EVILNess
12-18-2012, 07:42 PM
Now what follows is the 3rd draft of a script I am going to read for something going to on my Youtube channel. I still need to write a conclusion, but I thought it would be neat to share with you guys before I start building the video part. Especially since it's probably going to take me the better part of a week to do that part since I have absolutely no art skills or design sense.
Despite the awkward whorish feeling I get sharing anything I do with you guys and against my better judgement, I feel I trust the people here enough to be adequately comfortable in posting this, so I hope you do enjoy.
First, I would like to give you a spoiler warning. I will be going into this with the assumption that you do not care about spoilers. None of the games on this list were released after 2005, but with the release of so many PS1 and PS2 Classics and the Wii Virtual Console you might stumble onto something that you wanted to play. So, you have been warned.
Second, everything on this list is my own personal feeling, and as such is my opinion. I do not mind you sharing your opinion on your experiences, but please be respectful to everyone's viewpoints.
Lastly, I would also like to point out that these bosses are on this list, not because of being the best RPG bosses ever or anything as cut and dry as that. This list is more about bosses that had an emotional impact on me as a player, the ones that really stick in my mind for whatever reason. Some of them will be the result of a game's worth of payoff culminating in that battle and others will be more knee jerk, but the unifying idea here is that these are bosses that left a lasting impact on me to the point that when I think about that particular game, I think about that boss.
I also threw in some honorable mentions from the same games on 10-5, just because.
Now, I purposely left out final bosses and any optional super bosses, meaning this is my Top Ten Most Emotionally Memorable Normal Boss Battles:
#10
Calamity from Xenogears
Calamity is definitely a boss that kind of pops out of nowhere. He flies out of the distance and then attacks you for no discernible reason the main characters can fathom at that time. The reason he made my list is that he was THAT ONE BOSS for me during my first play-through of the game... also I have a soft spot in my heart for anything that ROCKET PUNCHES. At that time I didn't really understand the mechanics of Gear Combat and Calamity kicked my ass up and down the street a dozen times. That kind of abuse leaves emotional scars that never go away. On the other hand, I was very quickly forced to learn how to take advantage of things like gear deathblows and fuel management. Even to this day, though I know how to easily beat him I still feel like a small child facing down a schoolyard bully when we clash.
I would like to also put up Redrum as a special mention from Xenogears, because HOLY CRAP is he hands down the hardest on foot encounter in the game and the fact that you find him at the end of a very confusing maze makes losing to him even more painful. He will straight up murder your face, yo.
#9
Air Buster from Final Fantasy VII
Air buster is the 2nd boss in FF7, and he really isn't even that hard. So why is he on this list? Two reasons, the starting atmosphere of the fight coupled with the music. Picture this, you just had a tense run in with the supposed main villain himself, there is a bomb ticking in the reactor and you need to leave NOW, when all of a sudden HOVER ROBOT. He splits your party up and then BATTLE SWIRLS into my absolute favorite non-special boss theme from the Final Fantasy series. In case you haven't played Final Fantasy VII up to this point all you ever hear is the normal battle music, even on the previous boss. So basically, the sheer awesome of this song + the buildup to the fight have forever seared this battle into my mind, and to this day I still feel a rush of anticipation during the lead up to the fight with Air Buster.
I think an honorable mention should go to the Turks on top of the Sector 7 Pillar. High stakes? Check. Dark Counterpart Rivals? Check. Awesome suits? Double check.
#8
Barubary from Breath of Fire 2
Barubary is the penultimate boss of Breath of Fire 2. Now I admit that I have a thing for Duel bosses, there is romance in an honorable duel, and Barubary is the Duel Boss that instigated that feeling in me. He is the protagonist's own personal boogie man. Something that is explicitly stated to have given him nightmares for years and I spent the entire game wondering when he would show up again. So when you finally face him, in the deepest reaches of Infinity and you get to see those hints of noble demon we get to see a glimpse beneath the surface what stories in games were capable of, of the possibility that stories and characters in videogames could be more than I ever hoped at any point during my then current gaming career. He wants to fight you fairly. He wants to settle the score, and when you win he rewards you. This was a glimpse that sparked my imagination and made me wonder what his story was. Was he more than a faceless monster? At that point thinking deeply about a video game villain was a new concept that exploded inside my imagination.
A Special Mention to Terrapin for not only being a huge stopping block for me when I first played Breath of Fire 2, but for being the most terrifying boss I had ever seen in a game up to that point. Seriously. The way he undulates still kind of freaks me out. It took me like two weeks to finally beat him.
#7
Dhoulmagus from Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Dhoulmagus was he that cursed the king. He was the Macguffin man at the start of the game. However, he was more than that. He was a threat that you spent the entire game on the heels of, someone who was always just out of your reach. You see the aftermath of all the terrible things he does, some of which that is committed as you helplessly watch, and then as you go along feeling helpless to stop him...you do it. You catch up to him. However, he was not an anti-climax boss as such characters like this often are.
He was a genuinely difficult battle with two painful forms that introduced new boss mechanics, such as getting bosses getting two turns per round and the Wave of Ice, that will haunt you for the rest of the game. Facing him down brings anxiety, and finally killing him gives much satisfaction.
I would like to give an Honorable Mention shout-out to EVIL Jessica for not only being kind of hot, but also a double whammy boss. Not only are you down a powerful comrade, that comrade is trying to kill you!
#6
Yunalesca from Final Fantasy X
Lady Yunalesca is great boss for me because she was a cementing point for my opinion for the protagonists of Final Fantasy X. The confrontation with Yunalesca represents an entire game's growth for the main heroine, and her journey from someone who has resigned herself to death in the pursuit of her duty to someone who realized that if you do what you always did that you will always get the same results. She becomes someone who wakes up from the madness of her world and says no. Yunalesca disagrees with her assessment, and she states that it is better to die with hope rather than live and fight through sorrow. Whether she is a true villain or simply misguided is a matter of personal opinion as her motivations are never fully made clear, but I always saw her as someone who had resigned herself to infinite despair and the belief that things will never be, can never be, better. She walked the same path as those that followed, and fell into nihilistic despair, and when confronted with her despair, her logic, and her reason she was denied and the party decided to bet on the possibility of a better future, and then accept the consequences of that uncertain future.
As a fighter Yunalesca lives up to her name as a legend, throwing around cans of hurt like they were going out of style. She is one of those tough multi-stage bosses that make you tear your hair out, and if someone says they beat her on the first try with no fore-knowledge she was there is more than likely feeding you what they are shoveling. I mean it. Her normal attacks dispel buffs, she counters with incredibly frustrating amounts of status effects, and then there is Hellbiter. To top all of that off, if you are obsessive about keeping Zombie off everyone SHE WILL MURDER YOU in her final eldritch abomination form with an instant death move called Mega-Death that kills everyone not in zombie status. Excuse me, I just mentally broke a controller in frustration.
Honorable mention to Seymour Flux who is not only a boss that seemed like he was there just because we hadn't had an impressive one for a while, but for being a right bastard who killed me many, many times. He might have made this list for that alone, but he really just kind of pops up and tries to kill you, kind of boring compared to Yunalesca.
#5
Boomerang and Luceid from Wild Arms
Boomerang is first off, a kick ass ninja demon possibly cyborg who fights with a BOOMERANG. That. Is. AMAZING. Boomerang is a demon warrior whose whole reason for existence is a desire for combat. That is all he cares about. His desire to fight is so strong he revived the guardian of desire Luceid. His desire alone, is sustaining a primal force of Filgaia. Beyond the impossible, but Boomerang doesn't care. He doesn't want the end of the world or honestly care about the demon's ideals. Nor does he wish to see you killed. It's only his desire for combat that makes him your enemy. You are strong, and he responds to that. He isn't necessarily a noble demon, but you come to respect each other over your fights. This culminates with him playing the hero sacrificing his life so that you can keep going after having one last battle. I cried manly tears the first time I exited the tower and saw his Saber Fang sticking out of the ground, and got chills when I examined it.
And then he crawls up from hell tooth and nail to fight you, if only for one last time. He hangs out with wolves. He does whatever he wants. He has cool battle music. He is just plain cool. Hell yeah he is on this list for me. Just thinking about him makes me fist pump with a primal feeling of awesome.
#4
Eve from Parasite Eve
Just to be clear, I am not referring to the Eve at the top of the Chrysler Building.
Anyway, Eve is a great example of a present villain, she is someone who has a goal, actively works toward that goal in a believable line within the context of the game, but isn't so caught up in the plan that she won't stop to play, resulting in several fights across the duration of the game. She also knows how to put on a grand show, and every time she stops to play it is very flashy. Don't believe me? First fight, she combusts an entire audience of people, second fight she mutates into a giant floating monster with an oddly phallic protrusion while playing the piano, third fight she lights a horse on fire and you fight on top of a runaway carriage, and your final confrontation starts with her making a giant of goo and walking to the Statue of Liberty where she is nuked and THEN you face off for the final time, only for her to melt away once destroyed. Another thing of note is that she never stops offering you the cookies of the darkside, at least until the end where you are directly threatening her baby.
The kicker of all this? She wins. She gives birth to the ultimate form. Granted, he loses but that is beyond Eve's scope. Her goal was met, and I remember that feeling well when I realized the game wasn't over yet. Oh crap. Interestingly enough I just now had a flash of fridge brilliance that would dictate that even though you kill the Ultimate Being on the carrier, Eve still succeeded in making the ultimate being that would live among humans. By constantly placing obstacles in your way and not killing you when you were weak, the protagonist kills the Ultimate Being to become the ultimate being by survival of the fittest.
#3
Dragon Lord from Breath of Fire III
What can I say about the battle with Teepo? Heartbreaking and unexpected would probably be a good start. You spend the whole game thinking he had died, when out of nowhere at the end of the world your whole family is reunited, only for him to ignore everyone else present and throw you into a world of self-doubt. In this world you are confronted with all the doubts of everyone you were travelling with, culminating with your own reaffirmation of conviction and Teepo attacking as the mighty Dragon Lord.
For a boss in Breath of Fire III the Dragon Lord is probably one of the toughest in the game. Sadly, the last half of the game's bosses are muted by the Force Gene, but Teepo still has some nasty things to throw your way, including Triple Blow, powerful level 3 magic, and the ever annoying Howling just to throw a monkey in your wrench.
After the fighting died down I remember feeling more than a bit sad, because even though it had been a long time since we had seen him you never really give up hope in the back of your mind that you might see him alive again, and then for him to show up in the last dungeon as an obstacle was very surprising and heartbreaking. Especially for his two "brothers" who not only had to find him only to lose him again, but to have such a sad and unexpected resolution left an oddly empty space in my heart. Not that I was disappointed per se, but I remember thinking that "Yeah, sometimes life works out like that."
#2
Luca Blight from Suikoden II
A good villain is complicated and full of layers. They make you sympathize with them and loath them at the same, sometimes they make you feel that they might not be exactly wrong in their actions. They play with your feelings. They might be doing a bad thing for the right reasons or something equally profound. Yeah, none of that here.
Luca is a great villain, but he isn't exactly a profound guy. He is not redeemable in any way, he is simply put, a monster. He rallies the populace of his kingdom for war by having his own men dress like a rival nation's and ATTACKS HIS OWN YOUTH BRIGADE. You instantly know how big a monster he is, and then he proceeds to scare up worse things to do over the course of the game. To name a few, he goes on to slaughter entire villages, doing most of the killing personally. He gleefully kills children. He sacrifices the entire populace of a rival nation's capital to his rune, and before he does this, he and his men cut down fleeing refugees. He has your friend murder his own father at a wedding, and not to mention the constant abuses his half-sister endures. He is so vile and evil, the other antagonists of the game turn on him and actually help you get rid of him.
He then proceeds to not only take on your party, but also 2 additional parties. He takes on 18 of your best party members and is still one of the hardest bosses in the entire game. He gets multiple attacks a round, hits super hard and when you manage to finally best him he gets up and leaves! He falls into a trap while escaping and gets pin-cushioned with arrows and then THAT doesn't stop him. He still has enough fight after all of this to challenge you to a duel where he finally falls... laughing about how he personally killed thousands of men and it took hundreds to stop him.
And isn’t even the end of the game there either, his legacy haunts the rest of the story and so does the war he started. Wow.
#1
Leon Magnus from Tales of Destiny
The ultimate betrayal is what I felt. Leon stayed in my party from the moment he joined until the moment he left. He was a comrade, and nothing stings more than that. He was kind of a malicious jerk, but I always saw him as someone the party could rely on, a nice rival to foil the main character. The most interesting thing about his betrayal to me was that he never makes excuses. Leon consciously accepts the task and starts to antagonize you in order to protect his dearest person. He also reveals his actual relationship with another party member at this point, but attacks nonetheless, betraying the group he worked with. He uses all the moves you have come to appreciate and possibly like me rely on over the course of the game, but he doesn't stand up long against your party. Leon is defeated.
After the fight the mine is flooded with water, washing your group away, while Leon stays behind on the only remaining piece of land, too injured to move on. He gives a last laugh and farewell to his important person before dying. He never makes a single excuse or offers an apology. He stood up to protect the person he loved and accepted all the consequences. He drew the lines in the sand and stood firmly behind his, even after oblivion had come for him. Even more than the feeling of betrayal at that point, I felt respect. Respect for this man who stood up and did the wrong thing for the right reasons.
I honestly held out hope until the very last second that he might show up again, until the final confrontation with the villain, who conjures a zombie Leon. I genuinely loathed the villain at this point, as he had not only desecrated Leon's memory, but also dashed my hopes of seeing him alive again to redeem himself now that his precious person was safe.
Despite the awkward whorish feeling I get sharing anything I do with you guys and against my better judgement, I feel I trust the people here enough to be adequately comfortable in posting this, so I hope you do enjoy.
First, I would like to give you a spoiler warning. I will be going into this with the assumption that you do not care about spoilers. None of the games on this list were released after 2005, but with the release of so many PS1 and PS2 Classics and the Wii Virtual Console you might stumble onto something that you wanted to play. So, you have been warned.
Second, everything on this list is my own personal feeling, and as such is my opinion. I do not mind you sharing your opinion on your experiences, but please be respectful to everyone's viewpoints.
Lastly, I would also like to point out that these bosses are on this list, not because of being the best RPG bosses ever or anything as cut and dry as that. This list is more about bosses that had an emotional impact on me as a player, the ones that really stick in my mind for whatever reason. Some of them will be the result of a game's worth of payoff culminating in that battle and others will be more knee jerk, but the unifying idea here is that these are bosses that left a lasting impact on me to the point that when I think about that particular game, I think about that boss.
I also threw in some honorable mentions from the same games on 10-5, just because.
Now, I purposely left out final bosses and any optional super bosses, meaning this is my Top Ten Most Emotionally Memorable Normal Boss Battles:
#10
Calamity from Xenogears
Calamity is definitely a boss that kind of pops out of nowhere. He flies out of the distance and then attacks you for no discernible reason the main characters can fathom at that time. The reason he made my list is that he was THAT ONE BOSS for me during my first play-through of the game... also I have a soft spot in my heart for anything that ROCKET PUNCHES. At that time I didn't really understand the mechanics of Gear Combat and Calamity kicked my ass up and down the street a dozen times. That kind of abuse leaves emotional scars that never go away. On the other hand, I was very quickly forced to learn how to take advantage of things like gear deathblows and fuel management. Even to this day, though I know how to easily beat him I still feel like a small child facing down a schoolyard bully when we clash.
I would like to also put up Redrum as a special mention from Xenogears, because HOLY CRAP is he hands down the hardest on foot encounter in the game and the fact that you find him at the end of a very confusing maze makes losing to him even more painful. He will straight up murder your face, yo.
#9
Air Buster from Final Fantasy VII
Air buster is the 2nd boss in FF7, and he really isn't even that hard. So why is he on this list? Two reasons, the starting atmosphere of the fight coupled with the music. Picture this, you just had a tense run in with the supposed main villain himself, there is a bomb ticking in the reactor and you need to leave NOW, when all of a sudden HOVER ROBOT. He splits your party up and then BATTLE SWIRLS into my absolute favorite non-special boss theme from the Final Fantasy series. In case you haven't played Final Fantasy VII up to this point all you ever hear is the normal battle music, even on the previous boss. So basically, the sheer awesome of this song + the buildup to the fight have forever seared this battle into my mind, and to this day I still feel a rush of anticipation during the lead up to the fight with Air Buster.
I think an honorable mention should go to the Turks on top of the Sector 7 Pillar. High stakes? Check. Dark Counterpart Rivals? Check. Awesome suits? Double check.
#8
Barubary from Breath of Fire 2
Barubary is the penultimate boss of Breath of Fire 2. Now I admit that I have a thing for Duel bosses, there is romance in an honorable duel, and Barubary is the Duel Boss that instigated that feeling in me. He is the protagonist's own personal boogie man. Something that is explicitly stated to have given him nightmares for years and I spent the entire game wondering when he would show up again. So when you finally face him, in the deepest reaches of Infinity and you get to see those hints of noble demon we get to see a glimpse beneath the surface what stories in games were capable of, of the possibility that stories and characters in videogames could be more than I ever hoped at any point during my then current gaming career. He wants to fight you fairly. He wants to settle the score, and when you win he rewards you. This was a glimpse that sparked my imagination and made me wonder what his story was. Was he more than a faceless monster? At that point thinking deeply about a video game villain was a new concept that exploded inside my imagination.
A Special Mention to Terrapin for not only being a huge stopping block for me when I first played Breath of Fire 2, but for being the most terrifying boss I had ever seen in a game up to that point. Seriously. The way he undulates still kind of freaks me out. It took me like two weeks to finally beat him.
#7
Dhoulmagus from Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Dhoulmagus was he that cursed the king. He was the Macguffin man at the start of the game. However, he was more than that. He was a threat that you spent the entire game on the heels of, someone who was always just out of your reach. You see the aftermath of all the terrible things he does, some of which that is committed as you helplessly watch, and then as you go along feeling helpless to stop him...you do it. You catch up to him. However, he was not an anti-climax boss as such characters like this often are.
He was a genuinely difficult battle with two painful forms that introduced new boss mechanics, such as getting bosses getting two turns per round and the Wave of Ice, that will haunt you for the rest of the game. Facing him down brings anxiety, and finally killing him gives much satisfaction.
I would like to give an Honorable Mention shout-out to EVIL Jessica for not only being kind of hot, but also a double whammy boss. Not only are you down a powerful comrade, that comrade is trying to kill you!
#6
Yunalesca from Final Fantasy X
Lady Yunalesca is great boss for me because she was a cementing point for my opinion for the protagonists of Final Fantasy X. The confrontation with Yunalesca represents an entire game's growth for the main heroine, and her journey from someone who has resigned herself to death in the pursuit of her duty to someone who realized that if you do what you always did that you will always get the same results. She becomes someone who wakes up from the madness of her world and says no. Yunalesca disagrees with her assessment, and she states that it is better to die with hope rather than live and fight through sorrow. Whether she is a true villain or simply misguided is a matter of personal opinion as her motivations are never fully made clear, but I always saw her as someone who had resigned herself to infinite despair and the belief that things will never be, can never be, better. She walked the same path as those that followed, and fell into nihilistic despair, and when confronted with her despair, her logic, and her reason she was denied and the party decided to bet on the possibility of a better future, and then accept the consequences of that uncertain future.
As a fighter Yunalesca lives up to her name as a legend, throwing around cans of hurt like they were going out of style. She is one of those tough multi-stage bosses that make you tear your hair out, and if someone says they beat her on the first try with no fore-knowledge she was there is more than likely feeding you what they are shoveling. I mean it. Her normal attacks dispel buffs, she counters with incredibly frustrating amounts of status effects, and then there is Hellbiter. To top all of that off, if you are obsessive about keeping Zombie off everyone SHE WILL MURDER YOU in her final eldritch abomination form with an instant death move called Mega-Death that kills everyone not in zombie status. Excuse me, I just mentally broke a controller in frustration.
Honorable mention to Seymour Flux who is not only a boss that seemed like he was there just because we hadn't had an impressive one for a while, but for being a right bastard who killed me many, many times. He might have made this list for that alone, but he really just kind of pops up and tries to kill you, kind of boring compared to Yunalesca.
#5
Boomerang and Luceid from Wild Arms
Boomerang is first off, a kick ass ninja demon possibly cyborg who fights with a BOOMERANG. That. Is. AMAZING. Boomerang is a demon warrior whose whole reason for existence is a desire for combat. That is all he cares about. His desire to fight is so strong he revived the guardian of desire Luceid. His desire alone, is sustaining a primal force of Filgaia. Beyond the impossible, but Boomerang doesn't care. He doesn't want the end of the world or honestly care about the demon's ideals. Nor does he wish to see you killed. It's only his desire for combat that makes him your enemy. You are strong, and he responds to that. He isn't necessarily a noble demon, but you come to respect each other over your fights. This culminates with him playing the hero sacrificing his life so that you can keep going after having one last battle. I cried manly tears the first time I exited the tower and saw his Saber Fang sticking out of the ground, and got chills when I examined it.
And then he crawls up from hell tooth and nail to fight you, if only for one last time. He hangs out with wolves. He does whatever he wants. He has cool battle music. He is just plain cool. Hell yeah he is on this list for me. Just thinking about him makes me fist pump with a primal feeling of awesome.
#4
Eve from Parasite Eve
Just to be clear, I am not referring to the Eve at the top of the Chrysler Building.
Anyway, Eve is a great example of a present villain, she is someone who has a goal, actively works toward that goal in a believable line within the context of the game, but isn't so caught up in the plan that she won't stop to play, resulting in several fights across the duration of the game. She also knows how to put on a grand show, and every time she stops to play it is very flashy. Don't believe me? First fight, she combusts an entire audience of people, second fight she mutates into a giant floating monster with an oddly phallic protrusion while playing the piano, third fight she lights a horse on fire and you fight on top of a runaway carriage, and your final confrontation starts with her making a giant of goo and walking to the Statue of Liberty where she is nuked and THEN you face off for the final time, only for her to melt away once destroyed. Another thing of note is that she never stops offering you the cookies of the darkside, at least until the end where you are directly threatening her baby.
The kicker of all this? She wins. She gives birth to the ultimate form. Granted, he loses but that is beyond Eve's scope. Her goal was met, and I remember that feeling well when I realized the game wasn't over yet. Oh crap. Interestingly enough I just now had a flash of fridge brilliance that would dictate that even though you kill the Ultimate Being on the carrier, Eve still succeeded in making the ultimate being that would live among humans. By constantly placing obstacles in your way and not killing you when you were weak, the protagonist kills the Ultimate Being to become the ultimate being by survival of the fittest.
#3
Dragon Lord from Breath of Fire III
What can I say about the battle with Teepo? Heartbreaking and unexpected would probably be a good start. You spend the whole game thinking he had died, when out of nowhere at the end of the world your whole family is reunited, only for him to ignore everyone else present and throw you into a world of self-doubt. In this world you are confronted with all the doubts of everyone you were travelling with, culminating with your own reaffirmation of conviction and Teepo attacking as the mighty Dragon Lord.
For a boss in Breath of Fire III the Dragon Lord is probably one of the toughest in the game. Sadly, the last half of the game's bosses are muted by the Force Gene, but Teepo still has some nasty things to throw your way, including Triple Blow, powerful level 3 magic, and the ever annoying Howling just to throw a monkey in your wrench.
After the fighting died down I remember feeling more than a bit sad, because even though it had been a long time since we had seen him you never really give up hope in the back of your mind that you might see him alive again, and then for him to show up in the last dungeon as an obstacle was very surprising and heartbreaking. Especially for his two "brothers" who not only had to find him only to lose him again, but to have such a sad and unexpected resolution left an oddly empty space in my heart. Not that I was disappointed per se, but I remember thinking that "Yeah, sometimes life works out like that."
#2
Luca Blight from Suikoden II
A good villain is complicated and full of layers. They make you sympathize with them and loath them at the same, sometimes they make you feel that they might not be exactly wrong in their actions. They play with your feelings. They might be doing a bad thing for the right reasons or something equally profound. Yeah, none of that here.
Luca is a great villain, but he isn't exactly a profound guy. He is not redeemable in any way, he is simply put, a monster. He rallies the populace of his kingdom for war by having his own men dress like a rival nation's and ATTACKS HIS OWN YOUTH BRIGADE. You instantly know how big a monster he is, and then he proceeds to scare up worse things to do over the course of the game. To name a few, he goes on to slaughter entire villages, doing most of the killing personally. He gleefully kills children. He sacrifices the entire populace of a rival nation's capital to his rune, and before he does this, he and his men cut down fleeing refugees. He has your friend murder his own father at a wedding, and not to mention the constant abuses his half-sister endures. He is so vile and evil, the other antagonists of the game turn on him and actually help you get rid of him.
He then proceeds to not only take on your party, but also 2 additional parties. He takes on 18 of your best party members and is still one of the hardest bosses in the entire game. He gets multiple attacks a round, hits super hard and when you manage to finally best him he gets up and leaves! He falls into a trap while escaping and gets pin-cushioned with arrows and then THAT doesn't stop him. He still has enough fight after all of this to challenge you to a duel where he finally falls... laughing about how he personally killed thousands of men and it took hundreds to stop him.
And isn’t even the end of the game there either, his legacy haunts the rest of the story and so does the war he started. Wow.
#1
Leon Magnus from Tales of Destiny
The ultimate betrayal is what I felt. Leon stayed in my party from the moment he joined until the moment he left. He was a comrade, and nothing stings more than that. He was kind of a malicious jerk, but I always saw him as someone the party could rely on, a nice rival to foil the main character. The most interesting thing about his betrayal to me was that he never makes excuses. Leon consciously accepts the task and starts to antagonize you in order to protect his dearest person. He also reveals his actual relationship with another party member at this point, but attacks nonetheless, betraying the group he worked with. He uses all the moves you have come to appreciate and possibly like me rely on over the course of the game, but he doesn't stand up long against your party. Leon is defeated.
After the fight the mine is flooded with water, washing your group away, while Leon stays behind on the only remaining piece of land, too injured to move on. He gives a last laugh and farewell to his important person before dying. He never makes a single excuse or offers an apology. He stood up to protect the person he loved and accepted all the consequences. He drew the lines in the sand and stood firmly behind his, even after oblivion had come for him. Even more than the feeling of betrayal at that point, I felt respect. Respect for this man who stood up and did the wrong thing for the right reasons.
I honestly held out hope until the very last second that he might show up again, until the final confrontation with the villain, who conjures a zombie Leon. I genuinely loathed the villain at this point, as he had not only desecrated Leon's memory, but also dashed my hopes of seeing him alive again to redeem himself now that his precious person was safe.