Final Boss Syndrome

Post Reply New Topic

This is something that's happened to me several times when playing the final boss of a game. It doesn't necessarily happen during the final boss; it could happen at any other part during a game. It's just more synonymous with the final boss of a game.

Symptoms include: An unpleasant and ANNOYING tingling sensation in the arms going to the fingertips, high stress, faster heart rate, slight numbness in the arms. Almost feels like having a heart attack, doesn't it?

A number of things usually trigger it.

-A ridiculously tedious and/or long drawn out fight.
-A time limit which may or may not provide the amount of time you need to finish the boss or mission.
-Multiple deaths and you just want to win for once.

I don't remember every game I've played where I had final boss syndrome but I'll list a few recent ones.

South Park 64 - The boss fight with the Ultra Super Mega Mega Man was very tedious and it took me forever to beat 'em. I had it on recording and it was the first time I did it. Unfortunately, The Orhcard Music Group attacked my channel with copyright claims that I couldn't disprove so I quit YouTube. I'm on Zippcast now and things are a little better. I did not save the recordings of my South Park Let's Play because they were taking up space and the computer I was using was in the early stages of hardware failure and my parents were very demanding that I delete them to make room. I did not have any money to purchase an external drive at the time so I had no choice. I absolutely refuse to redo my Let's Play of South Park 64. I love the game, but that final boss though.

The Simpson's Hit & Run - I was doing well on mission mode until I reached the mission in Lisa's stage where you have to collect the fish. I'm not the best driver when it comes to this game. There are plenty of other missions I have not completed and I have good reasons for that. The time limit sucks. At least Road Rage had a stopwatch cheat and the last mission in that game was easy, if you change the camera of course. Then we have too many obstacles. It is easy for me to get a hit & run even without the blow up cars cheat. The car provided for the mission sucks. I should be able to drive whatever I want to suit my needs to complete any mission. The final three missions are brutal. This is one time where I can say "Cheating will not save you."

Portal Stories: Mel - This is a fan-made Portal 2 prequel mod and it's really good. The puzzles are brainteasingly challenging but not difficult or sadistic like in Portal Prelude. I never had too much trouble until the second half of the final boss. ***SPOILER***You have to get a reprogrammed turret to shoot AEGIS' servers to destroy them. After destroying several, he places old turrets to stop you. Oh, and you have 4 minutes to destroy every server before he shuts off the oxygen. Between the old turrets shooting at me, 4 minutes counting down on the clock, trying to locate the remaining servers, and my reprogrammed turret falling over, I'm surprised my heart didn't explode. I had to activate server cheats for notarget so I could concentrate just a little. I managed to beat it and I don't think I'll play again anytime soon.

There are a few ways to avoid Final Boss Syndrome.
-Take a break (obviously).
-Listen to a relaxation tape to get the stress down or if you're like me, listen to heavy metal music. I read that heavy metal music makes you calmer and I couldn't agree more.
-Use a cheat code. I do it all the time. No one will blame you. Health is more important than a clean reputation. If there are no cheat codes, then god help you.
-Practice, Learn, and, Strategize. Do this enough times while playing the final boss over and over until it becomes easy.

If anyone else has this experience feel free to share. If there is an official name for this, I'd rather call it final boss syndrome instead.

I actually enjoy "final boss syndrome": getting pumped up, anticipating the culmination of the story, and hopefully enjoying "final victory" over the frustrating experience. Especially "cheating" bosses with regenerating health, one-hit-kill attacks, etc. An anti-climactic boss makes the achievement less savory.

I get this sometimes, but it really depends on just what game it is.

Most games released in recent years are... not exactly difficult. Games like that dont cause this effect; usually, they just cause disappointment due to an easy final fight.

Now, if it's something like a proper shmup of the sort that I play.... that's different. Those are typically VERY diffcult, often requiring hundreds or even thousands of runs to even GET to the final boss, let alone actually beat the horrible nightmare. So once I do get there... it's a nervous affair. I tend to get just a bit shaky, and I might get some of that tingling too.

I'll say, it sure doesnt help my chances.

I hate the whole 'Final Boss' business. Running in circles for ages around an almost invincible opponent, pumping ammo into it in the hope that it dies before you do - what a lazy and boring idea for a climax to a game.

Why not just have a really long, tough final level with lots of enemies in difficult, well-fortified locations? If the original Half Life had ended with a level like 'Surface Tension' or even 'Interloper', it would have been difficult to fault. Instead we got the Nihilanth!

The Nihilanth wasn't that bad. Just destroy the crystals, drain its energy until it opens up is head, and then shoot the portal inside.

The whole final boss business that you're talking about, I think I faced something like that while fighting Ugh Zan III at the end of Serious Sam The First Encounter. You have to go through some hoops, dodge his arsenal while unleashing everything you've got to get him down to 25% health and then when you've gotten through 4 hoops, you hope to god that he's standing in the right spot so he takes full damage from the giant laser blast otherwise he'll regenerate his health and you have to do it all again.

I did manage to kill the Nihilanth, though I was never sure how.

There is a certain euphoric rush when one at last kills a seriously troublesome boss, I admit. I once played a fairly obscure PS1 game called Disruptor, and finally managed to kill the big bad baddie (President Kruger, as I recall) after an interminably exhausting encounter, with my last remaining round of ammo. That was at something like the twenty-fifth attempt.....

The final boss and fight sequences of Baldur's Gate 2 Throne of Bhaal, with the Sword Coast Stratagems mod, makes me cringe in pain and pleasure.