The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"This door just'' screams ''endgame."''|Shiki, [[The World Ends With You]]}}

A video game with any sort of combat (and a few without) can be expected to end with a dramatic [[Final Boss]] battle. Console [[Role Playing Game]]s in particular tend to be downright obsessed with epic final showdowns. This clash needs an appropriate venue. Some get away with an ordinary castle, [[Elaborate Underground Base]] or the like, but that real twang takes a place that might as well bear the words "'''FINAL CONFRONTATION HERE'''" in spiky laser-shooting letters three hundred feet high.

A video game with any sort of combat (and a few without) can be expected to end with a dramatic [[Final Boss]] battle. Console [[Role-Playing Game]]s in particular tend to be downright obsessed with epic final showdowns. This clash needs an appropriate venue. Some get away with an ordinary castle, [[Elaborate Underground Base]] or the like, but that real twang takes a place that might as well bear the words "'''FINAL CONFRONTATION HERE'''" in spiky laser-shooting letters three hundred feet high.

It could be the [[Evil Tower of Ominousness|tallest of spires]] or the highest of mountains. It could be outside the world entirely, or in the distant past. In a [[Scavenger World]], it's a fully armed and operational [[Ominous Floating Castle|battlestation]] [[And Man Grew Proud|from legend]]. Often it's the very [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]] the [[Big Bad]] wants. In any case, it embodies the words "Serious business," and just entering it can merit an FMV or a [[Boss Battle]] (on the first try; from there on, it's easy as pie). Extra credit if it forms/arises/descends/erupts just when everything seemed all right, if it's [[Malevolent Architecture|more dangerous than would be allowed for any real place]], and if it has a [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|pretentious, overblown name.]]

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*** Not only that, to get to it, you have to travel through a lava-strewn terrain, which only exists in that one part of the world.

** In ''[[Oracle of Ages]]'' the villain spends the entire game building the final dungeon, right next to the village, and it ominously gets taller and taller as her plot progresses. Also, [[It's All Upstairs From Here]].

** Both the [[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|DS]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|games]] have one start out in one place and move the end to another. ''Phantom Hourglass'' has the [[Scrappy Level|Temple of the Ocean King]] with it then moving to the [[Ghost Ship]]. ''Spirit Tracks'' has a [[Final Boss New Dimension]] for the train portions and Phantom portion but kicks back to New Hyrule for the final parts.

** Both the [[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|DS]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|games]] have one start out in one place and move the end to another. ''Phantom Hourglass'' has the [[Scrappy Level|Temple of the Ocean King]] with it then moving to the [[Ghost Ship]]. ''Spirit Tracks'' has a [[Final Boss, New Dimension]] for the train portions and Phantom portion but kicks back to New Hyrule for the final parts.

** Death Mountain in the original has a unique, nightmarish [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_cOBMxjqKw music piece].

* The final battle in ''[[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' takes place in a gargantuan cavern inside a large moon, on a slab of rock surrounded by green glowing water, with a giant statue-like Domz creature looking over the battle, and all your friends and other citizens of Hyllis locked in permanent paralysis in green Matrix-like pods lining the walls of the cavern. Doesn't get much more final than that.

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== [[Role Playing Game]] ==

== [[Role-Playing Game]] ==

* ''[[Ultima]]'', the granddaddy of them all, set its final confrontation in a cavern beneath a volcano, 1000 years in the past. It may have been monochrome and not that visually impressive, but it was about as very definitely final as one could hope for on an Apple II computer in 1980.

** ''The Great, Stygian Abyss'' from the fourth and fifth installments of the series should also qualify, if only for its name and the damnable somersaults you have to perform to get in there. In [[Ultima IV]], the player characters need to have completed a number of highly virtuous tasks in a highly virtuous manner, learned the Word of Power, and collected several [[MacGuffin]]s; in ''[[Ultima V]]'', you have to drag your tired arses halfway across the Underworld, the Word of Power is needed again, as are several other items (actually usable items with other functions) and it's combined with the fact that once you go in, ''you can't leave until you reach the very bottom'' and hopefully have everything you need to complete the final puzzle.

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*** The very definition except for the fact that it's entirely optional. Still probably counts, though, since beating it ''does'' drop you directly in front of Lavos.

*** Also, you can do the Dark Omen more than once by going backwards in time.

* The first ''[[Wild ~~Arms~~ 1|Wild ARMs]]'' has a final dungeon that cannot be mistaken for a typical dungeon. It's a friggin' orbiting ''space station'' set in a ''wild west'' motif. If that's not a telltale shift in scenery, then nothing is.

* The first ''[[Wild ARMs 1|Wild ARMs]]'' has a final dungeon that cannot be mistaken for a typical dungeon. It's a friggin' orbiting ''space station'' set in a ''wild west'' motif. If that's not a telltale shift in scenery, then nothing is.

** And let us not forget that 2 takes you to the living heart of the planet through an inverted spiral tower that stretches on for deities know how long full of its own mini-bosses, and 4 takes you to a deranged, ARM-particle-infested Alcatraz overgrown with crystal and bizzare ARM mutants, with its own Load Bearing Final Boss... Hurr.

* Subverted in ''[[Phantasy Star]]''; King Lassic's tower of Baya Malay is at first glance the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, until you reach its peak and discover it's merely the gateway to King Lassic's ''invisible flying city''. The game then subverts the trope the second time when, after finishing the dungeon and killing Lassic, the ''real'' final dungeon turns out to be an unimpressive catacomb beneath Paseo, where the [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] has taken up residence.

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* ''Earthbound'' has the final battle take place innumerable years in the past - to be sent there, your party's souls are transferred into robots, and it's made pretty clear that there's no going back.

** However, its prequel, ''Mother 1'' (or ''[[MOTHER 1]]''), has either a very small final dungeon, or a very large final dungeon if you count all of Mount Itoi.

** The final chapter of ''[[Mother 3]]'' takes your party to New Pork City. It's clear that there's no going back, since the overworld has been [[Doomed Hometown|completely abandoned]], and just about every NPC you've ever met is there with you. The final battle itself takes place deep underground, like in ''[[~~Earthbound~~]]''.

** The final chapter of ''[[Mother 3]]'' takes your party to New Pork City. It's clear that there's no going back, since the overworld has been [[Doomed Hometown|completely abandoned]], and just about every NPC you've ever met is there with you. The final battle itself takes place deep underground, like in ''[[EarthBound]]''.

* ''[[Golden Sun]]'' has [[Evil Tower of Ominousness|Mars Lighthouse]], the final [[Cosmic Keystone]] that you've hiked across six continents (and [[One Game for the Price of Two|two games]]) to reach, located at the very edge of the world. It isn't even marked on your map.

** ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' has the Apollo Sanctum, which sits on top of the world's tallest mountain, has you spend a good chunk of time scaling the mountainside just to reach it! If that doesn't scream final dungeon, the last portion of it also has you walking through a {{spoiler|shower of light that is so strong it will completely destroy you unless you use the Umbra Gear, which creates a shadow barrier to protect you temporarily from the intense light}}.

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** ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' had you raid the entrance of and then fly into a giant underground tunnel with an enemy ace on your tail.

** ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero'' had you fly through a canyon with heavy anti-air fire, then into the interior of a dam.

* ''[[~~Act Raiser~~]] 2'' has a generic Fortress of Evil, made distinctive by the fact that entry requires taking the Sky Palace, the throne of the Almighty God, and crashing it through the walls. The final level is littered with dead cherubs and surviving angels are being exterminated, because ''shit just got real''.

* ''[[ActRaiser]] 2'' has a generic Fortress of Evil, made distinctive by the fact that entry requires taking the Sky Palace, the throne of the Almighty God, and crashing it through the walls. The final level is littered with dead cherubs and surviving angels are being exterminated, because ''shit just got real''.

** Not exactly a generic base considering it's [[Hell]] reached through the mouth of a volcano. Unlike the first game, this time you have to sacrifice [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven|Heaven]] in order to crash through and reach it.

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== [[Survival Horror]] ==

* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' games, it's usually a laboratory. ''[[Resident Evil 0]]'', ''[[Resident Evil 1|1]]'', ''[[Resident Evil 2|2]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Code Veronica|Code Veronica]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Gun Survivor|Survivor]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak|Outbreak]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles|Umbrella Chronicles]]'' follow the normal formula , While the rest is a bit of a mix up...

* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' games, it's usually a laboratory. ''[[Resident Evil Zero]]'', ''[[Resident Evil 1|1]]'', ''[[Resident Evil 2|2]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Code: Veronica|Code Veronica]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Gun Survivor|Survivor]]'', ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak|Outbreak]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles|Umbrella Chronicles]]'' follow the normal formula , While the rest is a bit of a mix up...

** ''[[Resident Evil 3 Nemesis|3]]'''s is a abandoned factory.

** ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis|3]]'''s is a abandoned factory.

** ''[[Resident Evil 4|4]]'''s is a military base on a island (Dead Aim also does this, but with a different island).

** ''[[Resident Evil 5|5]]'''s is {{spoiler|Wesker's personal battleship, which is bursting into flames by the final segment}}.

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== [[Turn Based Tactics]] ==

* The ''[[X-COM]]'' games all feature some variation on this. Even the final hidden star system in X-Com Interceptor can be considered an example of this trope.

** The first game in the [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[UFO ~~Afterblank~~]]'' series stays true to the spirit and ends with a do-or-die assault on the Reticulan mothership docked on the far side of the Moon.

** The first game in the [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[UFO: After Blank]]'' series stays true to the spirit and ends with a do-or-die assault on the Reticulan mothership docked on the far side of the Moon.

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[[Category:The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]]

[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]