RED_NOVA'S PROFILE

Please leave a comment below telling me what your favorite color is.

You see, the reason I'm asking is because, while I was working on Soul Sunder, I realized that the main dungeon of the game, Purgatory, is meant to reflect the darker corners of the human mind. So why would I ask about the color specifically? And what does that have to do with Soul Sunder? Well, my friend, the answer is quite simple: Each color reflects a different human emotion. Red, for example, reflects anger and rage. Blue can represent sadness. Black represents a void, or total oblivion. Those are, obviously, examples. The human mind contains such a broad variety of emotions. So when I designed the different strata of the dungeon, what I actually want you to do is post below the name of the worst game you have ever played. This is actually a test to see if you read long-winded posts before replying. Do not follow any other instructions on any other part of this post. So, as you can see, I like to think that Purgatory is a well-designed dungeon from bother a gameplay standpoint and an artistic standpoint.

In summary, now that you've read the whole paragraph, please post below your personal favorite game on RMN that you believe holds a high amount of artistic quality. Don't post your favorite color. This is a test to see if you read an entire post before responding. Believe it or not, many people see an instruction given at the beginning and mentally shut out all other information. If you passed this test, then you are very good at examining a post. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey.

author=RyaReisender
Everytime someone complains about bad voice acting I feel like linking this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAtC1SzWSXg

Why...? Why did you make me realize this existed? Oh god, my ears... MY EARS!!
I just recovered from this abomination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtzlKJ1dObU (<-- NSFW language) and now... I gotta gouge out my ears. Be right back.


Anyway, I'm back and my ears no longer exist. I think I have time to go back on topic before I have to go to the hospital. I really liked how Etrian Odyssey Untold handled it's final boss in Story Mode. Your characters gained super powers, but all it was was a major damage boost. The strategy for beating it didn't change at all. And after you beat the boss, if you wanted a challenge, you could go back and fight the final boss again WITHOUT the damage boost.


Another good example of a final boss, if we can deviate from RPGs a bit, was Metal Gear Rising: Revengance. The final boss had multiple forms, story cutscenes in between forms (Which were cheesy as hell, but that's not the point), and awesome music that told the story of the boss as you were fighting.

I would like to call everyone's attention to these two vids depicting awesome final battles:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzSa3jf2oiQ
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzVt8LEHddo

Regardless of your opinion of what should or should not be on the list, you have to agree on the man's reasoning.

Now excuse me, I have to go to the hospital.

author=unity
I have a question regarding this very subject with one of my own games (hope that's okay ^^;;)

I wanted to do something similar to the Star Ocean 2 thing, where there's a sword in the final dungeon that's sealing away a significant amount of the last boss's power. You are warned that if you pull the sword, the last boss will become much stronger. You get a great sword by doing so (possibly the best in the game) but it doesn't make up for how much harder the boss gets. This way, more casual players can still beat the game and those wanting a real teeth-grinding challenge can also be satisfied.

My question is, does this idea work? Should I worry that it's weird, from a story perspective? (As in, would it make the characters look dumb if they take the sword?) And can I do it without making a separate ending for those players who took the challenging route, or should I throw in something extra for them?

In my opinion, yes, that would be really weird from a story perspective... But I see what you're trying to do. From a pure gameplay perspective that would be a viable situation. Hm... What if you took the opposite approach?

What if you have the sword already at an earlier point in the game, and you place it in a location to severely weaken the final boss? To make the choice harder, you would have to have some kind of bonus to the weapon itself. Does the weapon grant some special ability that is really effective against the boss?

Both options would make sense from a gameplay standpoint. If you're worried about the story, I think you should go with the option where you give up the sword instead.

A final boss is supposed to be the endgame. The grand finale. The final exam to see if you've learned everything the game had to teach you. Simple having a hard boss with high stats just doesn't cut it. Challenging =/= hard.

If my strategy is correct, I shouldn't have to lose because my numbers weren't high enough. I don't feel accomplished beating a final boss by spending many monotonous hours grinding and getting the best equipment, spells, etc. My approach to the final boss doesn't change. The numbers do. That's not satisfying.

What DOES give the feeling of accomplishment is reading the boss' tactics, and adjusting my strategy accordingly. In one phase of the final boss, maybe a barrier pops up that deflects all magical attacks. Later, he switches elemental affinities and has a different set of strengths and weaknesses. Maybe the boss starts adopting tactics that previous bosses had. As the battle gets closer to completion, the boss gets desperate and casts a spell that regenerates his health little by little, forcing you to attack with greater ferocity to wipe away that last chunk of health.

You beat a boss like THAT, and it gives you a MUCH more satisfying feeling than beating a boss with super high stats.

LockeZ has a point about balancing for having nearly every powerup available. You should definitely do that, but it's very easy to overshoot it and make the battle easy as pie with all the powerups.. To me, the best kind of bosses will still kick your ass even if you're ten levels above the recommended range. It's one thing to have all the powerups in the game. But if you don't know how to use them efficiently, you're no different than the casual gamer who just wants to beat the game.

So yes, the final boss should be super challenging. But not in the way that requires intense grinding to beat. Give the boss a wide variety of abilities. Maybe some alternate forms. The final boss is what will leave a lasting impression on the player about your game. If the final boss is too easy, it's like running out of breath when trying to sing. It could be wonderful singing, but you'll go out with a wimpwer than with a bang.

author=CashmereCat
All of your games have been added. Lately I've been working a lot on my own game and managing an event over on RMN, and also watching a lot of anime. But I mean to get through this list again super-quickly, super-soon.

RMN? Where's that? That sounds like a befuddling place...