Hello people, fist post here so be gentle, please.
I think there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Zhaitan was sadly poorly handled, whether it was because of technical limitations or a lack of solid ideas for the fight, the current fight is unfortunately easier than fighting bandits in Caudeceus’ Manor. This confused me greatly, the game is a gem, its lore is a jewel and then suddenly this anti- climactic ending baffled me.
With this ,I aim to try and shoot some ideas that might have made the fight more involving and better overall, both on a story standpoint AND and gameplay one.
If you’re still reading, good on ya! I know long posts about ideas can be annoying.
First off, Zhaitan should not be a single boss fight, it should be cut into various encounters, each one sort of taking place separately with events ongoing such as killing champions, defending people and capturing points . To clarify, you engage Zhaintan in the air, win that event, proceed to next part but with a pause. You’ll understand should you decide to read the long blabberings below.
Fight 1: The Glory of Tyria
You’re aboard ‘The Glory of Tyria’ with Destiny’s Edge, Trahaerne and all the NPCs that played a role in the story of the person that entered. You reach what appears to be a giant, tall building, the royal palace of Orr and open fire on it to draw out Zhaitan, since it’s presumably his lair. After a brief while you hear a thundering roar.
Zhaitan emerges, flying from the back of the ship and breaking off its tip with a single fly by. As he currently does. Very epic scene!
The fight consists of using various on board engines, weapons and machines to try and make Zhaitan land or lost his ability of flight.
The cannons would be able to fire at his flank during a fly-by. Various Charrzookas should be able to hit him during a hover movement or when he flies over you. The mega laser would charge continuously and fire when ready, each time dealing damage to Zhaitan’s wings. So long as its operator is alive and the laser is operative.
Zhaitan himself would spew minions on deck and not just 2-3 but loads, dozens at a time. These would attack your allies, the machines and the Mega Laser. After every 3 fly-by’s Zhaitan hovers over the ship and begins corrupting various areas on it, dealing massive damage to any inside, and creating oozes of his corrupted saliva that would attack allies. Occasionally, he’d fly over the ships deck, creating a giant airwave that would be able to knock players off the ship, this would be preceded by a very loud, angry roar to show he’s coming.
During this phase you could attack Zhaitan with Charrzookas, to wound him in vital areas. Assuming you aren’t brutally murdered by his minions while trying to do so. Such minions including mouths of Zhaitan, eyes of Zhaitan and champion Risen.
Zhaitan would make the fight harder and harder, at some point destroying both the laser and on board machines, leaving you with only the charrzookas to fight him. Various allies from the story would appear as Risen champions that would attack your team. Though Destiny’s Edge would help you greatly.
This fight would be a mixture between managing many enemies attacking you, dealing damage to Zhaitan at the right times and keeping your allies and yourselves alive while also trying to complete the events and objectives.
After Zhaitan’s wings have been damaged enough, he’d stop being able to use one of them and fly-by and slash the airship you’re flying on in half, making the back half fall down into Arah and the top half boring itself into the Palace. You survive the impact but are stranded up high.
The pacts main fleet breaks off its attacks on nearby dragons and moves in to attack Zhaitan, despite standing no chance. The fight part is over, a loot chest appears and talking to Trahaerne advances events into part 2.