present you with.
d81167 No.14550204
>>14549731
b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but Soul of Cinder is unparriable!
04a6a5 No.14550305
>>14550042
The Master certainly does have a lot of good build-up. I think Frank Horrigan has some build-up as well, but the way they force you to fight him with no cover fucked me up on my first run because I was not equipped skill-wise or weapon-wise for it. It's for that reason I prefer the Master.
28408d No.14550441
Red - mysterious, silent, twice as strong as previous trainers. Also, being YOU from the previous games just adds to it.
Manfred von Karma - Intimidating, cunning, perfectionist. Even judges fear him. Never lost a case before facing you.
Sans - Reverts everything you've seen so far in the game. Avoids your attacks. Attacks you in the menu, throws his strongest attack first, and makes fun of you if you lose. His story in general is interesting, with him being kind of outside of the game, knowing about the timelines and shit. The other bosses in this game just…are.
9c36ef No.14550488
>>14549731
That shit was a really neat callback though
f924bb No.14550530
Rootie tootie scrolly shooties have all the best final bosses. No other genre even comes close to their consistency.
0389e1 No.14550551
>>14550441
>His story in general is interesting
I thought it was pretty contrived.
The fight was pretty good, I'll give you that.
f924bb No.14550570
What I love in a final boss is fair complexity. Let's compare and contrast a couple here.
Metal Slug 3 has an incredible finale that never lets up. Every time you think the game is over the rollercoaster keeps going until you finally fight the final boss as you fall back to earth having blown up the mothership. It's pretty damn cool when you're credit feeding the game. But when you're playing it seriously? Not so much. The final boss has a grand total of two attacks, an excessive amount of health, and one of the attacks is extremely cheap should you lose access to your slug. In actual gameplay terms, it is a fairly unsatisfying final boss that relies primarily on planning ahead in the previous stage by hoarding shitloads of bombs and not dying and making sure you grab the Flame Shot in a particular section and then climb into your slug and never use its ammo up, all in order to not be incredibly tedious as a final boss. Amazing lead-up and presentation? Yes. A fair test of player skill for that ultimate satisfying completion? Not really.
Now let's look at the final boss of Metal Slug 7. It has maybe 8 different attacks that all feel fair and it can't really be taken out quickly by dumping ammunition on it hoarded from the final stage. Much better boss, much more satisfying final skill test.
ad23c3 No.14550603
>>14550441
>Has the 6 human souls right behind him
>Doesn't use them to power up
He's already the hardest boss with nothing helping him. If he used those, he would have been unstoppable. He doesn't even try to fight you until you've killed everyone else and are stronger than ever. Fucking why?
f924bb No.14550609
I really have to ask whether people who prop up a lot of RPG endings as exemplary final bosses whether they have ever actually played an arcade or arcade-like game in a single-sitting manner with limited retries. Do you know the feeling of going through a 30-minute challenge where the finale puts everything on the line and can force you to start over from the beginning if you fail? Have you ever felt the excitement and gratification of overcoming that?
My problem with most RPG bosses is they rarely ever genuinely try to test all the battle strategies you've developed over the course of a game and give you a game over, partly because developers don't want to have to force the player to slog through a ton of final exposition to start the battle over again (easily remedied with a skip cutscene/dialogue button but most RPG writers appear to be narcissists). I don't ask that an RPG be a short endurance challenge like an arcade game (though it might be pretty neat), but I absolutely hate it when the final boss isn't the penultimate challenge of a game.
f924bb No.14550621
>>14550305
I mean talk about fucking shit final bosses. Fallout 1 and 2's final battles are shallow as fuck, and the dialogue option is only an interesting option once.
ad23c3 No.14550640
>>14550609
>RPG short endurance challenge like an arcade game
Roguelikes are usually this, aren't they? Those are pretty satisfying to beat. Even if the final boss is just a gear check, you probably had to spend the whole game carefully managing your finite resources in preparation for it.
d515a2 No.14550683
the best way to play persona 5 is to just pretend Yaldbaoth is an extra boss
d96cd1 No.14550706
Out of any JRPG i think persona 3 has the perfect final boss. 14 heath bars with the last being about 5 times as long. The fight takes like an hour.
>>14550683
While shido was a really good boss fight i really liked the 7 deadly sins theme going on with yaldbaoth
f4adc1 No.14550714
>>14549738
>after trying to see if i can brute force it solo for awhile give up and ask for help
>realize just what asking for helps means and lose my fucking mind at this power play as the chorus kicks in. Shooting at literal words has become a monumental event.
>of course i willingly trade in my save file at the end being pretty impressed by that all
>a few days later get a message on PSN from a stranger thanking me because my name appeared in his end credits
596441 No.14550726
First pic blew my mind
Second and third pic are assholes who had it coming
4th gave me a surprise ass whooping
5th was a complete pushover
28408d No.14550743
>>14550603
He was hoping you would have a change of heart, of course.
Also, he avoids your attacks anyway, so he makes your uber-strength irrelevant. That's one of the things that makes him a good boss.
527dde No.14551553
>>14550609
RPGs just have a lot of more build up. On an arcade game the boss either comes out of nowhere or is only mentioned in 1-2 sentences beforehand, and the game often takes only 1-2 hours to complete anyways. While in a RPG you're spending upwards of 20, 30 hours hearing about this big bad and how big his cock is and how he's gonna destroy/change everything
de34fc No.14551626
>when a final boss fight turns into a game of ping pong
Ikaruga and Ys: Oath in Felghana did this and it turned me on beyond belief
7d2251 No.14551775
Otogi 1's final boss gets a mention from me. He is a constant presence in the game, with the backstory of why things are fucked up beyond belief being tied to him and his enemies, the court sorcerers. The entire game is pretty crazy in terms of presentation, but the final battle takes place floating above a star that he was using to help achieve godhood. The actual battle is pretty good, and would almost qualify as a rival fight if his ability set weren't so much better than yours. He uses stuff like the magic originally used to send Raikoh to hell, some of the dragon homing magic, iirc, a dash which is just better, can actually block and does pretty good damage with his sword.
Otogi 2's final boss is good on the presentation end, but doesn't quite measure up to what Otogi 1 had gameplay wise. The boss is challenging, but also aggravating because it is a giant fox with a relatively small hit box. So you need to be in just the right spot to damage him, and he likes to move around, while having some really annoying attacks like summoning kamikaze enemies, and lightning on you.
84092d No.14551792
>>14550683
technically I guess Yaldaboath is an extra boss? can't you get a bad end where the game ends after the Shido fight?
>>14551710
no, this was actually a really bad fight…
>>14549704
even if ff3 sort of rail-roaded you into only bringing two classes to the fight.
b36aff No.14551869
Possibly the best final boss fight in Monster Hunter history tbh.
fd8fa0 No.14552003
>>14549738
>>14549750
Heck yeah! #feels #videoGamesAreArt
634dd7 No.14552136
>>14549759
I remember it took me 30 minutes to whittle away the first time I attempted that boss, AD is such a fucking health sponge it isn't even funny
634dd7 No.14552140
>>14551792
Ballos would've been fun if it weren't for the massive RNG factor those fucking angels put into the fight.
fce8ab No.14552150
>>14552003
shoo shoo goon, no one likes you, go back to kingdom cuck.
5c3253 No.14552266
>no way it's bubble
>try every other weapon twice
>try bubble and only miss because I'm a stupid faggot
>yeah no way it's bubble
>let's try every other weapon again
>finally realize it's bubble
And the fight really isn't much once you aren't a retard
6bf0be No.14553414
>>14552733
Shit game has shit bosses.
8485c3 No.14553444
>>14552033
Yo, that Shinryuu image gives me the idea for a final boss fight where the second phase has the world literally rotting away from it's power, and the only way to stop it is to kill the son of a bitch. The music that plays starts out quiet and slow, then turns into a crescendo playing the game's main melody.
596441 No.14553462
File: aacce7c3e910a5e⋯.jpg (Spoiler Image, 30.74 KB, 369x354, 123:118, What an incredibly wrong o….jpg)
>>14551792
No, you get the bad end if you sell out your friends during the interrogation with Sae right after Joker gets arrested.
I accidentally did that during my first playthrough because I got scared and thought it would be okay.
She may have fucked me over and scared the shit out of me when that first happened, but at least I still fucked her little sister later in the game.
0ff30a No.14553602
Last Final Boss I remember really enjoying was the final boss in Dungeon Travelers 2.
>She has 2 forms. The first form is made to counter a team build that is great against the second form
>Once you're past the first form the final boss has a varying degree of shit to fling at you. Attack debuffs that render your front line attackers useless, AOE attacks that can instant kill, full screen nuke that removes buffs, attacks very fast with crushing single hitting attacks that make her turn come back quickly, and a few other things.
>You must have 2 people slowing her down and defuffing her at all times or her DPS will overwhelm you.
>She has a bullshit full screen attack that deals tons of fire damage with a chance to inflict death. Make sure to have death block books on tank and healer for this reason.
>Once she gets down to half health, it turns into a DPS race. Every time her turn comes by, she'll use a full screen nuke that dispels your team. Now you need to prioritize who you keep alive while dealing as much damage as possible.
Won with only 3 of my 5 characters alive. Took me probably 15 tries to figure out a proper team and strategy to get past the first form and deal with the second. That's only her weakened form though. I believe you can fight her at full power at post game along with the other demon gods. I remember running into one that went first, put my whole team to sleep, and casted death on the whole party. I didn't even get a turn to act. 10/10 game
0484d2 No.14553662
The game was so god damn easy for the majority, but Magalor threw me a fucking curveball and I got my ass kicked until I memorized his patterns. My heart sank when I found out he had a second, harder to fight phase for the first time.
0484d2 No.14553669
>>14553662
>Magalor
I misspelled it. I meant Magolor. Polite sage.
4cf237 No.14553779
Brevon was FUN. And a hilarious difficulty spike.
>Steam release
>check discussions
>half the topics are casuals bitching about him or Mutant Serpentine
>about 1 in every 4 replies are agreeing that they're too hard
>the rest are various flavors of git gud
b643db No.14554570
HookTube embed. Click on thumbnail to play.
Dagoth Ur. Reminds me of Sauron, really. So powerful that he can't be stopped, so instead of fighting him you do something unthinkable: destroying a extremely potent source of power that could be used for world domination.
Xavier in Sengoku Rance. While the fight itself is nothing special, it's one of the most satisfying bosses to kill in any video game. Fucker had it coming. Also, that music.
>>14549738
Is Nier automata worth playing if I haven't played Drakengard or Nier?
a83d41 No.14558820
Doom, well the older ones. I mean icon of sin was fun and someone even made the fight with it even better even nudoom did bosses pretty well.
194583 No.14558906
>>14554570
>Is Nier automata worth playing if I haven't played Drakengard or Nier?
Yes, there's a few throwbacks and one important plot piece from Nier that you can read up on if your autism demands it, but the game takes place thousands of years later
089102 No.14559125
089102 No.14559153
>>14553706
You should have been able to join him.
>>14549799
Best OST of all goats.
688ca6 No.14560057
>>14554570
>Is Nier automata worth playing if I haven't played Drakengard or Nier?
No, but not because of that. It's just a garbage game.
688ca6 No.14560062
>>14549750
>>14549769
>>14549791
>>14550714
Is this all an elaborate ruse? Please tell me you're all being sarcastic.
9ee859 No.14560681
>>14560062
Grow some feelings, faggot.
6b97d4 No.14560738
Bowletta from Superstar Saga is a boss fight I always look back on as excellent. Two big bads (un)willingly fused together to create a bigger bad, a multi-stage fight, and excellent build up.
As a kid it was tough to slog through all of the Koopalings, then Fawful, just to get to Bowletta, which made it really feel like the epic grind of a grand adventure. Looking back, the fight, the whole game really, is pretty easy to mow through, but it still feels like there's supposed to be an element of challenge to it, it still has the 'final boss' feel to it.
bb005a No.14560853
>>14549770
FFCC was a trip of a game. It goes from
>Oh, this is pretty innocent and fun
to
>wait, where did the old man go from the Not Team Rocket group?
;_;
366afa No.14561015