What it says on the tin, what are some of your favorite final boss battles in gaming?
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What it says on the tin, what are some of your favorite final boss battles in gaming?
There are so many final boss battles that I love (for various different reasons) and can't really rank against each other, so I'll just name a few off the top of my head.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - (SPOILER)Snake vs Ocelot: Just two old and broken men duking it out on top of a ship in four phases, each phase of the fight being one big callback to MGS 1-4. I'm not quite as enamored with MGS and Kojima as most people, but I love this fight and consider it a satisfying conclusion to the MGS saga.
Ar nosurge:(SPOILER)Not because it's challenging, not because it has some unique mechanic, but simply because of the setting of the fight. Just some quick and shallow context: In this universe, songs can be used to perform magic. Your planet was destroyed in events preceding the game and you're all on an ark of sorts, finding a new home. You fight the final boss in space, outside of this giant ark, while the entire population of the ark is singing a song to create a new planet. This song is the music for the fight, and you see the planet slowly forming in the background. It probably sounds a lot worse on paper but I loved it.
Nier Automata - (SPOILER)The credits: I ain't kidding. The credits of the final ending play out as a bullet hell top-down shooter. At first, you're just one lonely ship against overwhelming amounts of projectiles, as a lone vocalist sings the (amazing) ending song. After dying a few times, you start to get messages from other players who have beaten the game. The game asks you if you want help. Inevitably, you choose to accept the help because it just gets too ridiculous to keep going on your own. Suddenly, you're accompanied by a bunch of other ships to help you, and as this happens the lone vocalist suddenly turns into a chorus of people singing the (still amazing) ending song.
Trails of Cold Steel 4:(SPOILER)Now, I'll preface this by saying, I love large-scale stories. I love massive team-ups of heroes and anti-heroes. So when the very last boss of Trails of Cold Steel 4 turned out to be almost 50 characters (including major antagonists and allies that are normally unplayable) that I've come to know and love throughout 9 games, all teaming up against one common enemy, I lost my trout. Even though I had to form teams and couldn't actually use every character. :p
FFX final boss run, because I'm a sucker for fights with emotional significance. Yeah Yu-Yevon was kind of out of nowhere, but I think after Jecht it makes sense to follow up with a no-name. It's not about the thing they're fighting, it's about all the friends they have to sacrifice to fight it.
Safer Sephiroth, not technically the final boss, but what I like about it is the whole party participates. I like a final boss that brings in the whole party because why would you even be like, "ok you guys stay in the car."
Mass Effect 2, the (SPOILER)human reaper was really scary the first time I fought it. I didn't know how to fight it and it was so HUGE and would pop its head out RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and shoot LASERS and it was very creepy looking.
Persona 3, because the arcana is the means by which all is revealed
FFVIII, SHE STOLE MY STATS DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YU GI OH I PLAYED FOR THOSE
https://youtu.be/sVa2_w3nhpA?t=233
Dunno about favorite, but one of my absolute top candidates is Hijiri Byakuren in Touhou 12: Unidentified Fantastic Object. Much as it's one of my least favorite games in the series to actually play, I cannot deny UFO absolutely smurfing NAILED the final boss battle against Byakuren. It's beautiful like no other fight in the series, really, with an outstanding final boss theme and incredibly memorable patterns.
As much as people want to trout on FF bosses for being too easy, FF bosses like Sephiroth and Kefka are among my favorite for the epic presentation of the battles. Actually add Zeromus to that too. I love the whole pre-battle prayer from all previous party members and then the music mixes themes from throughput the game so that it really feels like a culmination. In non-RPG final bosses, The Boss in MGS3 is a pretty great fight.
Ar Tonelico 2 has one of the prettiest and saddest final boss themes. I wish I played Ar Nosurge cause that sounds awesome.
Digimon World 3, after spending almost the entire game in the Digital World, save for one other dungeon. The final dungeon is in a Satellite in the real world. After fighting your way through it, the big bad's Digimon fuses with Satellite making Galactimon. And you final battle takes place in space. And the camera will pan around and behind your team is the Earth. You are literally the only standing between it and destruction. And the phase shift starts with Galatimon firing a laser at Earth and your mon takes the hit. And then my favorite cheesy trope happens the main theme starts playing as the dust clears. Your mon is standing there with one HP and the true final battle starts. I love it.
Bloodborne (SPOILER)Gehrman the First Hunter. Hands down one of the most atmospheric fights I've ever done. The hunter's dream is burning in the background. It's in one of the prettiest locations. There are white flowers everywhere and graves of past hunters littered on the ground. First two phases are frantic as two equal hunters standing toe to toe. The final phase he starts unloading new techniques you don't have. But it never feels overwhelming or unfair. Then they outdo themselves in the DLC with (SPOILER)Maria. Then there's the Moon Presence as the true final boss, but it's the same as any other beast boss you've fought before, so ehh.
Dark Souls 3, again it's very atmospheric. Fight at the end of the world or where ever that was. The first phase as you go up against different character builds and is pretty fun as he switches stances and tactics. And then the second phase starts with that piano piece that almost killed me because I had to stop and listen. And it hit me (quite literally) who we were fighting.