next »

[Tanner]

The final boss of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter stands out in my mind as pretty lame. I think this was more because the one in the first game was so amazing that it could never live up. There was nothing really special about it other than that it flew around and was annoying as hell.

[ChevyRay]

I was rather disappointed that the final colossi just... stood there. I was expecting something giant and agile, the epitome of the colossus, able to move quickly and provide the player with a cunning challenge to take down this giant of giants. I didn't like the statue, I found several of the colossi previous to this one much more epic and interesting than this one.


This whole final end fight just kind of annoyed me, though I did enjoy listening to the little orbs chatter and Glados making fun of me. The fight itself didn't woo me, though, and I found the rest of the game much more interesting than the climax.

[Melly]

Did you not see the colossus launching fireballs at you?

[ChevyRay]

Yeah. I still just didn't like him very much, I was seriously hoping so hard that there was going to be a "second" final boss, and then there just... wasn't. The ending was fantastic, though!

[moonmagic]

If I could change one thing in Super Mario World, it would be to make the koopa kids harder.

I don't want to derail this topic, because I really like it, but I enjoy the bosses in the first three Mario games quite a bit. I think it keeps the focus on the design of the stages and it's a nice, satisfying exclamation point at the end of a well-constructed sentence. It doesn't last long, but it gives you closure: "I HAVE CAUGHT THE WAND; I HAVE SQUISHED THE TOWER GUARDIAN."

[Bood_war]

I know that this is disappointing boss battles, but I just ant to say that Arkham Asylum's battles were great.

[Hempuli‽]

Topic derailing is forbidden, especially for ants.

I must unfortunately agree a bit on the Colossi thing. I loved the beginning with the fireballs, and the colossi proved out to be quite a challenge, but the fact its feet were stuck was somewhat a letdown, somehow.

[TeeGee]

I was also dissapointed by the last colossus. All it really was was a static, prolonged platforming puzzle with arbitrary solution. I had the feeling I'm fighting more with the game's controls than with some actual in-game threat.

Fallout 3 has absolutely terrible final boss/climax but that's obvious.

Mass Effect was also disappointing here. After seeing the planet-sized mechanical octopus, I really hoped for some epic battle. But nope. You tell the final boss to kill himself and then you fight his second form, which is basically the love child of a techno-flea and spiderman.   

[pgil]

then you fight his second form, which is basically the love child of a techno-flea and spiderman.   

I've never played Mass Effect, but that sounds awesome.

[BoxedLunch]

The destroyer in borderlands, it just generally sucks. It's hard, and I'm not being a sore loser. It's boring hard, not epic hard. There is no way to avoid attacks very well or anything. It's like I wanna be the guy * 12. What ruins it more is, the other large boss in the game (The Rakk Hive) was easily one of my favorite bosses of all time.

[V]

then you fight his second form, which is basically the love child of a techno-flea and spiderman.   

I've never played Mass Effect, but that sounds awesome.

First of all, play Mass Effect NOW. And it is awesome. But it wasn't that hard of a final boss.

[Drew]

Risen had an absolutely terrible end boss. 

The end boss --who, by the way, was totally going to destroy the entire island with his awesome powers-- stood motionless in the middle of a circle and made the floor tiles disappear and reappear. He had some other attacks, but they did less damage than just about every other enemy in the game, and by this time you have about 6000 health potions.

But don't worry! The game tells you exactly how to beat him with onscreen prompts!  BLOCK THE PROJECTILES WITH YOUR SHIELD!  DON'T STAND ON FLASHING TILES!  HIT THE BOSS WITH YOUR HAMMER!

Come to think of it, none of the Piranha Bytes games have had very good bosses.

[Seth]

Snake Rattle 'n' Roll had a final boss that was just a foot like you fight throughout the rest of the game but it was impossible... at least it seemed impossible when I was a kid, apparently you had to hit it a million times without missing once

[Bood_war]

The final fight of Arkham Asylum was somewhat disappointing in gameplay, but the story aspect of it was pretty badass. Especially the final cutscence (titan joker + fist + explosive gel = :D )

[inkBot]

The most disappointing final boss (and ending for that matter) I have ever faced was the stupid dragon from Dark Messiah. I loved the game, some awesome moments in that game ("running-from-giant-worm" anyone?)

Spoilers ahead.
Now it was a long time since I finished it so memory might be a bit skewed, but there we're several things that just destroyed the boss. First and foremost, it didn't feel like an end-boss at all, because throughout the most of the game the story has revolver around you being the Dark Messiah, son of some-evil-guy-blah, and that you should/could/must save the world from some-evil-guy-blah. Then you come to the final boss, but it doesn't feel like it's the last boss, because in your head you go "this isn't some-evil-guy-blah so this isn't the last boss" and you kill him easily, then you have a decision to make, good or evil? Doesn't matter because they use the same cut-scene (which is pretty much just a static world-view and some light effects) and a different text to read. Weeeh.

And if you have a bow, there is no challenge to the boss at all. Just keep your distance and fire away (endless quiver).


Elpizo, on the other hand, is a very well done end-boss, if a bit on the easy-side. What makes him great is the build up. First you climb a huge tower, and fight the previous bosses (whose final words are a pretty clever touch) and then you get up to the Tree Chamber. What makes this boss great, for me, is the transformation into the first form. This is timed nicely with the battle music, and when the fight starts it really does feel kind of epic. I need to get my hands on MMZ 3 and 4.

[Copyrite]

Elpizo, on the other hand, is a very well done end-boss, if a bit on the easy-side.

Oh hey a big stationary thing that hardly ever attacks, and when it does you can just run to the other side of the room. Elpizo gives you way too many safe spots, which kind of breaks the tradition in Megaman final bosses.

What makes him great is the build up. First you climb a huge tower, and fight the previous bosses (whose final words are a pretty clever touch) and then you get up to the Tree Chamber.

Level is a huge pain in the ass, tower formation has been done before and boss refights are a standard in Megaman games. Every boss says pretty much the same thing when defeated, and if there's something I hate it's repetition.

What makes this boss great, for me, is the transformation into the first form. This is timed nicely with the battle music, and when the fight starts it really does feel kind of epic. I need to get my hands on MMZ 3 and 4.

Transformation, music and epicness aren't everything. Granted, if the boss and his attacks are challenging, fun, interesting and fresh, those things add to the effect, maybe giving the boss even a psychological edge. Elpizo would have been good, but suffered from being a cheaply designed Darth Fanboy-Magnet.

Rant over. Get Z4, Kraft's one kickass boss in every way you can think of.

[inkBot]

I will definately get my hands on parts 3 and 4. They seem to go cheaply on ebay (even though most sellers only ship to the US ). I guess I could play them on emulator, but that's kind off like eating pizza with a spoon.

But going back to Elpizo, I stand by my opinion off the fight being well-crafted. I did not say he was a hard boss, on the contrary. He is easy. Rare occurrence when the first form of a boss is actually slightly tougher than the final form. Maybe it could be considered a form of the 'penultimate boss' model mentioned earlier.

You said that transformation, music and epicness aren't everything (and I'm not saying you're wrong), but the same logic also works backwards. A boss doesn't need to be extremely difficult to be a satisfying experience, although it adds much to the experience. However, a boss fight that was too easy for you and whose build up didn't engage you will ultimately fail at entertaining you. Elpizo's build up really worked for me so I didn't mind the lapse in difficulty.

Level is a huge pain in the ass, tower formation has been done before and boss refights are a standard in Megaman games. Every boss says pretty much the same thing when defeated, and if there's something I hate it's repetition.

Personally, I have pretty much stopped caring if something 'has been done before' and look instead at how well it has been implemented (whatever 'it' is). Because, when you look at things, everything is derivative, and I mean everything.

It's a common theory that there are only so many different kinds of stories you can tell, though the numbers vary greatly depending on what source you look at. If we then look at games both narrative and gameplay have the same limitation in the long run, with the exception that we can mix it up with combining narratives and gameplay elements that haven't been used together before (or used together, much, before). Ultimately, there are only so many combinations that can be used, though I wouldn't even try to figure out how many.

My, longwinded, point is that it doesn't really matter if something has been done before if it's been done well enough. A substantial amount of singleplayer games follow the classic Hero's Journey, which is fine. It's how you implement the twists and turns that makes it good.

[Copyrite]

But going back to Elpizo, I stand by my opinion off the fight being well-crafted. I did not say he was a hard boss, on the contrary. He is easy. Rare occurrence when the first form of a boss is actually slightly tougher than the final form. Maybe it could be considered a form of the 'penultimate boss' model mentioned earlier.

You said that transformation, music and epicness aren't everything (and I'm not saying you're wrong), but the same logic also works backwards. A boss doesn't need to be extremely difficult to be a satisfying experience, although it adds much to the experience. However, a boss fight that was too easy for you and whose build up didn't engage you will ultimately fail at entertaining you. Elpizo's build up really worked for me so I didn't mind the lapse in difficulty.

I don't have a problem with easy boss fights, but we're talking about Megaman here. The series had at the time of Z2's release about 15 years of tradition in hard boss fights. The Zero series was supposed to be a spiritual successor to the classic games, especially in terms of difficulty. Then comes Zero 2's final level, which contains a huge pushover. For the first time in the series' history, the learning curve goes down during the final level. No story, music or epicness compensates that - it's unforgivable.

I do like Elpizo's first form though. It would be perfect if the story was other than "Come to the dark side, we have cookies".

Level is a huge pain in the ass, tower formation has been done before and boss refights are a standard in Megaman games. Every boss says pretty much the same thing when defeated, and if there's something I hate it's repetition.

Personally, I have pretty much stopped caring if something 'has been done before' and look instead at how well it has been implemented (whatever 'it' is). Because, when you look at things, everything is derivative, and I mean everything.

It's a common theory that there are only so many different kinds of stories you can tell, though the numbers vary greatly depending on what source you look at. If we then look at games both narrative and gameplay have the same limitation in the long run, with the exception that we can mix it up with combining narratives and gameplay elements that haven't been used together before (or used together, much, before). Ultimately, there are only so many combinations that can be used, though I wouldn't even try to figure out how many.

My, longwinded, point is that it doesn't really matter if something has been done before if it's been done well enough. A substantial amount of singleplayer games follow the classic Hero's Journey, which is fine. It's how you implement the twists and turns that makes it good.

Alright, I could have been a bit more specific in that quote. Let me rephrase: There have been many tower-like final levels in Megaman games before, and Z2's isn't one of the better ones. For example, I've seen better, fairer and more creative instakill spike placement and the falling off ladders mechanic is overused. As for the bosses' lines, I've seen better and most importantly non-repetitive writing in, say, Zero 1. Finally, the repetition I'm talking about is the kind that happens in a single game. It means to me that the developers have been lazy.

But I do agree in your point. I don't care either if something has been done before, as long as it's done well. In our case in point, Zero 2, I know that things could have been a lot better - honestly, I can't name a single thing that Z2 did better than Z1. Which is why I consider Z2 a downgrade, and therefore disappointing.


Megaman ZX has a tower final level with a twist (it's a huge elevator going up). The eight bosses' final words fit the characters. But the final boss, oh my. I still remember my first few times against him. Fear, panic, claustrophobia. All from a perfect combination of audio, video, writing, design and gameplay. Mostly the last two.

This is what Elpizo could have been, but wasn't.

[inkBot]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Megaman fan and there are few games in the main storyline I haven't played (namely X7, X8, MMZ3, MMZ4 and MMZX:A), but I would not go as far as to say that MMZ2's easy endboss is unforgivable. Disappointing? Yeah, it could be harder. Unforgivable? No.

It was a while since I beat ZX but I don't remember the final boss being much difficult there either. If you ask me the entire series difficulty has been on a slight decline for a while. Although I don't think it is particularly noticeable if you're not an avid Megaman fan. I didn't have much problem with Megaman 9, even though I'd heard a lot of people talking about how difficult it was, but my friend (who doesn't play a lot of Megaman games) tried it and let's just say he didn't get very far.

I'm sensing we're straying from the topic, so I'm gonna go find a really disappointing boss.

[Copyrite]

It was a while since I beat ZX but I don't remember the final boss being much difficult there either.

Unlike Elpizo, Serpent's second form didn't allow you to hang on the furthest wall and blast away.

I've played MM1-7, MMX1-3 and MMZ1-ZXA, and the problem with Z2 is they've never given the player so much free space during the final battle. From my point of view, what Megaman final bosses usually do is they limit your movements very strictly. Elpizo didn't. That broke the final boss for me.

But it's all subjective, I guess. Looks like I didn't ruin your experience yet, so let's stop before any damage is done.