[Spoilers Within] Favourite Final Battle

[bethany81707]

One thing to get out of the way: This is looking exclusively at the BATTLE against the boss. Whether the boss's character and presence outside this encounter was well- or poorly-written does not matter here. We are looking exclusively at gameplay today.

Final bosses, and bosses in general, tend to have some slight problems regarding the fact that they are alone on being on the level of the average Fire Emblem playable character, and by Endgame, you should have as many of those as the game lets you. Most Fire Emblem games compensate by giving the final boss big enough numbers to actually be threatening unless you're on full standby with Fortify and/or the Saint's Staff. Others employ interesting gimmicks to make the fight drag on and put your tactical skill and endurance to the test. So which of these finishers was your favourite to fight?

 

(Medeus (#FE) and Veronica are not counted because they're spin-off Final Bosses. In addition, the former is fought in a different battle style and the latter game is still rolling out its story, so her current battle may not necessarily be her final, making it somewhat unfair to compare them regardless.)

[Extrasolar]

Damn, I wish I could vote for the Black Knight battle in POR. Luck-based as hell, but suitably epic in narrative and challenging, with Ike finally challenging the hated foe that slayed his father before his eyes. But yeah, not a final battle. The Ashnard battle wasn't nearly as epic, imo. It was alright, but I disliked how limited it was, in that only your laguz of choice and Ike could really so much as scratch Ashnard.

Gotta be the Ashera battle as far as final bosses go.

I consider it the most epic battle in the scope of FE, because you've taken an army of third-tier badasses and braved this huge tower full of reanimated, soulless servants of the goddess herself, an army of Begnion senators and corrupted bishops, a bunch of freaking dragons, including Dheginsea (himself a great battle) and Sephiran (but not Zelgius, because the cheesy hammer strats with Haar are too strong).

Before you can even think about hurting her, you have to get through her protection, which means that the battle is a decent length and it isn't "rush the boss with your strongest unit(s) and kill in one to two rounds" like Grima, Garon and Anankos were for me. Any and all of your trained units are capable of lending a hand in the battle, and it's really teamwork at the end of the day that has to bring her down.  You have to get your weapons blessed by the goddess Yune herself before you even have a chance of hurting her. Radiant Dawn's amazing battle animations and visuals only made it even more stunning.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Man of Many Faces]

My favorite final boss battle has to be Ashera, reason being the fight was the most epic. Your team vs the boss no soldiers or monsters, just having to destroy her aura and survive her powerful attacks. Also her having the power to revive herself if defeated the wrong way, which I have done on my first play through. I can't think of another battle more epic.

Edited March 4, 2017 by ManOfManyFaces

[asdfasdfasdf]

17 minutes ago, ManOfManyFaces said:

My favorite final boss battle has to be Ashera, reason being the fight was the most epic. Your team vs the boss no soldiers or monsters, just having to destroy her aura and survive her powerful attacks. Also her having the power to revive herself if defeated the wrong way, which I have done on my first play through. I can't think of another battle more epic.

The battle with Anankos in Heirs of Fate is pretty epic though I'm not sure  if it is consider a Final Battle.

[RJWalker]

TearRing Saga is my favourite. It's well structured narratively.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Ranger Jack Walker

[Dragrath]

I would argue that there isn't really any comparison to Ashera the endgame for RD was miles above the nearest counterpart in length complexity and the sort of strategy needed to win. Pretty much any other final boss can be whacked down by several maxed out OP characters. (Though Max stats Fomortiis could probably hold a candle if it could actually be fought...)

[Interdimensional Observer]

FE doesn't do final bosses that well due to the fact it isn't about taking down single foes. Final maps is another story.

Of the ones available outside of Japan, Blazing has a decent concept for the final map- a boss rush with high stats and ultimate weapons across the board. Plus, Athos is there as a crutch if things are too difficult. The Fire Dragon is too durable given only Hector, Athos, Lyn, and Eliwood can deal decent damage to it and Eliwood and Lyn are questionable gameplay-wise and have awful effective weapons.

SS's is nonthreatening outside of Lyon and the Draco Zombies. Formortiis is nice in that everyone can damage him decently unlike PoR or Blazing, but that at the same time makes him easy.

PoR has a nice looking map, and a moving (human) final boss is cool and threatening. Ashnard's damage immunity keeps you from blitzing him (sans Wrath + Resolve Ike), but also means you need Ike to be good.

RD has five final maps. The last being a good way of centering the final battle around the final boss. The first two maps are okay, the third most awesome, and the fourth too easy.

SD is okay. Definitely captures the final battle feel, if not the best designed map (forgivable given the age of it).

Awakening- blitz the boss, Naga suggests it and the map is built around it. (The same for Future Past 3.) The final choice is a false choice.

Fates: Birthright is okay. Revelation is an HP sink. Conquest's pulls a few pages out of T776's evil playbook, but it otherwise excellently designed, like much of Conquest. A human final boss (albeit a possessed one) is interesting.

Glimpsing over a few of the other games (meaning I haven't played them): FE4's looks grand and FE5's has Blazing final chapter vibes. FE6's Juan and Idunn maps are both awful.  Tearring Saga looks nice, Berwick Saga's seems bleh.

[Azz]

I present this....

I shall now take my leave.

On a serious note, Duma is my favouirte. Not the best (In fact far from it, like bottom tier shit), but his design is enough to win me over.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Azz

[Punished Dayni]

On 3/5/2017 at 0:45 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

. The Fire Dragon is too durable given only Hector, Athos, Lyn, and Eliwood can deal decent damage to it and Eliwood and Lyn are questionable gameplay-wise and have awful effective weapons.

Also Canas because of Luna (which Athos can use as well to be fair), but that's because Luna was always good in FE7.

Of the games I've played (Spoiling all but Tellius here, fair warning):

Spoiler

SD Medeus is a pretty strong opponent, but Marth still knocks him down pretty effectively.

Duma is actually tough enough as to need your army to pitch in and do a lot to bring him down low enough, but it still has to be Alm to finish for some reason. But that final crit animation is still pretty cool even now. (Can't wait to see how SoV does this)

NMotE Medeus gets pretty effectively knocked by Marth in easier modes and Marth's the only one who can in harder modes.

Julius is either easy to damage with Julia or a boss with such a defence as to make it take too long for its own good. With WRATH.

Veld is stupidly easy, especially if you warp someone in while he has Stone equipped and them they likely 1-round him. The map is one where you have to be ready for everything else it throws.

Idoun is pretty tough..... if the Binding Blade didn't at least take half her health at base from Roy, and he then didn't likely proceed to 1-round her if he was trained. From range. Where she can't hit him. 

The Fire Dragon is a tough cookie regardless, with 37/38 damage all the time, and only 5 units really hitting over 10 damage consistently if even that from Lyn. Definitely one of the toughest I've seen.

Formortis has quite a few weapons which do effective damage, but they're not as effective as the BB, and he's still pretty powerful as a boss and summons a bunch... of monsters easily stopped by the Holy Weapons. :P

Grima is a joke on easy mode if you didn't demote Chrom (:P) and on hard mode isn't too bad, but he's certainly going to take more effort for the other units to cause damage to. 1-5 range does mean that your healers will want to be careful though, and it's more effective than most at preventing just surrounding the boss (and the first time to see this since BS (SS does have it with Nightmare, but not for doing damage).

Dragon Garon is, amazingly enough, one of the easier ones to 1-turn with the Hoshidan royal weapons. Despite everything, it's surprising how easy he is to take out with up to 3 attacks. And with that Hinoka and Sakura didn't get involved yet again.

Takumi is one that should be harder. But once again, 1-turnable, and not even using a dancer this time! Trouble is that he's further away, so you have to take turns getting there so he's not getting killed off in the first turn unlike Dragon Garon. He also has the ability to hit multiple units at once, and you actually have to use Dragon Veins to stop it. (The guy's betrayal, this doesn't surprise me) Also, 1-4 range, so swarm all at once. Corrin wrecks him as per usual. Map's not so bad either.

Anankos at least takes time to take out. Thing is, he ends up being tedious as a result. Because Omega Yato is so OP, you're crazy to not have Corrin fighting every form, and as a result you either Rescue Corrin to both forms and move whatever units you use to both arms, which is tedious, or watch as you do little damage to a form of Anankos as he demolishes your low defence units. And then for the last form it's switched up so that Anankos now deals magical damage (rip Xander) and all the time only one unit can do 1-range attacks, which limits what you can do as Corrin is the only unit who should be doing them as a result.). And you're pretty much limited to your best units in a game where the nobles are pretty much going to be the only units who'll do much of any damage anyway. Just.... it's a tedious end to a tedious game.

Favourite final boss? It's a toss up between Duma, Fire Dragon and Formortis. Duma fits the balance between other units getting involved and the lord doing the damage, much as the accuracy is sketchy at the best of times. Fire Dragon is just a wall that only Luna ignores in practice, with even the lords finding it hard to break, making it a tough fight that's so good to see done (partly because you're in fear that the RNG's accuracy might kill you: the Dragon might just crit after all). And Formortis, while easy to do damage to, is still pretty tough, and on the offence includes BEAMS!!!! is still able to beat you sideways, certainly more than Duma in practice.

I'm going to pick Formortis.

Edit: Revelations and Conquest finished.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Dayni

[Jotari]

Poll says Veld but overall I'm voting for the map as a whole. It's basically like seven final bosses wrapped into one. Even if Veld is a push over he's still quite dangerous thanks to his Stone Spell and the map as a whole has a lot more going for it. The way it splits up your army makes it very critical that everyone is useful (at least if you want to finish the map in any reasonable time frame) and the power of the enemies you face and the utilities they have at their advantage (berserk, magic floors) that you yourself can also utilise makes it both tactical and challenging. As for my opinion on the others.

Spoiler

Shadow Dragon: Splits up in your army and not in a particularly creative way. I’ve done the map legitimately and it was just boring. I love Shadow Dragon (DS) as a game on the whole as is one of my most played games in the series but on the whole the final boss just encourages warp skip in my opinion. If a fight wants me to skip half of it then it’s not a good fight.

 

Gaiden: Splits up your army in a much more creative way and makes a much more enjoyable match as a result. You need to push forward with the sub bosses rushing you from behind and the danger of giggles overwhelming you. Dom pulls the whole immune to all attacks but the protagonist schtick but he actually pulls it off much better than Ashanard in that he’s immune until basically the last hit (and a sweet last hit it is). Challenging and rewarding overall. I’ve only played Gaiden for the first time recently but I enjoyed the final map so much that I just played it again a few days later for the sake of it.

 

Mystery of the Emblem: Don’t have much experience with this one having only played the remake (on I think the easiest difficulty?). I found that the concept of the Maidens is a good one in theory but in practise it once again just encourages warp skipping in order to save them all. I think I might have played the map legitimately later but the fact that I can’t remember is a testament to how unmemorable it was for me (though perhaps I should give it another try, New Mystery does get a lot of praise for its higher difficulties).

 

Holy War: A strong fight not in how challenging it generally is but in how fun it feels to merge the gameplay and story in such a way. Not that it’s pathetically easy either, those Dead Lords can still be dangerous if you under estimate them especially with Julius hurling Meteors at you.

 

Sword of Seals: Not remotely interesting in terms of gameplay and monstrously easy thanks to the Holy Weapons, even on Hard mode. Jahn’s conversation with Roy is fun though. It’s good that they decided to split it up rather than making a really long single cutscene.

 

Blazing Blade: Better than Sword of Seals but pretty middling overall. They sort of went with Thraca’s multiple boss idea but the fact they rush you stops it being quite as tactical or challenging. And the fact that it gives you Holy Weapons to use at that very moment sort of guarantees you’ll have very easy ways of dealing with every threat.

 

Sacred Stones: Quite meh both for Lyon and the Demon King himself. Not bad for any particular reason but pretty underwhelming over all (probably still better than Sword of Seals though). The map before hand where you’re fighting outside the temple actually sticks out more for me in terms of gameplay.

 

Path of Radiance: A pretty great map in terms of enemy placement but pretty marred with how the final boss is handled (pro tip, definitely play this game in Hard mode because Ashford is underwhelming in two more counts on anything less). In theory having it be a one on one battle with your protagonists and Athos archetypes sounds interesting but in practise it’s just fencing him in and chipping him down slowly while you heal whomever he attacks.

 

Radiant Dawn: Pretty great as many have already mentioned. Don’t think there’s much that I can end. Still like Thracia better but this is a great fight that utilises all of your army.

 

Awakening: Rescue skip more than warp skip. Why even have such a big map and enemies in it if the game’s going to encourage you to defeat the boss on the second turn.

 

Fates: Birthright: Quite typical but nonetheless decent in its first half. Second part unfortunately falls into the "encourages a second turn victory this ignoring half the map” syndrome so many final maps have.

 

Fates: Conquest: Much better than Birthright and unlike any other Final Map we’ve seen. Might have enjoyed Takumi himself being a bit stronger or more dangerous to approach, any time I’ve played it I’ve basically managed to take up out with Corrin alone, but overall the map is pretty great.

 

Fates: Revelations: Certainly does the big epic boss quite well but on the whole it’s a little easy. It’s rehash in Heirs of Fates did a much better job.

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by Jotari