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Final Fantasy's Top 5 Superbosses
For those who like the gameplay in the Final Fantasy games, superbosses are a great feature to have. Ideally, they test your skill and knowledge of the combat system to make you utilize your resources to their utmost potential. Some superbosses in the series have done a good job of this, others not so much. So let me present to you, the Top 5 Superbosses that I feel have done this very well.
From Final Fantasy VIII, we have Omega Weapon, the only enemy in the game that doesn't go down too quickly if you just spam your Limit Breaks. With more than a million HP, unless you're very fast and efficient you will be exposed to Omega Weapon's formidable ability loadout - Megiddo Flame does a fixed 9998 damage to all party members, Gravija takes a lot of your HP and Terra Break is 15 hits of severe defense-ignoring damage to the entire party.
I know, I know, he has a fixed attack pattern, making him very predictable. True, knowing his attack pattern makes him a lot easier. But on the contrary, not knowing his pattern means you're in for a hell of a fight. One fight where you can really go all-out in Final Fantasy VIII.
Out of all the many, many good superboss battles in Final Fantasy X, I found the Dark Magus Sisters to be the most interesting and well-crafted, especially when fighting all three of them at the same time. Boss battles with multiple targets to hit tend to be the better ones, and the Dark Magus Sisters are no exception. Every sister has a different way of destroying you, making fighting the trio quite a challenge. Dark Mindy is the most evasive enemy in the game and hits you with status effects and a death-inducing Passado. Dark Sandy's Razzia is immensely powerful and she can also petrify and shatter your characters. Dark Cindy also has a very strong Camisade move and can initiate the unsurvivable Delta Attack when all three sisters are alive - this move has to be blocked by an aeon, otherwise it will definitely kill you!
The combat system of Final Fantasy X has the potential to be very strategic, however this rarely comes into play during the main storyline. It does shine in its superboss battles, though, and a good setup and strategy can go a long way. The Dark Magus Sisters are one such battle.
The most classic and well-known of all superbosses in the series. Emerald WEAPON has been terrorizing players since the game first came out and with attacks and an AI that make this foe very frightening, it definitely deserves a spot on this list. A well-prepared party should be able to take him out before the 20 minute time limit runs out, but Emerald will still put up a tough fight. One wrongly-timed heal or failure to deal with the eyes can result in a quick death.
This is the series' first truly well-thought-out superboss with a behaviour that is not easy to see through, and attacks that can induce nightmares to newbies. Aire Tam Storm ranks as one of the greatest trolling moments to anyone who fought this monster without prior knowledge. Emerald WEAPON is not a particularly difficult boss, but a very memorable one nonetheless.
Often cited as the hardest superboss fight in Final Fantasy, the five Judge Magisters from Final Fantasy XII have grown quite infamous amongst the more hardcore Final Fantasy players. Sadly, they cannot be fought in the European or North American releases of the game, as they are only fightable in the International + Zodiac Job System version of the game. However, these guys are so strong that I could not possibly leave them out of this list.
Unlike other bosses in Final Fantasy XII that were mostly a marathon, the Judges don't have skyrocketing HP values. The weakest of them, Ghis, only has approximately 120'000 HP. However, they are still quite fearsome enemies; if you don't take them out quickly enough, they will throw Elixirs on themselves for a full heal! And with an insane damage output on all five judges, you will be hard-pressed trying to find an opening to take out even just one of the five before it's too late and they outright overwhelm you. They have their weaknesses and exploiting them is most likely going to be a key to success, but it's not going to be easy. See this is how you make a superboss fight: don't make it last forever, make it a short battle, no longer than 15 minutes, but really difficult and challenging while it lasts.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Final Fantasy X-2 has the best postgame out of all Final Fantasy games. The Via Infinito really pushes you to your limits and overgrinding for it is literally impossible as even at Level 99 with all the best accessories (besides the Iron Duke, obviously) this dungeon can end you in mere seconds if you lose concentration. And no other enemy in this dungeon is as fearsome as Chac - and when I say Chac I refer to the non-oversoul version.
Chac is fought on Level 80 of the Via Infinito and is a superb example of a well-designed superboss. She only has three attacks and yet every single one of her attacks is a danger to be considered and only by finding a counter to all three at the same time. It may sound simple but it is a very difficult task. Stony Glare ignores all immunities and petrifies its target, no questions asked. Her regular Bash attack can quickly shatter any petrified party members and also deals heavy physical damage, far more than any defensively weak dressphere can handle. Finally, Heaven's Cataract is her most devastating attack, dealing very strong magical damage to (probably) the entire party, shattering petrified characters, as well as causing several stat-downs that most likely make you unable to hit her, dodge her attacks, or even just survive any of her next attacks.
And did I mention that you fight her in random encounters as well?
Yet, despite Chac being easily one of the most memorable superbosses, there are about a thousand ways to cheese her; from Cat Nip to staggerlocking to bribing to Delay Buster, the ways are endless. This is where I present to you Almighty Shinra, the one superboss that may be even better than Chac.
Almighty Shinra is exclusive to the International and HD Remaster versions of Final Fantasy X-2. You first have to go through an extensive quest chain in the Creature Creator until you eventually defeat the almighty Monster King, prompting Shinra to take his place. The result is Almighty Shinra, a superpowered fiend even stronger than anything you will find in the Via Infinito. And also, in my humble opinion, the best superboss in Final Fantasy.
Shinra has access to a variety of attacks that simply tear right through you: Clione hits random party members 10 times for strong physical damage, Ultima does what it always does, Full Break weakens your party members by quite a significant amount, and he can also put himself in Haste. And that's only his first phase. Later on during the battle he can also use Final Impact and Fireworks. Final Impact severely damages your HP and MP and is difficult to recover from. Fireworks doesn't care one bit about your defenses and just hits for insane damage, unless you're lucky and it misses.
Shinra has 275'000 HP, so it's nothing you can't whittle down. However, his defenses and overall stats are top level so you need a good deal of accuracy and defense-ignoring abilities if you want to deal any worthwile damage to him. Ontop of all that, he has Auto-Regen which heals around 8000 HP every so often. So forget any marathon strategies, forget about focusing on keeping yourself alive indefinitely, you need to damage him, and damage him quickly. But that leaves you vulnerable! You gotta find that balance, that balance that allows you to damage him without being torn to pieces at the same time. It's very hard to find but very rewarding if you do.
Final Fantasy X-2 has very good superbosses, between Chac, Paragon, Shinra, Angra Mainyu, Azi Dahaka and all the extra bosses from the Youth League Tournament. Major Numerus is certainly the most difficult, but Almighty Shinra is the most well-designed. When Numerus only hits you with damage so high you need a dozen Megalixirs to keep yourself alive, Shinra damages you hard enough to make it a challenge to stay alive while still pressing you to damage him lest all your efforts go to naught at the hands of his merciless Auto-Regen. And don't you dare forget to dispel his Haste; nothing is more terrifying than a hasted Almighty Shinra. And with that, he easily gets the Number 1 spot on this list.
So what did you think of this list? Would you have arranged them differently? How many did you face and conquer?
