Decline Final Dungeons Suck as a Concept

[StaticSpine]

When you are at the end of the game, you already know who the final boss is and want to beat the shit out of him to see those sweet satisfying ending slides. You've done a lot of shit getting there and you're oh so prepared.

But almost always before you're allowed to fight the big baddie you are presented with a long-ass boring final dungeon, castle, or some other shit with more trash mobs, some mini-bosses, and stupid puzzles.

I never got why. It kills the pace and the tension. By the time you get there, you've already done all that stuff to death along your walkthrough. Why put the player in this situation is beyond me.

 

[Nortar]

What is your solution?
The Big Bad should appear in front of you for one final duel the moment you learn of his existence?

My pet peeves are similar though.
What annoys me is not the dungeon before the final showdown, but the loot in the said dungeon with coppers and random trash like it's a fucking starting area.

 

[MerchantKing]

It's simple. Just make the game one single dungeon and put the boss at the end.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Bosses and final Bosses suck too.

 

[__scribbles__]

But almost always before you're allowed to fight the big baddie you are presented with a long-ass boring final dungeon, castle, or some other shit with more trash mobs, some mini-bosses, and stupid puzzles.

I never got why. It kills the pace and the tension. By the time you get there, you've already done all that stuff to death along your walkthrough. Why put the player in this situation is beyond me.

Because the devs ran out of time/money/ideas/whatever so it ends up either being a rushed copy-paste job or a mess of new elements or mechanics with no build-up or context. It makes sense that the bad guy/group would live in a heavily fortified place, storming it should be climactic and the ultimate test of your abilities and knowledge.

Final dungeons don't suck as a concept and most of them suck because game development with finite resources sucks. They don't have to suck just because most of them do.

 

[Vorark]

I find it to be a recurring problem in those sprawling rpgs that take 2498457 hours to complete. By the time you reach the so called final dungeon you just wanna be done with it, probably the same as the developers.

 

[Poseidon00]

Nah final dungeons are fun. Especially when they have hidden bosses of their own that outshine the final fight.

 

[Sergio]

I feel that this is a very annoying thing in JRPG games, for some reason the developers feel the need to make the final dungeon the longest, most annoying, piece of shit place in the game. Just so when you reach the end, you're more upset with them over whatever the game's antagonist did.

I don't mind a concept of a final dungeon, I mean it's another place to explore, but I hate when it's made as obnoxious as possible on purpose.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think part of the problem is that dungeons themselves often no longer serve their original purpose. They used to be challenging affairs that required expending finite resources, wearing you down before the final encounter, making it a struggle of your worn out party against the emperor in his place of power. Instead, these days they're just another place to collect loot and xp, and right before you face the boss you save the game, heal everyone to full health and mana, and sure, sell the player some fucking potions while you're at it. At that point, you may as well have stuck the boss right outside town; you'd be just as 'worn down' from strolling out of a nice inn.

 

[deuxhero]

Bosses and final Bosses suck too.

Wasn't the reason for ME3's ending just happening that they thought final bosses were too "gamey"?

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Bosses and final Bosses suck too.

Wasn't the reason for ME3's ending just happening that they thought final bosses were too "gamey"?

The lack of a final boss is the last of the problems of ME3's ending.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

I like the Icewind Dale approach. Bosses that have little climactic buildup of tension, but as if by providence you just sort of stumble upon them in the middle of some satanic ritual at the last minute, usually at the end of a dungeon, but never feeling like it's "the" end of the dungeon. Both Yxonomei and Revered Brother Poquelin felt this way. I never had an inkling that this was the end of Dorn's Deep or wherever when you find them. Felt like you could keep following their evil down to the very pits of Hell if the game didn't usher you away to the place you needed to be.

 

[StaticSpine]

What is your solution?
The Big Bad should appear in front of you for one final duel the moment you learn of his existence?

No. There should be a build-up throughout the game foreshadowing the final boss. Like say, Frank in FO2, when you realize he's too strong to even try fighting him.
But in the end, when you are ready and know where the boss is hiding, you go there and have a showdown without some damn labyrinths or other bullshit.

I agree, that from a narrative standpoint it's valid that the boss will be in some fortified place with his minions, but from the game perspective it just kills the moment when you are ready to kick his ass but have to slog through some location.