I recently finished Avernum 1 for the first time, and I honestly think the final fight, assassinating Emperor Hawthorne in the Spire, was the best in any RPG I've played. There were two things special about it: after spending the whole game in the deep caverns, cast down as a criminal in the eyes of Hawthorne's Empire, you now ascend to the exact opposite location, a Spire towering above the surface. And the other thing that was cool was the understanding that this assassination was only the beginning of something, because the Empire would surely react with a devastating punitive invasion of the caverns.
So the important parts of the final fight or area in an RPG that I can think of right now, are:
1)Your motive to go there and fight the antagonist. This can be personal, or the antagonist is an enemy for the whole setting. Quite a few RPGs go with both, even Planescape asserts that TTO is slowly killing the planes.
2)The location's thematic aspect, such as Hawthorne's Spire.
3)The difficulty of getting there. Planescape probably tops the list for this one.
4)Special allies or artefacts that can be brought to bear, such as confronting the Master in Fallout with the research demonstrating mutant sterility.
5) Interesting things happen as a result of both success or failure. I don't think ''Normality is restored'' is a great outcome as far as an interesting ending is concerned.
What did I miss?
So the important parts of the final fight or area in an RPG that I can think of right now, are:
1)Your motive to go there and fight the antagonist. This can be personal, or the antagonist is an enemy for the whole setting. Quite a few RPGs go with both, even Planescape asserts that TTO is slowly killing the planes.
2)The location's thematic aspect, such as Hawthorne's Spire.
3)The difficulty of getting there. Planescape probably tops the list for this one.
4)Special allies or artefacts that can be brought to bear, such as confronting the Master in Fallout with the research demonstrating mutant sterility.
5) Interesting things happen as a result of both success or failure. I don't think ''Normality is restored'' is a great outcome as far as an interesting ending is concerned.
What did I miss?