[General Discussion] How does Sephiroth manage to destroy the solar system, yet still fail to KO my party

OH SHIT, ONE WINGED ANGEL comin’ through. You’ve all seen Seph’s mega attack that wipes out all the planets then only does perhaps 6000-7000 on Cloud and the gang from some miscellaneous RPG made back for the PS1 a few moons ago which barely anyone has heard of, I'm sure. Then he has the audacity to do it again! This is proof that planets grow back to normal shape in a matter of about 6 minutes.

So why is it, especially, for RPGS, that you see power house attacks than can be basically ALL SHOW, NO GO, where some enemy fires a mega blaster cannon lazer 9000 at your party, manage to light up the entire world in fire till kingdom come, and still somehow your party, as well as your physical surroundings still stay intact?

How and why? Well because it’s just for show of course! And because it’s to make it look more dramatic, instead of just a simple punch or sword slash. :3

In this thread, post and describe the most awesome display of force by a boss or player mega attack that looks like “holy shit”, yet it just seems to be so weak, and your natural surroundings just remain the same – obviously because it needs to keep the gameplay on the same level, as well as the processing power to alter the natural surroundings takes up too much on current generation RPGS.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I could never stand Supernova. What is it, 94.6% of your current HP or something? Never kills you, although it sure beats the hell out of Jupiter.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (yes, not an RPG, but it does have elements of one) has a similar problem with explosive moves. It usually generates a short cutscene with part of the world being just completely destroyed, and then the stage you're fighting on changes to reflect a broken, barren wasteland.

Problem is, this happens even if the attack misses, so a large chunk of the world still explodes, enveloping a 300-mile radius in conflagration...but when the scene cuts back, you're both mysteriously unharmed. This is especially effective for watching Goku miss with a Spirit Bomb, destroying pieces of the very thing that supplied his power to help itself survive.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Lavos and his spectacular Needle attack which devastates the surroundings and the surface of the earth all around. It leaves craters where towns once stood, destroying technology and leaving destruction in its wake. It hits someone for the equivalent of stubbing their toe.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Scratch and Sniff

OH SHIT, ONE WINGED ANGEL comin’ through. You’ve all seen Seph’s mega attack that wipes out all the planets then only does perhaps 6000-7000 on Cloud and the gang from some miscellaneous RPG made back for the PS1 a few moons ago which barely anyone has heard of, I'm sure. Then he has the audacity to do it again! This is proof that planets grow back to normal shape in a matter of about 6 minutes.

So why is it, especially, for RPGS, that you see power house attacks than can be basically ALL SHOW, NO GO, where some enemy fires a mega blaster cannon lazer 9000 at your party, manage to light up the entire world in fire till kingdom come, and still somehow your party, as well as your physical surroundings still stay intact?

How and why? Well because it’s just for show of course! And because it’s to make it look more dramatic, instead of just a simple punch or sword slash. :3

In this thread, post and describe the most awesome display of force by a boss or player mega attack that looks like “holy shit”, yet it just seems to be so weak, and your natural surroundings just remain the same – obviously because it needs to keep the gameplay on the same level, as well as the processing power to alter the natural surroundings takes up too much on current generation RPGS.

Ok, here's one from FFXII:

FFXII final boss:

Vayne's quickening/summon like cinematics looked like they could split God's ass in half, yet they were ridiculously weak. You can beat the game at around level 40-45 and it's still easy to survive them. Heck, he even starts using Bahamut techs and they're still the same thing.

Summons in general would competely fuck up the country/world you're trying to save when doing their ultimate attacks if they have one. I prefer that attacks stay like this, since I'd hate to have a final boss with an existence deletion technique it can use at random.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Metal Sphere, funny because the FFXII final-final-FINAL boss' attacks are what I had in mind. Him and his multi rail gun nethicite powered SHOOTER magick stuff was impressive sight to behold, but did like 500 damage out of my 9999 health. What a weakling. Then Fran just went up to him and smacked him around for 3000 damage with her ears and ass cheek. Silly goose.

I was speaking idiomatically.

And who can forget Ziegfried from FFVI. Talks big, looks big, attacks multiple times thanks to his own Genji Glove/Offering...but unfortunately, he has just 1 ATK and 100 HP.

"Aha! The ox bellows! Allow me to introduce my blade!"

Ultimately the best way to finish him off is for Shadow to counter one of the hits and have Interceptor run in for the kill.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Azreous

And who can forget Ziegfried from FFVI.

I forgot who he is.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Scratch and Sniff

Metal Sphere, funny because the FFXII final-final-FINAL boss' attacks are what I had in mind. Him and his multi rail gun nethicite powered SHOOTER magick stuff was impressive sight to behold, but did like 500 damage out of my 9999 health. What a weakling. Then Fran just went up to him and smacked him around for 3000 damage with her ears and ass cheek. Silly goose.

Now, if Fran actually attacked with her ass cheek like Jessica and dealt 3,000 points of damage, that would be the single strangest thing in all of FF (combat wise).

And ditto about the final boss' final form (and the ones before). I think the one you're talking about is Tetra/Giga Flare but they all started looking the same to me. Sephira Tree was also ridiculous, even though it barely harmed a team comprised of a teenage girl and boy and furry-lover.

What the hell, The Battle for Freedom just came on the playlist.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

He shows up for a "fight" on the Phantom Train, and then a couple other times later on (Coliseum, for one). He is pretty much forgettable, however, since he doesn't do anything to back up his flashiness.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

As for the XII final 3rd form, I really liked that particular attack where he takes out that gun or something and lights up the sky into a bright white flash, I wish I remembered the attack names. Wait, lemme check out gamefaqs...

Final Boss information regarding FFXII, duh:

Attacks and actions:

Bravery, Faith, Piercing Dispelga, Piercing Holy,
Piercing Firaga, Piercing Thundaga, Piercing Blizzaga,
Enrage, Force Barrier, Ascension, Gigaflare Sword,
Perfect Defense, Divine Sword, Teraflare, Magick
Barrier, Megaflare, Chain Magick

Also, this particular individual transforming into his 3rd form was pretty bad ass, I have to admit, even better looking than Jecht's Aeon in X with the massive sword of doom.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Wasn't there an attack in FFVIII where Ultimecia kind of throws some sort of chain into surrounding planets and throws them at you?

That and Squall's Blasting Zone. Apparantly a giant energy blade that can be seen from space has absolutely no bearing outside a 50 foot radius.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Scratch and Sniff

OH SHIT, ONE WINGED ANGEL comin’ through. You’ve all seen Seph’s mega attack that wipes out all the planets then only does perhaps 6000-7000 on Cloud and the gang from some miscellaneous RPG made back for the PS1 a few moons ago which barely anyone has heard of, I'm sure. Then he has the audacity to do it again! This is proof that planets grow back to normal shape in a matter of about 6 minutes.

Not to mention Neo Bahamut, always ripping up chunks of earth to blast away along with the enemy. Also, they seem to fall right back on the very spot that was just ripped up. I think the planet does a VERY good job of taking care of itself. It certainly doesn't need the aid of a spiky amnesiac, a Playboy bunny, and a stereotypical black man (Who uses a gun. What a surprise...).

There's also the matter of Elena from Grandia 2, with her White Apocalypse. Apparently she has control over the Lifestream and brings it all to a single area to form a colossal death ray that is shown bursting forth from the planet in all its splendor. For about 5000 damage.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

or this magic in grandia 3 don't remember the name but it's the strongest fire base magic and it's literally the sun exploding into some comet that blast one single enemy, like yeah the sun is going poof and only one person is hurt XD

I always like eden in FFVIII where he create a gigantic galaxy explosion ^^

there's probably more, like almost every summon in a FF are pretty powerful ^^ I always like flashy and over the top special attack or magic in games XD

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Inhert

I always like eden in FFVIII where he create a gigantic galaxy explosion ^^

Oh yeah, It's kinda sad when you see something rival what appears as the firepower of the Death Star to only somewhat wound a regular baddie.

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Completely random and non-interesting fact: pretty much everywhere describes Sephiroth's Supernova move as a Summon spell, when in fact, it's a Limit Break (i.e., he does it after taking a certain amount of damage and it costs no MP for him to do).

On topic: I got that feeling with a lot of the summons in Final Fantasy IX. Even Ark couldn't break the damage limit, and you were left with a epic two minute cutscene of a mech coming down from space and blasting a hole in the o-zone layer for a somewhat measly 9999 (considering Zidane pretty much did that with his regular attacks).

For o-zone-layer-destroying attacks, a certain scientist from Final Fantasy XII had an incredibly powerful gun that looked capable of blasting through the Earth's core...and then hit for about a quarter of my health. Granted, by that point I was already at Level 55 (I just had to explore the Necrohol before going to Archades), so it was never going to be the most damaging attack possible.

Far and away the worst attack a final boss ever did was Exdeath/X-Death/Exodus's Grand Cross. That was just a few flashes and the odd wheel flying at you, and you were hit for moderate damage and half the negative status effects in the game. Very few final bosses, especially in Final Fantasy games, ever think to inflict mass numbers of negative status effects on you. Mostly they just take your HP down to one and then leave you enough time to use one of your huge cache of megalixers before pummelling them for about twenty thousand before they finally attack again. Personally, I'd like to see a system introduced that caused the final boss to level up with you. It just seems a little anti-climatic to, for example, spend four hours defeating Yiazmat and then five minutes completely owning You-Know-Who (no, not Voldemort).

FELIPE NO

I'd have to say, some of the flashiest attacks come from games like Final Fantasy Tactics, where the entire board gets nuked, but you didn't get hit at all, namely almost all the summons.

Proportionality is also something to laugh at sometimes. Namely all the final bosses have some special move that cuts away about maybe 2000HP maximum. And it does all these random flashy effects, but you can choose to attack with your current weapon and it'll do 5000HP.

There are also those attacks that look awesome and all, but have an accuracy of like 10% or only hit under certain circumstances. It's really anti-climactic to see all this flash and effects and then a huge "Miss" pops up on the target. (Namely, attacks in Final Fantasy like Lv. 4 Meteor or Lv. 5 Holy)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

A lot of the moves from Disgaea fit this bill too. The one attack with the fist, big bang, where you throw the map into the sun, and basically hit one guy for 12 damage.

How ya doing, buddy?

Considering the forum I can only go with the same FFVII shit already mentioned here. Meteor and Bahamut Zero come to mind. Ths system of having a member that can only have 9999 HP fighting creatures with up to a million HP bothers me. Is it necessary?

Most amazing jew boots

Zodiark's desperation attack has to be the worst. His beastiary entry says "All things are by him pressed and twisted into oblivion". And that's exactly what he does: destroy all of reality.

But somehow, at the end of the animation, everything is back to normal.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

That's just the magic of Zodiark.

I always thought that the third limit of Squall's in FF8 was pretty ridiculous. He creates that beam that pierces the atmosphere and shoots up to space, and then launches it onto the enemy.

What.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with everything that's been stated thus far, and tack on a bunch of the summons from FFX. Anima comes to mind - at least her attack broke the damage limit, but having this enormous demon rise up from the depths of hell and perform this incredibly flashy two-pronged attack (top and bottom) only to have it do 13000 damage (when you first get her - she kicks butt later) was pretty anticlimactic.

I was speaking idiomatically.

That Supernova attack did look pretty impressive but when it eventually hit, it didn't really do much damage at all. I even had him throw two of them at me one time, and he still didn't manage to kill me with them.
Various summons in FFVII had flashy attacks, but that was about all they had to them, Ramuh and Neo-Bahamut spring to mind.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Razikain

Personally, I'd like to see a system introduced that caused the final boss to level up with you. It just seems a little anti-climatic to, for example, spend four hours defeating Yiazmat and then five minutes completely owning You-Know-Who (no, not Voldemort).

I like how the Archadian Empire should be worshipping the Hell Wyrm, Zordiak, and Yiazmat, not some measly stupid hume. I mean, totally what's up with that dood's hair.

Originally Posted by Drex

I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with everything that's been stated thus far, and tack on a bunch of the summons from FFX. Anima comes to mind - at least her attack broke the damage limit, but having this enormous demon rise up from the depths of hell and perform this incredibly flashy two-pronged attack (top and bottom) only to have it do 13000 damage (when you first get her - she kicks butt later) was pretty anticlimactic.

Probably the worst offender I've seen so far is Ifrits Hellfire in Final Fantasy VIII, especially when you're fighting indoors. One fight that comes to mind is fighting Rajin and Fei or whatever the hell that bitches name is in the Balamb Hotel, where you have to find the "Captain".

Yeah so he rises up on a flaming giant ball of meteorite, harnesses his great muscle strength and smashes it down onto Balamb hotel, and it goes right through the roof and basically keeps it intact, inflicting massive damage as depicted by the animation, yet still the concierge desk, stairs, ceiling fan, and carpet are all still in tip top shape. Like, shit, if I lived in Balamb Town, guess I don't need insurance for my house incase GFs decide to duke it out in my house.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Drex

(when you first get her - she kicks butt later)

Of course, if you take the time to stat max the normal characters, Anima and the other Aeons become effectively useless. Why take the time to summon them when one swing from Tidus's sword will cause 99,999 damage?

Poor guys ended up as sacrificial lambs for Nemesis.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You managed to get 99,999 damage with Tidus' Cladabolg Celestial Sword? Shit son. I think I peed my pants when even I got around 30-40,000 damage per hit. Talk about unbalanced gameplay!

Jam it back in, in the dark.