They are always tedious to me, and a very unimaginative way to try and force in a penultimate challenge before the final Boss.
And they don't work plot wise either, the equivalent of it never happens in other mediums, unless it's like one of those Batman stories making him gauntlet through all of Arkham. But guess what, many fans tend to find those annoying. But it's considered acceptable in Games, so much so that some Rom Hacks will add one to a game that didn't originally have this problem.
The only thing like a Boss Rush I've ever actually liked was what Super Mario RPG: The Legend of The Seven Stars did with The Factory at the end. Lesser forms of earlier Smithy Gang bosses now appear as just normal enemies, just as dodge-able as any others. (I also like that this RPG doesn't have random encounters.) And if you bought the SeeYa item from the Frog Coin merchant in Seasside Town you can run away from ones you unintentionally run into. So only one Yaridavictch battle is truly required.
It makes sense plot wise, because they were pretty clearly Mechs of some sort to begin with (for some reason people on Mario Message Boards back in the early internet didn't get this, they couldn't even even tell Smithy's true form was a Robot). So it makes sense to see unfinished prototypes roaming the home base.
You can avoid them if you want, but they are also good for grinding if you want. If you want to you can battle an endless supply of Macks.
Mario RPG managed to be a good exception to a lot of my personal rules. I mean in general Mario role playing games are the only ones I can really play.
I did a post once on how I feel it hurts the story telling when the final boss has no character presence before you fight him. But Smithy managed to work in-spite of being that very problem.
Mario RPG is also a game where Status Effect moves at least sometimes work on bosses. I always use Toadstool's Silence on Czar Dragon, as well as it's second form.
I have to disagree; Trails in the Sky SC and Trails of Cold Steel 2 are two perfect examples where the final boss rush only enhanced the story. In both cases, the bosses were major story characters who were tied to the character arcs of the protagonists throughout the saga, as well as having been recurring bosses throughout the game. Their defeat marks the end of a chapter in each respective protagonist's life, concludes the rivalry between the two characters, and builds up the anticipation towards the showdown with the villain at the end of the boss rush. It was immensely satisfying to see their story arcs payoff like this. My only real gripe with the way these two boss rushes were handled is that the individual fights were placed in between long stretches of random encounters in the final dungeon; an otherwise two-hour long denouement with the antagonists instead becomes a five-six hour long stretch that may take multiple play sessions to see it all come together at the end.
ReplyDelete