Why in some RPG games like Risen 1 and Two Worlds 2, the final boss put everything that you have build in trash. You will end firing ballista shots in boss in TW2 or in a generic platform scenario in Risen 1 and doesn't matter if you are a bow user or a magic user, you can only defeat him using the hammer.

This bosses battles have nothing do to in a RPG game. To be honest, the final boss of Dragon's Dogma and in the Bitterblack Isle is much more epic and closer to what i expect in a RPG than this "f**k your build" battles. Why some games remove all RPG elements in Boss fights?

Would you not be better off asking the developer for their reasons for choosing that path? I agree total, bad design choices, but it wasn't my decision!

I haven't encountered this in a boss fight (at least not in a game I consider an RPG), but I have encountered this with mini-games.

One glaring example comes in the otherwise good game Chrono Trigger; there is a point where you literally have to mash a button in order to proceed. None of the RPG mechanics can help you get past this part, and it doesn't help that you can't leave or skip this event (so you can't turn off the game); if you are physically unable to mash the button, you can't get past this part. Final Fantasy 7 also had parts like this where you had to play a mini-game to proceed; I remember reading an editorial that described having to play a skiing mini-game to proceed to the next level, and it sounded like a joke to me, but Final Fantasy 7 actually did that.

Incidentally, the original Ultima does this sort of thing; in order to reach the final boss, you *have* to play a space shooting mini game, and the RPG mechanics present elsewhere in the game are completely missing here.

On that note, I really want to love that game... but attempting it is so damn overwhelming and stuff like what you mentioned... frustrating.

Without the nostalgia and a lack of other games, it is so extremely daunting to approach. Ran out of budget? Ran out of ideas? Mediocre writing? All are potentials.

I think that is probably both but since the entire game should be ballanced for different builds, why the final boss should be a exception?

RIsen's final boss is legendary for its dreadfulness. I think they simply rushed the last parts of the game, my guess is that they couldn't finish and refine the final boss in due time and opted for a puzzle instead. Legend of Grimrock also had a "puzzle" boss that doesn't really make you feel like the way you built your party had any consequences.

Yeah, I don't like this either, and I found it especially egregious in Risen. Otherwise, I found it to be a great, fun game. But that final boss... not so much.

I'd assume just becuase they want to make it extra hard. I don't know anything abou game desing so I'm just speculating, but I'd guess that the harder the opponent the more useless some less then perfectly optimal builds may become.

Would the final boss of Earthbound be a case of this scenario? To beat it you need

[spoiler]
Paula to use the Pray command.
[/spoiler]

it is difficult to balance a boss fight in such a way that it does not favor a specific build. so to get around that very difficult end-game, that's an easier option many developers go for.