So is the final boss just supposed to be this unfair?

[737]

Great, I was in battle for so long only to die when the second phase was below 50%. Now I have to redo both phases again. This is very fun and not at all annoying and didn't at all ruin the experience.

[Sand King in the Sky]

As someone who just went through this same struggle, yes. The game does provide avenues towards success that help if you are going into the fight underleveled. The most important is beating all the side bosses equals one less turn given to the last boss. Then there is Heismay's final ability from his special class that causes the enemy to lose all of their turns if he successfully dodges the attack. Then I've read there is reflective equipment you can farm from the big teeth enemies. Hulkenburg can do the same with a well placed omni shield. But yeah the idea to implement a surprise 4 turn action bar in the second phase pushed the fight from a tense fight to completely unfair. I personally came back the next day set aside two hours and grinded the red spawning crystals and then i could mostly auto battle Louis.

[viktorhallo]

ATLUS games often have a final boss thats much harder than the rest of the game. same thing in SMT 4 apocalypse. SMT nocturne and SMT strange journey.

[Aldain]

Honestly I wouldn't be having issues if he'd stop getting random ass crits on the basic attacks that killing the mini bosses causes, thereby causing Anxiety and getting 2 free AoE sweeps on the party.

I swear to god I've had more attempts fail due to random Anxiety procs from basic attacks giving him free turns than anything else, either that or two characters just missing twice in a row despite no buffs/debuffs being active wasting an entire turn.

I haven't had this much trouble with an Atlus final boss in a while, and it doesn't even feel like it's for any real reason other than getting XCOM'd.

[Hariman]

Originally posted by viktorhallo:

ATLUS games often have a final boss thats much harder than the rest of the game. same thing in SMT 4 apocalypse. SMT nocturne and SMT strange journey.

The best Atlus/Shin Megami Tensei games were just that hard all the way through, so you never got blindsided. You just expected to need a new strategy to win.

[Aldain]

Originally posted by Hariman:

Originally posted by viktorhallo:

ATLUS games often have a final boss thats much harder than the rest of the game. same thing in SMT 4 apocalypse. SMT nocturne and SMT strange journey.

The best Atlus/Shin Megami Tensei games were just that hard all the way through, so you never got blindsided. You just expected to need a new strategy to win.

Also the strategy usually doesn't devolve into "Just don't get hit lol" in my experience, at least outside of super bosses that demand a very specific playstyle/loadout to even attempt (Demi-Fiend in DDS...-shudders-).

The fact that a random crit and the Anxiety it can cause (especially in regards to the final boss making it more common) can lead to your party getting swept with AoE 2 additional times and is basically impossible to account for. Plus the attack that replaces the special abilities on the final boss is ALMIGHTY so you can't even block it with defensive abilities.

If I had any complaint about the final boss it's that specific issue, the fact that unless you are purposely going out of your way to be functionally invincible, all it takes is one random bad luck from a weak Almighty attack to completely flip the table on you, especially if somebody dies on a turn when you're going in already down one action.

[lexia88]

Originally posted by Aldain:

...
The fact that a random crit and the Anxiety it can cause (especially in regards to the final boss making it more common) can lead to your party getting swept with AoE 2 additional times and is basically impossible to account for. Plus the attack that replaces the special abilities on the final boss is ALMIGHTY so you can't even block it with defensive abilities.
...

You can get a sword for the MC that prevents anxiety for all party members. I don't know how far you've leveled up archetypes for the MC, but More will give that sword to you if you master most of the classes. I was still missing 10 elite classes by the end but he still gave me the sword. Sadly, I'm not sure how many master ranks are required to get the reward. Maybe you need to grind for an hour or two to get the weapon :/ but it will make the fight much, much easier.

Dodger ring on Basilio might also be helpful, the dude is 2nd best when it comes to dodging. Heismay's royal archetype has the same ability. One of the two will always dodge, so having one as phys attacker and the other as supporter/healer makes this and other late game fights a lot easier.

[Terra]

Originally posted by viktorhallo:

ATLUS games often have a final boss thats much harder than the rest of the game. same thing in SMT 4 apocalypse. SMT nocturne and SMT strange journey.

Eh... Nocturne's final boss was pretty easy, unless you went for the TDE.

Which, like, I know it 100% is the real ending for that game, but it IS still technically an optional challenge.

Apocalypse and Strange Journey though, you're absolutely right. Strange Journey especially. It's telling that, when they released the updated version, the new final boss was even more messed up than the original non-Chaos final boss.

[Takwin]

FINAL BOSS IS ONE OF THE WORST DESIGNED BOSSES IN ANY GAME I'VE PLAYED IN FORTY YEARS.

[yakan]

????
I'm level 83, all royal arch mastered.
I had to slow down so he can say all his dialog.
The only problem I had was the tower dragons sidequest because they cheated.

[Kandidaten]

Originally posted by yakan:

????
I'm level 83, all royal arch mastered.
I had to slow down so he can say all his dialog.
The only problem I had was the tower dragons sidequest because they cheated.

Agree, the freeze MAX HP at 300 dragon really took a dump in my cereal for a while.