How many times have you gotten to a final boss in a game(doesn’t have to be an RPG) and thought “That’s it?!” It seems that many games have final bosses that seem weak when compared with the rest of the game. A lot seem poorly designed. Even in my favorite RPGs, most final bosses are simply that way because they’re just another three-headed, many-toothed freak, but far stronger. I’ve reached a point where I want to go “Don’t give a monster! Give me a villain!” Even with Saga, Sestren was a huge disappointment when compared with the Atolm Dragon or the anti-Lagi’s guarding Sestren. How many times have you played a Castlevania game, and Dracula wasn’t what you thought he should be? Why is Sephiroth so special just because he turns into a big blob at the end and loves his mother?
So what would you say were the best monsters and villains in a game? I think I might even make this an article in my website. For me, the best monsters are the sixteen colossi of Shadow of the Colossus and the Guardian and Atolm Dragons of Panzer Dragoon. The colossi because they don’t have minions to send after you and aren’t even evil. They’re just giant animals just trying to live life. The Guardian and Atolm Dragons because they’re beautifully designed and terrifyingly powerful. The best villains for me are the Queen of Ico and Crayman. The Queen because she’s not the typical ugly, cackling villain but beautiful and majestic. Crayman because, even though he’s evil, he’s also caring and noble.
I would instantly say that Ramirez from SoA would have to be my favorite villain not just as a character but as someone you ended up fighting near the end of the game. It could have been that I was just significantly under leveled but I found that fight particularly hard.
The Queen of Ice from Enchanted Arms was actually quite a memorable battle and villain. The battle goes through a couple forms and each required different tactics. It seems she was more than just some power crazy figure but had more going on in the background.
I as always disappointed that fighting games such as VF, Tekken, Soul Calibur, and DOA4 recently have had very generic bosses. How many time can you fight Dural, a faceless entity more or less. Soul Calibur 3 had a more interesting boss than previous games which just ended up tossing fire based monstrosities at you. Don’t get me started on DOA4’s cheap Alpha 152 though.
If anyone has played One Must Fall 2097 (free download now) for the PC back during the mid 90’s, it not only had a very cohesive and semi-intriguing plot for a fighting game which already says a lot, but the last boss was this experimental machine that was hinted at throughout your entire campaign; and when you see him, Nova, you immediately get that sense of awe and power emanating from his figure.
[quote=“Felix”].I would instantly say that Ramirez from SoA would have to be my favorite villain not just as a character but as someone you ended up fighting near the end of the game. It could have been that I was just significantly under leveled but I found that fight particularly hard.
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QFT, partially. The last boss of SoA had a hideous weakness: he had only one attack that hit all of your party at once, and it did very little damage. If the last boss retained Silver Eclipse, it would have been much, much harder. At least, if Justice Shield wasn’t so broken…
Ninja Gaiden’s final boss is fairly easy if you have any healing items left whatsoever.
I haven’t played the game, but the final boss for Segaga is nuts! Watch the video on youtube and you’ll see what I mean.
Also, fighting Apocalypse in X-Men vs Street Fighter was pretty intense too. That was the first time I fought a boss like that in a fighting game. Onslaught was even worse in Marvel vs Capcom because he had 2 forms (and was much more cheezier)
Of course one cannot forget the final battle in Panzer Dragoon
I really enjoyed most of the fights in PDS. The Guardian Dragon, any fight with Atolm, the battle with the Energ after leaving the Uru Lab, facing off against the Grig Orig… PDS has some of the greatest fights in gaming history, as far as I’m concerned. I actually quite enjoyed the Sestren fight, as well.
The Queen in ICO was an incredibly atmospheric fight, as was facing off against all of the Horned Boys right before her. Of course, every single Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus was brilliant.
The final battle against the Domz High Priest in Beyond Good & Evil was especially delicious. One of the freakiest designs I’ve seen in a long, long time, and as was the standard for the game, everything about the fight was perfect, both in terms of its gameplay design and relevance to the storyline. That game had a lot of other memorable encounters, as well. I loved the Domz Sea Serpent, and facing off against Kehk in the mechanical spider was amazing as well. But still, nothing can compare to that final battle.
One more mention, the final fight against Guildenstern in Vagrant Story was quite spectacular. Also, Sydney was just a fantastic, multi-layered antagonist.
Those are some of the main highlights that come to mind.