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[oni-link]

What are some games where the final boss isn't actually the hardest boss in the game?

The reason I have said "hardest mandatory boss" in the title is that I'm not talking about optional bosses or post game bosses that are designed to be harder than the final boss

I want to talk about games that for whatever reason have bosses that are harder than the final boss. If you're unsure if a boss qualifies for this topic, ask yourself if you have to beat this boss in order to beat the game. If you do, and that boss is harder than the final boss of that game, then it qualifies

(If possible please try and avoid spoilers, especially with newer games)

I recently beat the Specter of Torment DLC for Shovel Knight, and found the penultimate boss a lot harder than the final boss, and I also remember

Spoiler

Lorithia

in the original Xenoblade giving me way more trouble than the final boss

Demon's Souls is another example, though that is done for thematic/narrative reasons as opposed to poor balance

What do you think, GAF, do you have any examples of games where the final boss isn't the toughest mandatory boss? Do you think this is down to poor balance, or your particular play style, or even for narrative reasons

 

[Beegeous]

Diddy Kong Racing.

That fucking octopus.

 

[Mozendo]

Scott Pilgrim and Mischief Makers come to mind.

 

[spineduke]

Final Fantasy does this with a lot of the optional side bosses.

 

[Nev]

Demon's Souls.

 

[JPS Kai]

Usually it's for more mechanical reasons, such as not having all of the character's abilities at that time vs. when you actually fight the big baddie. EarthBound comes to mind with a couple of fights that are more difficult than its thematic conclusion.

 

[Reineldinho]

Divinity Original Sin: Bracuss , that bastard...

Final Fantasy does this with a lot of the optional side bosses.

You haven't read the OP, have you?

 

[Suburban Thug]

I just finished Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and thought

Spoiler

Riku

was tougher than

Spoiler

ansem

.

 

[shmoglish]

Nioh. The final boss is also the lamest

Spoiler

You fight against Orochi/Hydraesque boss and that what makes the fighting system strong, does not really appear here because it really plays different

 

[Strings]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix definitely has this with the Roxas encounter. Hard to be mad at it when it's such a ludicrously awesome fight though.

I just finished Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and thought

Spoiler

Riku

was tougher than

Spoiler

ansem

.

That's a huge gauntlet of bosses though, and all together, I'd say they're tougher imo.

 

[MetalliCabombination]

Ff12 has a ton of mandatory bosses that molest you hard.
Final boss was a joke

 

[AkIRA_22]

EDIT: Ahhh... mandatory. Still a fucker this guy. I found the various Jenova's were harder than Sephiroth.

 

[ffdgh]

Alma in ninja gaiden. This difficuilty spike made no dang sense.

 

[sanstesy]

This is the case for the good majority of games.

 

[gcncontroller]

Puppet Ganon in Wind Waker is much harder for me than the final fight. I suppose it doesn't really matter since they take place back to back but it was still kind of weird to end on the easier form haha

 

[TokiDoki]

FFX lol

 

[MrBadger]

Crash Bandicoot's final bosses tend to be ridiculously easy compared to the rest of the game.

Pacman World 2 has Clyde, who's way harder than the final boss and it seems like the game devs knew that based on his dialogue.

 

[spineduke]

Divinity Original Sin: Bracuss , that bastard...


You haven't read the OP, have you?

I did again, I missed his explanation - its a little obtuse - he's looking for the mandatory non final bosses that are harder to beat than the mandatory final boss?

Going with that, there's a ton of enemies in Monster Hunter than gave me a way harder time than the endgame content. Kutku took me forever when I was starting out with that game.

 

[oni-link]

I just finished Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and thought

Spoiler

Riku

was tougher than

Spoiler

ansem

.

Oh God this, I was stuck on that fight for about a week

 

[tsundoku]

This is like almost every game. Let alone the fact that lots of devs want you to overcome a hard challenge right beside the save point (for quick retries), get a big story reveal/cutscene and then fight a boss that looks hard but you "succeed on your first try" as your victory lap / with your unlocked power

In games that do present their hardest challenge as the final boss in the standard difficulty curve you will know objectively that you're fighting the last boss and know you can use all those temporary/expendable resources/meters/powerups you've been saving for the last hour / dozen hours

 

[Valahart]

Should the final boss always be the hardest though? I feel like whenever I'm close to beating a game I get into this flow state where if I don't finish it on that play session it feels like the game's pacing is just wrong. Sometimes having a final boss that's mechanically interesting while not as hard as some of the bosses right before it feels good.

 

[half a moon]

Every game

 

[Earthpainting]

Lorithia in Xenoblade Chronicles was indeed the one that came to mind for me too. She was a boss that was ruled by mechanics that I had been mostly ignoring until that point. The one time these mechanics were relevant before this, was much earlier against... Lorithia's personal guard? I guess that should have tipped me off, I suppose, but it didn't. I just brute-forced my way through it.

 

[TheBlackMarvel]

Dark Souls 1. Four Kings are harder than Gwyn.

EDIT: I would say Dark Souls 2 but the bosses that are harder than Nashandra are all optional.

 

[adamsapple]

Final Fantasy IX maybe ? Memory's a bit hazy but I remember the last-last boss wasn't that hard.

 

[KennyLinder]

I thought S+O were harder than the final boss in Dark Souls (but fighting those two was also the fucking coolest shit in the game!).

 

[requiem02]

FFX lol

I remember both

Spoiler

Seymour's third form

and

Spoiler

Yunalesca

utterly destroying me over and over.

 

[OriginalJonty]

In FFXV I had more trouble with

Spoiler

that demon before Ifrit

than with either

Spoiler

Ifrit or Ardyn.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Final Fantasy Tactics, for sure. The final boss was nothing compared to Wiegraf.

 

[PRjumpman124]

I had much more trouble against the 'Four' Kings in Dark Souls than against the final boss. It's a visually unique fight but mechanically it's a pain.

 

[Nauren]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix definitely has this with the Roxas encounter. Hard to be mad at it when it's such a ludicrously awesome fight though.

.

This!!! Wtf lol

 

[Thud]

Every Trails game ?

 

[GenG3000]

Every RPG ever.

Baten Kaitos: Giacomo and co. in the flying ship.
Baten Kaitos Origins: The tropical bird and its spawn at the beginning of the second disc.

 

[Chessr]

all JRPGS

In I Am Setsuna. There are special "normal" mobs that will give you serious Woop ass.

 

[entremet]

Divinity Original Sin: Bracuss , that bastard...


You haven't read the OP, have you?

The title lol!

 

[miller.skippins]

Every soulsborne games.

 

[Erasus]

FFX lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqrL3hteqiQ

Ripperino

I am at the end of FFX and replaying it that boss was not that hard. Mainly because I grinded a bit on a highroad in bevelle.
But as a kid, I got ripped hard by this boss. Had to aion chain to beat him + luck

 

[TheBlackMarvel]

I had much more trouble against the 'Four' Kings in Dark Souls than against the final boss. It's a visually unique fight but mechanically it's a pain.

People who can beat that fight on NG++ and beyond are superhuman as far as I'm concerned. Increasing their health and damage but not the time taken for them to spawn was bullshit.

 

[Valahart]

Dark Souls 1. Four Kings are harder than Gwyn.

EDIT: I would say Dark Souls 2 but the bosses that are harder than Nashandra are all optional.

There are many many bosses harder than Gwyn. Any of the 4 before it, Ornstein & Smough...

 

[nailbombxx]

Bayonetta. The final boss of the final chapter isn't the hardest - I'd say the Jeanne fights are harder.

 

[Strings]

Huh, I always figured Gwyn was intended as an intentional anti-climax. He's way weaker than you'd expect, and the music gives the fight a real melancholy.

 

[Lincoln6Vacano]

Every Dark Souls game so far.

From the top of my head:

DS1 Ornstein & Smough
DS2 Looking Glass Knight
DS3 Storm King

If you add DLC to it, the end bosses become even more irrelevant.

 

[GoldenCrow]

Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Bloodborne
Nioh
Most Zelda games
Most Final Fantasies
Gears of War 2

 

[TannerDemoz]

 

[Jodast]

Fadroh in Baten Kaitos. I had to spend so much time optimising my card sets to beat him and it still took about a dozen attempts.

 

[Lincoln6Vacano]

Dark Souls 1. Four Kings are harder than Gwyn.

EDIT: I would say Dark Souls 2 but the bosses that are harder than Nashandra are all optional.

huh, is there actually anyone on this planet that classifies Nashandra as hard? I never knew.

I think almost any boss in DS2 gave me more trouble than her. But that's of course personal experience.

 

[llien]

Every game

No, but nearly all arcade games, for a reason: people would normally stop spending money on a game, once they see the final boss.

 

[Noisepurge]

i'm in the camp that felt like Father Gascoigne was the hardest boss in Bloodborne.

 

[JBwB]

Don't most games these days fall into this category though? I can't even recall the last game I've played where the final boss was actually the hardest mandatory boss in the game.

 

[NinjaMouse]

Maybe because of the toolset available at the time, but in Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Spoiler

I found Thunderblight Ganon much harder than Calamity Ganon