Kodi Arfer / Wisterwood

Games where you get to the boss, but then it's not worth your time

Topic List
#001 | willis5225 |
What're some games out there where you go through the whole game, and it's a pretty good time, and then you're up to the final boss, and you're like "sweet, gonna finish the game soon" and then there's some horrible, time-wasting obstacle in front, so that you say "**** it" and deem that you've finished the game?

I bring this up because I just checked my Pokemon: Pearl save file to see that I'm right before the Elite 4. I powered that up, wandered in and realized that I'd have to grind probably ten levels onto everything on my team. As I did the last time I had opened up that save, I said "**** this" and deemed that I had beaten them. My day continues unbothered.

The previous big example of this (for me) was Link to the Past; I was a Sega kid, so the first shot I got at it was the GBA release, which I went through diligently getting so far as 90% of the way through the castle. And I'm about to go fight the boss and... teleporter maze. What? Why would you ever put a teleporter maze at the climax of anything? You're all pumped to fight the big bad after fighting your way through the castle and... teleporter maze.

Also Every Castlevania sequel ever. It's the sort of thing where I *could* learn the pattern and die thirty more times until I manage to squeak through. But why? No, I've basically beaten the game, I have confidence that I could do it, but it will be long and frustrating and I will learn yet another valueless skill.
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#002 | freepizza |
Sega kid, Sega kid!
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#003 | FoxMetaI |
Zelda: WW. I decided I was good once I got to the shard collecting part. I could give you a L100 pokemon if you wanna beat it; IIRC a few things open up after you beat the E4.
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#004 | willis5225 |
Thanks for the offer, but nah. I deem it beaten.

I guess WW raises a pretty good point: I was actually compelled to finish WW despite that really boring sequence because I was a little invested in the story. I probably wouldn't do it again (I think I have a second playthrough save at exactly that point) but then the thought of the last dungeon in TP did the same thing--having to carry around the ball thing with the wallmasters was too much. I know both of those are awesome boss fights, but... man, those sequences. And now that I know how it all turns out, it's just not as compelling. Not that, I mean, it was the Dickens of video games before that, but I'll still put up with say Telos in KoToR because of the awesome stuff that happens afterward.

I feel like I got sidetracked there.
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#005 | Kodiologist |
From: willis5225 | Posted: 4/22/2010 7:42:35 AM | #001
Also Every Castlevania sequel ever.

I had something very like this experience with Circle of the Moon. It was a great game, until I got to Dracula's second form, which was just slightly too hard for me. It took me at least a year to get around to beating it. But the effort was totally worth it: Circle of the Moon has the best unlockables ever.

One case where I delayed a year or so to beat a final boss and was ultimately underwhelmed was Metroid Prime.

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#006 | Kodiologist |
To be clear, what made me so hesitant to beat Metroid Prime was not Metroid Prime itself but those blanking Fusion Metroids.

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#007 | Ocarinakid2 |
I'm usually a completionist (apparently not a real word), or at least a game finisher, but there are a few I gave up on.

Dead Rising is the first that comes to mind, and if I recall correctly, I've ranted about it here before. I was really into the game at first but slowly grew to hate every aspect of it. I got to the tank guy, who I think was the last boss. I can handle games with cheap final bosses who kill you time and again, and I can handle games where there's a ten minute lead up to the boss every time you die. I can not handle both at once.

Zack and Wiki is another one. Loved the game, but the final level is three times larger than any other and requires many, many playthroughs to get everything right. Eventually I Youtube'd how to do it, because I still enjoyed the game enough to want to finish it proper. The problem was that at three points in the level you had to do Wii sword fighting with some pirates. If you got hit three times, you died. The game was full of unresponsive Wii moments, but they usually involved turning a crank or throwing a ball. Never life or death. Having to redo a half hour of puzzle solving over and over again just to be bested by a mini pirate because my controller recognized a vertical slice as no movement at all really turned me off my Wii for a while. At least until Madworld.

Lastly and least interesting was Final Fantasy IV. I think it was IV. The one with Cecil. I got the to final boss, some random monster that had been possessing someone at some point or was pure evil or something. Basically, there's no plot related motivation to fight this thing. It's just big and evil and a Final Fantasy final boss. I was probably under leveled and already pretty tired of the game, so when I got hit with Black Hole, Black Hole, something else, Black Hole, I just up and quit.


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#008 | Ocarinakid2 |
Oh, and speaking of Sega kids, I could never get past Robotnik in Sonic 2 until I was like 18 or 19. Kinda fits in with this topic but not really. Just thought I'd share.
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Ocarinakid
#009 | Jacehan |
Tank Guy is actually super-easy if you just do jump kicks all the time. And he is in fact the final boss.

Also, the final bit of Wind Waker is the best final battle of any Zelda game, so it's worth it.
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#010 | Ocarinakid2 |
Ah, come to think of it, that was the other thing. When I stopped having fun, I started to rush through the game, so I'm somewhat sure I didn't even have that move. Or maybe I did, it was a while ago at this point.

But yeah, Ganondorf in the rain is so, so good. I really wish I had a save file cued up to the end of that game.
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Ocarinakid
#011 | PaperSpock |
I held off beating FFIII for a year for this reason. It was mostly because of how the final dungeon can take 2+ hours, and the point where'd I'd usually die was over an hour into it. A week or so after my initial frustration, I decided I would just get it over with, grinded for about an hour or so, tackled the dungeon, and still died. It was then that I left it alone for about a year, at which point I figured I'd spent enough time in it that I might as well just finish it.

I'm in a similar situation with Metriod Prime. I've gotten to the final boss, and when I initially got there, I could see it would be a tough battle, but then I took a break and it went from difficult to snowball's chance in hell (without practicing up, that is, which probably would have entailed replaying the whole game anyway).
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#012 | SocioPathology |
I don't ever recall trying to kill the Metroid Queen in the Metroid 2.
#013 | Kodiologist |
Continuing the theme of unduly difficult endgames, you know how some games have you fight every boss all over again before you get a crack at the final boss? Kirby's Dream Land and Mega Man II come to mind. Wouldn't it be hilariously annoying is if you had to fight all those bosses simultaneously? They might even have extra-nasty team attacks. This would probably only be realistic in games where the PC becomes dramatically more powerful over time, like RPGs.

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#014 | FoxMetaI |
From: Kodiologist | #013
Wouldn't it be hilariously annoying is if you had to fight all those bosses simultaneously?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlq2LInVyys
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#015 | Kodiologist |
The only possible reply to such a video is to bellow at the top of one's lungs "Ex-treeeme!"

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#016 | undertaker shy guy |
Kodiologist | Posted 4/25/2010 10:03:00 AM | message detail
The only possible reply to such a video is to bellow at the top of one's lungs "Ex-treeeme!"


You remind me of someone I know.
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#017 | Pooty Boy |
I bring this up because I just checked my Pokemon: Pearl save file to see that I'm right before the Elite 4. I powered that up, wandered in and realized that I'd have to grind probably ten levels onto everything on my team. As I did the last time I had opened up that save, I said "**** this" and deemed that I had beaten them. My day continues unbothered.

One of my favorite things to do is grind out levels in Pokemon games.
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#018 | Kodiologist |
http://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=31

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#019 | Pooty Boy |
^ I'm that guy wandering in the grass.

In fact - ever since I cracked open this topic I've been playing Pokemon Crystal. I'd play R/B/Y... but I already have all 150 Pokemon (Damn you Nintendo and your elusive Mew) and the ABSOLUTELY UNBEATABLE FLAWLESS TEAM (Challenge me - I dare you it took me YEARS to craft this monster), so there's no need to play the originals. G/S/C is another story though. I have my team set... not I just must continue to level them up.

Here I go again on my own... goin' down the only road I've ever known...
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Currently Playing: Super Mario Galaxy, Pokemon Crystal
Currently Reading: Han Solo's Revenge
#020 | Pooty Boy |
Oh and for the record I call my R/B/Y team "The Revolution". I don't use any "legendary" Pokemon because I'd rather win on talent and not power.

Exeggutor
Ninetales
Lapras
Jolteon
Machamp
Dodrio

Bring IT!!!!
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Currently Playing: Super Mario Galaxy, Pokemon Crystal
Currently Reading: Han Solo's Revenge
#021 | Pooty Boy |
And my G/S/C team is named the "Shroud of Darkness". It consists of:

Jumpluff
Houndoom
Lanturn
Steelix
Xatu
Hitmontop
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Currently Playing: Super Mario Galaxy, Pokemon Crystal
Currently Reading: Han Solo's Revenge
#022 | willis5225 |
Oh, and that reminds me: my secret shame is that I've never finished the first Half-Life. But man. I have tried. I've played through everything up to Xen probably three times, and I'll even get a little ways into Xen but I have to wonder who though a first person low-grav platformer was a good idea. All the identical terrain and blind jumps are *terrible*. It's great as an atmosphere--you're terrified of the very ground, which you should be because you're on an alien world, but c'mon now.

Although admittedly, I haven't tried since I was probably thirteen.
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