The end is even closer than last time. This is the second-to-last blog entry in this series. This is my list of The Top 15 Final Boss Themes in Gaming, and this'll cover Songs No. 3-2. No. 1 will be announced tomorrow. And by the way, if you arrived here by mistake or something, or if you want to recap on the previous part, then here's the link. Now, without further ado, let's continue.
THE FOLLOWING PLOT DETAILS CONTAIN CRITICAL PLOT INFORMATION. DO NOT VIEW UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY PLAYED THE GAME IF YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT PLAYING IT LATER ON. TRUST ME. YOU'LL THANK ME LATER WHEN YOU PLAY THESE GAMES FOR YOURSELF (however it sort of is a spoiler within itself to listen to the final boss music without having actually played the games, so watch out for that too - VIEW/LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK!).
No. 3: "Malus: Demise of the Ritual" (Shadow of the Colossus)
MERITS EARNED:
"Menacing" - This merit is earned by being able to induce a very scary feeling that the player is doomed. There's no hope of beating this final boss - either that, or the chances are ridiculously slim. 'Tis a very scary situation, what what.
"Stirring" - Dude, this makes me want to cry. This merit is earned by being able to stir sad emotions into the player. The song is able to attach the player in a way that movies or music would never be able to do. It's what makes video games so great to play in the first place.
CLICK BELOW FOR PLOT DETAILS
[spoiler]
The Final Boss: Malus (Click for gameplay footage)
BOSS SUMMARY: Again, some backstory. You're playing as this boy named Wander. In the beginning of the game, he travels across a land on a horse, along with his dead girlfriend named Mono. He brings her to this shrine and lays her there. However, he encounters some shadow-y creature things and pulls out this awesome sword from its sheath. The shadow creatures all of a sudden disappear, and a spirit begins to speak to Wander from above. The spirit is named Dormin, who says to Wander, "Thou posseses the ancient sword?" Like a boss, Wander says yes. Impressed, Dormin says that he can revive Wander's girlfriend if he destroys sixteen individual colossi, or giant monsters. Willing to do anything to save Mono, Wander instantly agrees without hesitation. But when you kill your first colossi, you begin to take a step back. You begin to ask yourself if killing all of these innocent creatures in their natural habitat is worth it, just to save one mortal human being. But you can't give up now. You have to press on.
So then Wander does go off, killing each colossi, one by one - some with the help of his horse, Agro, who remains his only friend throughout the whole game. Thing is, after he kills a colossi, these weird black snake-things start to sprout out from their dead bodies, chasing Wander. After every boss he kills, this happens and he gets struck by the snakes, which make their way into his body. However, as he kills around four or so, the player will probably notice some weird things about him as they progress through the game, killing more and more colossi. Wander starts to get scratches all over himself. His skin gets paler as usual. His normal red hair color begins to change. The snakes that he keeps absorbing into his body after he kills a colossi is changing him into something other than human. You might begin to wonder, at this point in the game, if going through the trouble of killing sixteen colossi is worth it...
And then the sixteenth one. The final colossus. Wander travels on his horse Agro as per usual, with his awesome sacred sword that he kills colossi with, and he reaches a bridge that apparently leads to the last one. Wander and Agro ride through the bridge, but then the bridge collapses. Agro falls through, along with Wander, but with all of Agro's remaining strength she thrusts herself towards a ledge so that Wander can grab on. Wander does grab on to the ledge and climbs to safety, but Agro isn't so lucky. She falls to the bottom of the crevasse and Wander never sees her again.
But shortly afterwards, Wander sees it. The final colossus. Malus. A towering... tower of destruction that has a face, arms, hands, and has the ability to shoot fire from its hands. Usually you'll get hit a couple times at this point, but then you remember Agro. And Mono. And then you find the determination somewhere deep inside, and you tell yourself that you're going to kill Malus. All of these snake things that you've taken into yourself from the other colossi has turned you into a demon. Your whole appearance has changed and you look as sick as a dog. Your pupils are a bright white, and horns have begun to sprout from your head. It's the last colossus and you can't turn back now. Unlike other colossi that you've ever fought, this time there's nowhere to run. This is it. Mano. A. Mano.
WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Considering how I think that Shadow of the Colossus is the absolute greatest video game of all time that I've ever played ever, I think that it deserved a spot on this list. Not only was it a great game, but it had some of the best video game soundtracks ever. Especially this one. It just made me emotional, this one. It made me think about the death of Mono (which is never shown in-game) and the death of Agro, your only friend who sacrificed herself to save yours. Then it hits you. Survivor's guilt. PTSD. Everything. Then the taps turn on and you're filled with tears, streaking down your face. This game truly is an emotional experience, because it makes you think about the things that make us human, and how the choices we make will determine our future. It also reminds us of how far a person would go to save someone they love. It's not a love story, but Wander as a video game hero has gone through things that no-one else will ever be able to replicate. This song just sets the perfect mood. It's rainy as hell, the clouds are a dark gray, and the only thing you hear is the sound of thunder crashing, the lightning flashing, and the eerie choir that just screams epicness. It's just so atmospheric - otherworldly, even. [/spoiler]
No. 2: "Larry 'Pixy' Foulke [Galm 2]" (Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War)
MERITS EARNED:
"Epic" - This merit is earned by being able to induce the feeling of being the hero or heroine in the game, fully sucking you in and making you determined to take out that final boss and do your duty as the main character. And the gamer. Or both.
"Dancey" - This merit is earned for being able to invoke an awesome, catchy final boss theme that manages to give the player the sudden urge to dance to it. See, the song's not only awesome, but it's ridiculously awesome, 'cause it's catchy.
"Stirring" - Dude, this makes me want to cry. This merit is earned by being able to stir sad emotions into the player. The song is able to attach the player in a way that movies or music would never be able to do. It's what makes video games so great to play in the first place.
[spoiler]
NOTE: By the way, this picture's from the Ace Combat Wiki, and this image already had the YouTube player thing in it. Sorry about that if it ruins the view or anything.
The Final Boss: Larry "Pixy" Foulke [Galm 2] (Click for gameplay footage)
BOSS SUMMARY: I don't own this game, but my friend showed it to me and I was able to see this final boss. It was epic. Allow me to tell you how the game goes based on what he told me about it. Some parts may be inaccurate, so I apologize in advance if I'm incorrect anywhere. Larry "Pixy" Foulke is a mercenary pilot that served during The Belkan War (which is a fictional war - Ace Combat has an entire alternate universe that's basically Earth but with different countries). Pixy has a notable reputation for having one of his wings on his F-15 blown clear off, and being able to land safely at base with only one wing. Eventually he got it replaced, but has the replacement wing painted red to remember his other half by.
You play as a mercenary pilot yourself - a flying ace known only by his callsign "Cipher" and "Galm 1". The whole game is told through fictional interviews of different flight mercenary teams. Cipher is the flight leader of the 66th Air Force Unit of Galm, and Pixy is your wingman through part of the game. Pixy and Cipher start a friendly relationship, a brotherly one, with both of them partaking in flight operations throughout the Belkan War. Pixy establishes his identity, however, with a catch-phrase that he's relatively fond of: "Yo, buddy, you still alive?"
The two were really good friends. That is, until Pixy defected. He betrayed Cipher to follow his own beliefs, but still considered him as a good friend. You see, Pixy does participate in war, but he hates it too. He accepts that war is a part of life, but he aspires for A World With No Boundaries, a terrorist group that he initiated to reform the world - even if it requires killing people and bringing destruction.
Your mission now, as Cipher, is to kill Pixy. To take him out of the skies that he loves so much. And to take him down. Eventually you two face off in a friendly battle, which eventually tenses up and then you two start fighting to the death. And then Pixy says something. "You and I are opposite sides of the same coin. When we face each other, we can finally see our true selves. There may be a resemblance, but we never face the same direction."
And then it hits you. Pixy takes a hard turn and makes a U-turn, seeming to be flying away from you. You give chase, but his new plane is way too fast for you. Then he turns around again, coming at you this time. Then you two engage head-on, and he nearly blows your face off with a missile. Then shortly after, you know what you have to do. You make a U-turn just as Pixy did, and he does the same. Following this, both of you ride away from each other for awhile, and then you turn around again, and as soon as you two reach the sufficient distance to shoot a missile, both of you fire at each other.
Yup. Jousting. With planes. Apparently, this game makes a lot of references to the King Arthur story and the Knights of the Round Table thing. It even features Spanish-themed music, which makes it all the more epic. But don't relax yet. Pixy then launches a V2 nuke that will finally bring his "A World With No Boundaries" reformation to life. But you, as the legendary ace Cipher, know that you have to stop him. Your buddy. Your pal who saved your life several times. And the only way you can thank him... is to kill him.
WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: I'll never forget the day my friend brought Ace Combat Zero to my house and we played it. We played through a couple missions, then he told me that he'd show me the final mission because it was epic. I was hesitant at first, because I didn't want spoilers, but then I agreed. Then he showed me. One of the most beautiful moments in gaming was this - Ace Combat Zero. The final boss just instills a feeling of sadness that you have to kill your friend, and that's the only way you can save him from his delusional thinking that he can change the world.
The lulling of the choirs, the ringing of the Spanish guitars, and just the whole darn orchestra bring this epic moment to life. It's two aces, pitted against each other in a dogfight to the death. You don't want to shoot down Pixy. But you have to. And when you do take him down, you start wishing that you'd never met him. It's just the most epic bromance I've ever seen, next to the French film "My Best Friend", but that's besides the point. Ace Combat Zero is an epic game of mass proportions. Having to kill your friend is always sad, but this game goes the extra mile, building up your friendly relationship with Pixy and making you kill him in the end. And then you hear "Mission accomplished, Cipher" - but you feel that nothing's been accomplished. It's only now - after you've taken Pixy down - that you realize what he truly meant, about the evils of war and how it causes things to fall apart. [/spoiler]
Up next: No. 1. Song No. 1. Prepare for - in my opinion - the most epic final boss theme in gaming history. EVAH!