General Zelda Best Lead-up to the Final Boss?

[Mangachick14]

So which game did you feel had the best lead up to the final boss? I don't mean the final boss itself, or the final dungeon; but which game you think built up the atmosphere until you finally fight that main villain?

For example, in Oot you climb to the top of Ganon's Castle with the foreboding sound of a pipe organ playing, gradually getting louder as you climb higher. Or in TP, Hyrule castle starts getting more broken and destroyed the closer you get to the throne room, and thunder and lightning start to flash and bang in the background, as well as stronger enemies starting to appear. Or in SS, you first find Impa injured in Hylia's Temple, and when you go outside, the sky gets darker and more ominous as you fight off hordes upon hordes of Ghirahim's minions to get to the bottom of the sealed grounds.

In my opinion, I'm caught between TP's main boss build-up and SS'.

I love the dark and foreboding feel of those last couple of minutes before you reach Ganondorf in TP. The thunder and lighting, while a tad cliche, work immensely well and complements the eerie feel of the castle. And I love that one room where the ghosts of Hylian Soldiers guide you where to jump in wolf-form so you don't fall to your death. It seems Hylian Soldiers are only useful when dead, go figure

But I also love fighting through hordes of minions under a dark sky. I don't know, it just give this feeling like "This is it. It ends here.". It's like Ghirahim is throwing literally all he's got at you to buy himself some time. And while the enemies are rather easy, there are a lot of them. Like, a lot, a lot. It feels like you're going up against an entire army all by yourself, which I think is just awesome.

So what do you guys think? Which game built up the best atmosphere right before the final battle? (By the way, you don't have to only choose out of SS, TP, and Oot. I just used those as examples )

 

[Ventus]

Ocarina of Time definitely. Everything about it simply fed to an epic final boss. Nothing has beaten it in the 3D verse bar Majora's Mask.

 

[ILU]

I feel like OoT's was the best. That organ was so ominous, and the winding staircase heightened my anxiety to face Ganondorf. Best lead up ever.

As much as I rag on SS, I do think its lead-up to Ghirahim is a close second. Not even gonna count Demise. I think the demon horde was such a cool idea, though it could've been a lot better if they weren't all those dopey bokoblins. :/

On a side note, TP's lead up annoyed me. I remember wondering how the heck the castle could support so much weight at the top if it was breaking apart. But that bothered me in the beginning, too. I understand castles are around for a long, long time, but Zelda could've had some maintenance work done, you know?

 

[r2d93]

It's gotta be the Wind Waker for me.

Finally we get to face the ******* that stole FIRST our own sister and then of course Princess Zelda. The eery Ganon's theme plays increasingly louder as we trot up the steep staircases glancing up at the final showdown door.

And then of course the great cinematic cutscene before the battle with Puppet Ganon was fantastic, and the cutscene before Ganondorf was amazing as well

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

I'm actually going to go with Majora's Mask for this one. The buildup was huge! In fact, the whole game was part of the buildup. Going through the first couple of days, knowing that you are going to, eventually, have to fight what seems to be the ultimate evil. And then, when the third day comes, it really begins to feel like the end of the world, what with the rumbling, the town decreasing in population. Bring on the third night, and the feels just increase. The epic music that accommodates the lat five minutes of the world really sets the mood for the final showdown against the great evil that threatened to destroy all mankind. Once you finally reach the clock tower, and play the Oath to Order, you initiate what is possibly the coolest scene in the entire series of the Giants stopping the moon, and saving Clock Town from utter destruction. Then comes the very mysterious 'conversation' with evil itself, before bringing you up to a heaven like place. I always thought this place was a dream, because the moon children have very dream like dialogue. You see, sitting by himself, the lonely child wearing the mask that caused the entire game to occur. Then you talk to him, and initiate one of the most epic final boss battles of all time.

10/10

 

[tketle]

Majora's Mask, for sure. The whole game is buildup for that battle. OoT, WW, and ALttP all did very well too.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, Skyward Sword also did pretty well with its buildup actually. So yeah. MM takes the cake either way though.

 

[DarkestLink]

Ocarina of Time. No contest.

 

[DuelMark]

Twilight Princess. Going up the castle, the music, the atmosphere... awesome.

 

[ihateghirahim]

where's the blasted poll?

 

[Patou28]

I can't say anything about Skyward Sword still haven't finished it but up till now for me Twilight Princess has the best build up

 

[Dimooshky]

Majora's Mask, definitely.

 

[Salem]

Probably the original NES LoZ, when you enter Ganon's room, the screen is already black but Link had to use the Triforce to shine light into, that's awesome.

Alttp one is a close second, I may sound biased, but I'm really not....

 

[balloonofwar4]

TP. Period.

 

[ihateghirahim]

OoT, you meet all the sages and clear a puzzles from each temple. Then you battle some big baddies. Then you engage in an epic cutscene before the epic battle for the world. It hasn't been beat.

 

[nsanesk8er16]

Ocarina of time for me for sure nothing else competes. The ascent to the top of the tower, the music growing louder as you get closer to Ganon, not to mention Link goes through the biggest visual change in oot. He starts out as a little kid and grows into this overpowered badass by the end of the game.