What about an underworld setting, with the last boss as Hades and Cerberus, with the maturity and graphics style of Age of Conan....fighting a gigantic three headed dog that breathes fire sounds awesome to me. with the main enemies being the undead army of hades.
There is so much more to it than simply it being "a dragon"; firstly, it isn't an end boss, as it only appeared in the cutscene (and before that we were told it was a meteor spell intent to lay waste to the land, the primals and those who opposed His Radiance). There was well over 50 hours of cutscenes the past year about a Meteor being cast down (a lot of fight scenes as well!) and you trying to do everything in your power to stop it. There was even a countdown to Impact on the login screen, and then suddenly it turned out to be Bahamut (a huge surprise to players).
The END BOSS of 1.0 was a man named Nael Van Darnus, an Imperial Legatus (Judge) and you fought him on a high platform in hopes to stop him from using himself as a beacon to call Meteor down upon (after destroying his machine that did so, he sought to sacrifice his body for his "master" -- the Meteor called Dalamund).
It was a brutal fight to be sure on the hardest difficulty.
Though, it was quite beautiful with Meteor just hanging overhead as you fought the guy.
Here is the final boss of FFXIV (Spoilers; though it doesn't matter since this version is not available as of yesterday)
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Would love to see a boss that you had to beat using intellect including/rather than brawn. The Kael'thas fight in WoW was tactically one of the best in recent memory but even that was ultimately a brawn fight.
Originally posted by Ozivois Dragons are the biggest, baddest things around... they will always be the end bosses. Greek mythology could present some unique boss ideas, though.
its cliche movie wise but havent seen it done in games too often or even done right, in my last post what i had goin in my head was hades trying to invade the human realm with his undead army, and your character is the "hero' that pushes him back to the underworld, taking down bosses up the army ranks till you take down the generals then cerberus and meet hades. a bit basic but if done right i think it would make a great greek mythology game.
I guess the genre of the game really determines the type of end bosses you should/could have. Super Villians are fine. They can come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Pulling from D&D/Fantasy you have Ilitthid, Beholders, Lich's etc.
There are tons of Fantasy artists out there that can draw some crazy looking stuff. All of it is game if you make your own world.
If you use "plz" because it is shorter than "please" I will use "no" because it is shorter than "yes."
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I guess the genre of the game really determines the type of end bosses you should/could have. Super Villians are fine. They can come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Pulling from D&D/Fantasy you have Ilitthid, Beholders, Lich's etc.
There are tons of Fantasy artists out there that can draw some crazy looking stuff. All of it is game if you make your own world.
A dragon by any other name is still a large pool of hit points and an apocolyptic attack. If you want to design a unique main villain, then you need a unique question that is the foundation of your story. Your villain is the embodiment of the wrong answer to this question. I find that once I have the question, its answer and why it's the wrong answer, details like what it looks like or how it attacks or what it's fatal weakness is become easy to fill in.
If the central question of your story is "Who thinks they can possibly defeat my awesome might and take my treasure?", then your villain is going to end up behaving ike a dragon no matter what body you want to slap on it.
I would add venture capitalists and investment bankers also though.
Add central bankers and I think you've got a winner.
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There is so much more to it than simply it being "a dragon"; firstly, it isn't an end boss, as it only appeared in the cutscene (and before that we were told it was a meteor spell intent to lay waste to the land, the primals and those who opposed His Radiance). There was well over 50 hours of cutscenes the past year about a Meteor being cast down (a lot of fight scenes as well!) and you trying to do everything in your power to stop it. There was even a countdown to Impact on the login screen, and then suddenly it turned out to be Bahamut (a huge surprise to players).
The END BOSS of 1.0 was a man named Nael Van Darnus, an Imperial Legatus (Judge) and you fought him on a high platform in hopes to stop him from using himself as a beacon to call Meteor down upon (after destroying his machine that did so, he sought to sacrifice his body for his "master" -- the Meteor called Dalamund).
It was a brutal fight to be sure on the hardest difficulty.
Though, it was quite beautiful with Meteor just hanging overhead as you fought the guy.
Here is the final boss of FFXIV (Spoilers; though it doesn't matter since this version is not available as of yesterday)
done.
1. Anime girls in a game with otherwise realistic graphics
2. Tax forms that are alive
3. Floor
Interesting topic. I too think that mmos could come up with more than dragons as main villans. Here is a short list for me:
The base concept for the creatureless suggestions could be anything: birds, lions, apes, serpents, winged demons and such.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
its cliche movie wise but havent seen it done in games too often or even done right, in my last post what i had goin in my head was hades trying to invade the human realm with his undead army, and your character is the "hero' that pushes him back to the underworld, taking down bosses up the army ranks till you take down the generals then cerberus and meet hades. a bit basic but if done right i think it would make a great greek mythology game.
All are known for their scheming & manipulation.
ROFL
How about a spelling or grammer test? That would be the ultimate boss! 99% of players would fail!
If you use "plz" because it is shorter than "please" I will use "no" because it is shorter than "yes."
Tarrasque. Kind of dragon like but not quite dragon. Though it is neither good or evil it is a force of destruction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrasque_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)
https://www.google.com/search?q=tarrasque&hl=en&tbo=u&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS479US479&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vSKlUN2gOYfO9QSGwYAY&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1517&bih=756
I guess the genre of the game really determines the type of end bosses you should/could have. Super Villians are fine. They can come in all shapes, sizes and forms. Pulling from D&D/Fantasy you have Ilitthid, Beholders, Lich's etc.
There are tons of Fantasy artists out there that can draw some crazy looking stuff. All of it is game if you make your own world.
If you use "plz" because it is shorter than "please" I will use "no" because it is shorter than "yes."
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
+1
99%? I guess you're kind of right.
My thinking as well.. I like to see a better variety of mobs and bosses, instead of just reusing the same model with different colors..
A dragon by any other name is still a large pool of hit points and an apocolyptic attack. If you want to design a unique main villain, then you need a unique question that is the foundation of your story. Your villain is the embodiment of the wrong answer to this question. I find that once I have the question, its answer and why it's the wrong answer, details like what it looks like or how it attacks or what it's fatal weakness is become easy to fill in.
If the central question of your story is "Who thinks they can possibly defeat my awesome might and take my treasure?", then your villain is going to end up behaving ike a dragon no matter what body you want to slap on it.
Well, I think dragons still have their place. An MMO has yet to really do them well, like others have said.
However, I wonder if a .. less high fantasy setting could work in an MMO. Something like you have in a song of ice and fire.
Add central bankers and I think you've got a winner.
Turns out, it's 'man'.