What's up with PB and crappy final boss?

[HoboForEternity]

from gothic 1,2 risen 1,2,3 to ELEX they all have crappy ish final boss.

the most absurd being risen 1, the game that i think PB's best combat ( at least when you are fighthing humanoid melee enemies 1 by 1 or 3 at most) they suddenly force us to play crappier version of legend of zelda boss, dropping whatever skills (both meta and in game) we learn during the whole of the game play.

 

[abnaxus]

It's what they do.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Sleeper and Hybrid weren't too bad. Risen 1 final boss is indeed one of the worst final bosses of any game that I've played precisely because of the problems you laid out. The end game for Risen 1 was such a shit show in general. First they negate my character progress as a Mage by giving me powerful loot that gives me free skill points into melee mastery and then they throw in a boss that doesn't even need those. Complete brainlet design.

 

[Harry Easter]

Some people never learn. In PB's case I imagine it goes always like this: "Shit, we need a boss and next month is the release! Quick, put some bulky dude in here!"

On a serious note: I really think this isn't their biggest priority. I think they create the world and the sidequests first and THEN the mainplot. Would explain, why those are always more interesting than the mainstory.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Who cares? The whole idea behind the "main boss" is a retarded hold-over from when games were "games". They are not games anymore for serious RPGs, they are simulations, alternate worlds, etc. So who needs to face some annoyingly hard entity at the end? I don't. This isn't why I play RPGs. The final boss should just be about closure of the story or of the journey, not some pain in the ass you need to deal with, ala Underrail or something.

 

[sullynathan]

retarded post above aside. PB doesn't have good combat systems. I was laughing hysterically when I fought that shitty Risen final boss. Gothic 2's final boss being one of the same dragons you already fought 3 or 4 times using th esame strategy to beat was lame, even worse is that all the dragons are glitched.

 

[Tigranes]

Most PB games become crappy at the end, so it's not really the boss itself.

 

[Mikeal]

Hey Undead Dragon was pretty cool.

 

[Beastro]

Sleeper and Hybrid weren't too bad. Risen 1 final boss is indeed one of the worst final bosses of any game that I've played precisely because of the problems you laid out. The end game for Risen 1 was such a shit show in general. First they negate my character progress as a Mage by giving me powerful loot that gives me free skill points into melee mastery and then they throw in a boss that doesn't even need those. Complete brainlet design.

Not just that, the pace of the game just drops off a cliff. 90% of the game is the first act (and 9.9% of what remains is the second).

 

[fantadomat]

Does it really matter,it is like 5 minutes at the end of the games?

 

[agentorange]

Does it really matter,it is like 5 minutes at the end of the games?

Every part of the game matters. Also the ending is the last thing you will experience so it is pretty important.

Who cares? The whole idea behind the "main boss" is a retarded hold-over from when games were "games".

This is stupid, as a whole, but as far as open world games go then, yeah, a final boss is kind of antithetical to the whole design. The rest of the game is built around approaching things at your own discretion, different approaches based on different builds, and so on, but then you are funneled into a boss fight that by necessity has to accommodate every single play-style and habit that the player developed up to that point. It's probably why the Risen 1 boss was designed the way it was, since it flattened all character development and made it winnable regardless of what decisions the player had made before then. It's also probably why most other open world games eschew a final boss in favor of a climactic event, and maybe have a final "boss" that is just a regular NPC, like Fallout 3/New Vegas, etc. Not to say it's not possible to have a great boss in an open world game, but it's far easier to design one in a game where you have a better idea how the player will be approaching the fight.

 

[fantadomat]

Every part of the game matters. Also the ending is the last thing you will experience so it is pretty important.

PB games are one of those that spend you well,at the end you are ready to brute force trough the enemy and finish the game. Nobody cares about the bosses in PB games,the games are all about exploration and levelling skills so you could kill baddies and explore more.

 

[Funposter]

Does it really matter,it is like 5 minutes at the end of the games?

The first and last hour of a game are probably the most important parts. Many people are willing to deal with middling quality if it has a satisfying payoff, and many will be able to propel themselves through hours of gameplay based on a strong opening. This applies to things like films and albums, too.

 

[Elex]

it's a secret plan: they want the end to scuck so people will remember how good is the early game and buy the next game for the early part.

 

[unfairlight]

Ending a PB game with a dialogue option is an awful idea. PB games are focused on combat so having the "final stretch" so to speak, where you venture out to unknown lands and finish it once and for all is quite important.
I don't think it's even about the final boss. It's just purely about that final stretch leading up to it. That stretch was done best in Gothic 2 and Risen 3 in my opinion. The final island in Risen 3 was a true high point although the ending was obviously rushed. Risen 1 was just straight up bad, Gothic 1 was lame cause they forced you into using a two handed weapon, something I had zero skill in so I just had to cheese the AI into following me one by one. Risen 2 and Elex were just meh with theirs.

 

[drgames]

Is not the combat system the true final boss?

 

[Tigranes]

Ending a PB game with a dialogue option is an awful idea. PB games are focused on combat so having the "final stretch" so to speak, where you venture out to unknown lands and finish it once and for all is quite important.
I don't think it's even about the final boss. It's just purely about that final stretch leading up to it. That stretch was done best in Gothic 2 and Risen 3 in my opinion. The final island in Risen 3 was a true high point although the ending was obviously rushed. Risen 1 was just straight up bad, Gothic 1 was lame cause they forced you into using a two handed weapon, something I had zero skill in so I just had to cheese the AI into following me one by one. Risen 2 and Elex were just meh with theirs.

Really? As someone who replayed PB classics many times, I was happy to just quit once the endless and pointless hack and slashing started. I don't think you play Risen 1 to get to the endless wave of lizards in the dungeon, at which point you are so powerful that every challenge is trivial anyway. You play Risen 1 for the first 10-20 hours, when you die to a single boar and run like hell from a wasp and scavenge cigarette butts all around town to get enough learning points so you can jump down a staircase without killing yourself. Same goes for any other PB game IMO.

 

[Harkin Hails]

I personally find that with PB games, it's the journey that matters.

Mostly cause I have played every PB game and can't recall ending moments from a single game..

 

[unfairlight]

Really? As someone who replayed PB classics many times, I was happy to just quit once the endless and pointless hack and slashing started. I don't think you play Risen 1 to get to the endless wave of lizards in the dungeon, at which point you are so powerful that every challenge is trivial anyway. You play Risen 1 for the first 10-20 hours, when you die to a single boar and run like hell from a wasp and scavenge cigarette butts all around town to get enough learning points so you can jump down a staircase without killing yourself. Same goes for any other PB game IMO.

Risen 1's last portion was awful for me because it was JUST hack and slash. There was nothing more, just hacking and slashing. Basically no worthwhile story, choice and consequence, exploration, nothing. Gothic 2 and Risen 3 still had some progression and story right up until the very end, making it worth it to stick with it. Plus I don't like leaving games uncompleted. Once I played 20 hours, I might as well finish it off and do the last 10-15 too.

 

[fantadomat]

Really? As someone who replayed PB classics many times, I was happy to just quit once the endless and pointless hack and slashing started. I don't think you play Risen 1 to get to the endless wave of lizards in the dungeon, at which point you are so powerful that every challenge is trivial anyway. You play Risen 1 for the first 10-20 hours, when you die to a single boar and run like hell from a wasp and scavenge cigarette butts all around town to get enough learning points so you can jump down a staircase without killing yourself. Same goes for any other PB game IMO.

Risen 1's last portion was awful for me because it was JUST hack and slash. There was nothing more, just hacking and slashing. Basically no worthwhile story, choice and consequence, exploration, nothing. Gothic 2 and Risen 3 still had some progression and story right up until the very end, making it worth it to stick with it. Plus I don't like leaving games uncompleted. Once I played 20 hours, I might as well finish it off and do the last 10-15 too.

Gothic 3 have the best end game for me. Nothing like charging buttnaked with a huge sword and undead army a city filled with your enemies.....all that in the name of your god .

 

[Tigranes]

Really? As someone who replayed PB classics many times, I was happy to just quit once the endless and pointless hack and slashing started. I don't think you play Risen 1 to get to the endless wave of lizards in the dungeon, at which point you are so powerful that every challenge is trivial anyway. You play Risen 1 for the first 10-20 hours, when you die to a single boar and run like hell from a wasp and scavenge cigarette butts all around town to get enough learning points so you can jump down a staircase without killing yourself. Same goes for any other PB game IMO.

Risen 1's last portion was awful for me because it was JUST hack and slash. There was nothing more, just hacking and slashing. Basically no worthwhile story, choice and consequence, exploration, nothing. Gothic 2 and Risen 3 still had some progression and story right up until the very end, making it worth it to stick with it. Plus I don't like leaving games uncompleted. Once I played 20 hours, I might as well finish it off and do the last 10-15 too.

I don't remember Risen 3 at all.

That's a very strange logic. If I am not enjoying myself, why force myself for another 10 hours - a not insignificant amount of time - just so that I have 'completed' it? If the game has clearly outlived its welcome in terms of challenge, mechanics, etc., it seems pointless to persist. Certainly, I persisted with Risen 1 the first time, because I wasn't sure if it would become good again. But by Elex, my 7th PB game, it was pretty easy to tell that there was no challenge or anything quality left in the last few hours except the nonsense story. I did finish it, but only because I could rush past the remainder in an hour or two.

 

[NicholasAH]

Id argue Risen 3 boss is the worse of the series. Id rate every PB Boss from least to worst

1.) Gothic I
2.) Gothic II
3.) Elex
4.) Risen 2
5.) Risen 1
6.) Risen 3

I didn't include Gothic 3 cause there really isn't a end boss; just do a few certain key things and genocide the other faction.

 

[sullynathan]

I didn't include Gothic 3 cause there really isn't a end boss

That's the best one. No shit boss, end the game when you want to

 

[Jimmious]

Well, PB probably doesn't expect a lot of people to see their final bosses so they don't care too much

 

[Big Wrangle]

PB made good bosses in the first place? :D