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88-475: The character of Lavos became one of the most iconic antagonists in video games, and was praised by critics due to its Lovecraftian design, mysterious origins and motivations, and the player's unique ability to travel to 1999 and fight it at any time in the story, resulting in multiple potential endings, something assisted by the game's New Game Plus mode. By the same token, it was noted for lacking characterization and serving only as an evil force and motivator for

176-417: A boss is a significantly powerful non-player character created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight . Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the players have faced up to that point in a game. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of a level or stage or guarding

264-625: A jidaigeki -themed martial arts action game where player samurai fight a number of swordspeople before confronting a more powerful boss samurai. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander , released in October 1980, is a ninja-themed shooting game where the player character fights enemy ninjas before confronting bosses with various ninjutsu attacks and enemy patterns. It was one of the earliest games with multiple boss encounters, and one of SNK's earliest games. Phoenix , released in December 1980,

352-536: A boss battle, but later appear as a regular enemy, after players have become stronger or had a chance to find more powerful weaponry. Many games structure boss battles as a progression of distinct phases in which the boss produces different or additional hazards for players. This is often reflected by a change in the appearance of the boss, or by a boss displaying increased frustration. The Legend of Zelda series and games inspired by it are recognized for having dungeons with bosses that are specifically vulnerable to

440-679: A boss fight was the 1975 RPG dnd . The concept has expanded to other genres, like rhythm games , where there may be a "boss song" that is more difficult, or a high-difficulty, computer-controlled opponent in sports games . In multiplayer online battle arena games, defeating a map boss usually requires teamwork of two or more players, but it brings various benefits to the team, such as buffs or lane push power. Some games, such as Cuphead , Furi and Warning Forever , are centered around continual boss fights. Bosses are usually harder to beat than regular enemies, have higher health points, hence can sustain more damage and are generally found at

528-810: A boss. They come in many variations, such as the Chargin' Chuck Swarm encountered in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam , the Armos Knights from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or the Battle of 1000 Heartless from Kingdom Hearts II . A main requirement with most wolfpacks is that the whole group must be defeated in order to win; in order to prolong the fight, many wolfpacks, particularly in games with turn-based combat in lieu of real-time, will summon reinforcements to replenish their lost numbers. An example of this

616-503: A concept that Kung-Fu Master designer Takashi Nishiyama later expanded on when he created the fighting game Street Fighter (1987) at Capcom . The term "boss" was used in reference to the game's final boss by Mike Roberts in a review of the game published in the May 1985 issue of British magazine Computer Gamer , while he used the term "super baddies" for the end-of-level bosses. Sega's arcade game Fantasy Zone (1986) popularized

704-427: A few films using lovecraftian horror themes. 2007's The Mist , Frank Darabont 's movie adaptation of Stephen King's 1985 novella by the same name , featuring otherworldly Lovecraftian monsters emerging from a thick blanket of mist to terrify a small New England town, and 2005's The Call of Cthulhu , made by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society , a black and white adaptation using silent film techniques to mimic

792-488: A final boss in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link ). A superboss is a type of boss most commonly found in role-playing video games . They are considered optional enemies and do not have to be defeated to complete the game. However, not all optional bosses are superbosses. They are generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot or quest , more difficult even than

880-777: A more detailed version of the regular ending. Examples of a "true final boss" include the Radiance in Hollow Knight and the Moon Presence in Bloodborne . The term "Foozle" is used to describe a cliché final boss that exists only to act as the final problem before players can complete the game. Scorpia stated in 1994 that "about 98% of all role-playing video games can be summed up as follows: 'We go out and bash on critters until we're strong enough to go bash on Foozle. ' " A precursor to video game boss fights

968-540: A number of films that have been classified as Lovecraftian horror. This includes the themes of human fragility, impotence in the face of the unknowable, and lack of answers in Picnic at Hanging Rock , and The Dunwich Horror , with its source in Lovecraft's work and emphasis on "forces beyond the protagonist's control." The 1979 film Alien has been described as Lovecraftian due to its theme of "cosmic indifference",

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1056-503: A number of titles in the Dance Dance Revolution rhythm game series contain "boss songs" that are called "bosses" because they are exceptionally difficult to perform on. In combat-focused games, a boss may summon additional enemies, reinforcements, or minions ("adds") to fight players alongside the boss, increasing the boss fight's difficulty. These additional enemies may distract from the boss battle or give time for

1144-427: A singular threat that the protagonists need to defeat in order to save the world. They speculated that the reason why it seemed so easy for the protagonists to pursue defeating Lavos is because of the singular nature of the threat, whereas unifying people against climate change was far more difficult. Angello also drew parallels between the message that reads if players experience a game over while fighting Lavos: "But ...

1232-616: A special item that is located within that dungeon. Player(s) typically acquire this item while exploring the dungeon and is given opportunity to learn to use it to solve puzzles or defeat weaker enemies before facing the boss character. Boss battles are typically seen as dramatic events. As such, they are usually characterized by sometimes quite theatrical cutscenes before and after the boss battle and unique music. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own specific theme music to distinguish them from other boss battles. This concept extends beyond combat-oriented video games. For example,

1320-414: A specific objective. A miniboss is a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level, though usually more powerful than the standard opponents and often fought alongside them. A superboss (sometimes 'secret', 'hidden' or 'raid' boss) is generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot and is often an optional encounter. A final boss

1408-446: A split in the timeline. Finally, in 1999 A.D., the "Day of Lavos", a recording shows Lavos emerging from underground and destroying the world, leaving only a few human survivors and no food. Lavos then possibly moves beneath Death Peak, where many of its spawn can be found in the post-apocalyptic world of 2300 A.D. The battle against Lavos in 1999 A.D. starts with its outer shell, which goes through phases in which it mimics other bosses

1496-571: A story set two years later. 1992's The Resurrected , directed by Dan O'Bannon , is an adaptation of Lovecraft's novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward . It contains numerous elements faithful to Lovecraft's story, though the studio made major cuts to the film. The self-referential Necronomicon (1993), featured Lovecraft himself as a character, played by Jeffrey Combs . The three stories in Necronomicon are based on two H. P. Lovecraft short stories and one Lovecraft novella: "The Drowned"

1584-498: A subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films , horror games , and comics. American author H. P. Lovecraft refined this style of storytelling into his own mythos that involved a set of weird , pre-human, and extraterrestrial elements. His work was influenced by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe , Algernon Blackwood , Ambrose Bierce , Arthur Machen , Robert W. Chambers , and Lord Dunsany . However, Lovecraft

1672-499: A temple) and fighting a boss character at the end of each level; in turn, this end-of-level boss battle structure was adapted from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death , where Lee's character fights a different boss character on each floor as he ascends a pagoda. The game was distinctive for giving both players and each boss a health meter , which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles,

1760-429: A time limit by having a large number of players or parties working together to defeat the boss. Examples of such superbosses can be found in games like Pokémon Go and World of Warcraft , and are generally referred to as a raid . Toby Fox 's games Undertale and Deltarune both feature superbosses in the form of Sans , Jevil, and Spamton NEO. Some major video game series have recurring superbosses such as

1848-494: A typical dungeon campaign there would be one powerful enemy acting as the boss of the weaker minions that players would face beforehand, in the same sense as a crime boss, which later inspired the boss battles of role-playing video games . The first interactive video game to feature a boss was dnd , which was released in 1975 for the PLATO system . dnd was one of the earliest dungeon crawl video games and implemented many of

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1936-400: A video games beyond a visual aesthetic are recognized. Lovecraft was an influence on Dungeons & Dragons starting in the early 1970s, and initial printings of AD&D Deities & Demigods included characters from Lovecraft's novels. Dungeons & Dragons influenced later role-playing games, including Call of Cthulhu (1980) which influenced later board games such as

2024-563: A world where the Mythos, while existing as fiction written by Lovecraft, is also very real. As well as appearing with Fort in two comics stories, Lovecraft has appeared as a character in a number of Lovecraftian comics. He appears in Mac Carter and Tony Salmons 's limited series The Strange Adventures of H. P. Lovecraft from Image and in the Arcana children's graphic novel Howard and

2112-463: Is Astaroth in Diablo IV . Many other wolfpack bosses empower themselves when one of the other enemies in the battle is killed to keep the threat level from falling over time. The final boss, last boss or end boss, is typically present at or near the end of a game, with completion of the game's storyline usually following victory in the battle. The final boss is usually the main antagonist of

2200-456: Is Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong martial arts films , including The Big Boss (1971), in which Lee fights a criminal gang before battling the eponymous "big boss", and Game of Death (1972), where Lee fights a different boss on each level of a pagoda , which later inspired the boss battles of martial arts action games such as beat 'em ups. Another precursor is tabletop role-playing games starting with Dungeons & Dragons (1974), in which in

2288-547: Is a fixed shooter where players's ship must fight a giant mothership in the fifth and final level. At several points in Namco's vertically scrolling shooter Xevious (1982), players must defeat an Andor Genesis mothership to advance. In side-scrolling character action games such as beat 'em ups, Irem 's 1984 arcade game Kung-Fu Master established the end-of-level boss battle structure used in these games, with players progressing through levels (represented by floors of

2376-528: Is also steeped in the insular feel of rural New England , and much of the genre continues to maintain this sense that "that which man was not meant to know" might be closer to the surface of ordinary life outside of the crowded cities of modern civilization. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. H.P. Lovecraft , Supernatural Horror in Literature Attack

2464-533: Is based on " The Rats in the Walls ", "The Cold" is based on " Cool Air ", and "Whispers" is based on The Whisperer in Darkness . 1994's The Lurking Fear is an adaptation of Lovecraft's story " The Lurking Fear ". It has some elements faithful to Lovecraft's story, while being hijacked by a crime caper subplot. 1995's Castle Freak is loosely inspired by Lovecraft's story " The Outsider ". This period saw

2552-612: Is inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's " The Dreams in the Witch House ". It has been confirmed by Toonami that the series Housing Complex C was meant to invoke Lovecraftian themes. Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities features two episodes adapted from Lovecraft's " Pickman's Model " and "Dreams in the Witch House." Elements of Lovecraftian horror have appeared in numerous video games and role-playing games . These themes have been recognized as becoming more common, although difficulties in portraying Lovecraftian horror in

2640-498: Is mostly based on two Lovecraft stories, " The Thing on the Doorstep " and The Shadow Over Innsmouth . 2007's Cthulhu , directed by Dan Gildark, is loosely based on the novella The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936). The film is notable among works adapted from Lovecraft's work for having a gay protagonist. Since 2010, a number of popular films have used elements of cosmic horror, notably Alex Garland 's Annihilation (based on

2728-507: Is often the main antagonist of a game's story and the defeat of that character usually provides a conclusion to the game. A boss rush is a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. For example, in a run 'n' gun video game, all regular enemies might use pistols while the boss uses a tank. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and the player character . At times, bosses are very hard to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing

Lavos - Misplaced Pages Continue

2816-755: Is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who developed their own notable works. Many of these writers also worked with Lovecraft on jointly written stories. His more famous friends and collaborators include Robert Bloch , author of Psycho ; Robert E. Howard , creator of Conan the Barbarian ; and August Derleth , who focused on extending the Cthulhu Mythos . Subsequent horror writers also heavily drew on Lovecraft's work. While many made direct references to elements of Lovecraft's mythos , either to draw on its associations or to acknowledge his influence, many others drew on

2904-474: Is set in the world of the Cthulhu Mythos and has the players taking the role of a group of investigators trying to interrupt the awakening of the titular deity by a group of cultists in order to make him vulnerable and slay the eldritch god once and for all by shooting him in the face. Video games, like films, have a rich history of Lovecraftian elements and adaptations. In 1987, The Lurking Horror

2992-415: Is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person, insignificance and powerlessness at the cosmic scale, and uncompromising negativity. Author China Miéville notes that "Lovecraft's horror is not one of intrusion but of realization. The world has always been implacably bleak; the horror lies in our acknowledging that fact." Lovecraft's work

3080-481: Is still broadly and deeply felt in some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary fiction. The fantasias of Jorge Luis Borges display a marked resemblance to some of Lovecraft's more dream-influenced work. Borges also dedicated his story, "There Are More Things" to Lovecraft, though he also considered Lovecraft "an involuntary parodist of Poe ." The French novelist Michel Houellebecq has also cited Lovecraft as an influence in his essay H. P. Lovecraft: Against

3168-594: The Kirby games. Others may be a recurring version of a previous boss, who is either weaker than previously encountered or is less of a challenge later in the game due to character or equipment progression. An example is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ' s Gaibon and Slogra. Other video game characters who usually take the role of a miniboss are Vile ( Mega Man X series), Allen O'Neil ( Metal Slug ) and Dark Link ( The Legend of Zelda series, though he appears as

3256-510: The Cthulhu Mythos ; 1965 also saw Boris Karloff and Nick Adams in Die, Monster, Die! based on Lovecraft's short story " The Colour Out of Space "; The Shuttered Room (1967), based on an August Derleth "posthumous collaboration" with Lovecraft, and Curse of the Crimson Altar (U.S. title: The Crimson Cult ) (1968), based on " The Dreams in the Witch House ". The 1970s produced

3344-587: The Great Ones of the cosmic horror genre, Lavos is also an ancient creature from beyond the known universe. However, its physical design, which is not inconceivable or amorphous, as well as its penchant for indiscriminate destruction, more resembles that of a kaiju . Jeremy Signor of 1UP called Lavos "mysterious" and "strange", with "a truly alien vibe that we rarely see in media" that depicts "the inherent 'otherness' of beings from another world". In Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger , Patrick Holleman stated that

3432-560: The Lovecraft Circle . In 1981, The Evil Dead comedy horror film franchise was created by Sam Raimi after studying H. P. Lovecraft. It consists of the films The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992). The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis , or simply The Book of the Dead , is depicted in each of the three films. John Carpenter 's "Apocalypse Trilogy" ( The Thing , Prince of Darkness and In

3520-413: The "monumental bleakness" of its setting, and leaving most questions unanswered. Rod Serling 's 1969–73 series Night Gallery adapted at least two Lovecraft stories, " Pickman's Model " and " Cool Air ". The episode "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture", concerning the fate of a man who read the Necronomicon , included a student named "Mr. Lovecraft", along with other students sharing names of authors in

3608-674: The 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer ) with its strong themes of incomprehensibility and outside influence on Earth. Robert Eggers ' 2019 movie The Lighthouse has been compared to Lovecraft's works due to the dreary atmosphere, deep sea horror imagery and the otherworldly and maddening power of the titular lighthouse that drives the protagonists to insanity. Ridley Scott 's 2012 science-fiction horror epic Prometheus and Gore Verbinski 's 2016 film A Cure for Wellness have been noted for their Lovecraftian elements. HBO's 2019 miniseries Chernobyl has been described as "the new face of cosmic horror", with radiation filling

Lavos - Misplaced Pages Continue

3696-513: The Bold was heavily influenced by the works and style of Lovecraft. In addition to using pastiches of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones , and R'lyeh , writer J. Michael Straczynski also wrote the story in a distinctly Lovecraftian style. Written entirely from the perspective of a traumatized sailor, the story makes use of several of Lovecraft's trademarks, including the ultimate feeling of insignificance in

3784-512: The Frozen Kingdom from Bruce Brown. A webcomic , Lovecraft is Missing , debuted in 2008 and takes place in 1926, before the publication of " The Call of Cthulhu ", and weaves in elements of Lovecraft's earlier stories. Boom! Studios have also run a number of series based on Cthulhu and other characters from the Mythos, including Cthulhu Tales and Fall of Cthulhu . The creator of Hellboy , Mike Mignola , has described

3872-690: The Kingdom of Zeal. This plot point is also used in Chrono Cross , where the Frozen Flame is again a major aspect of the story. The final boss , the Devourer of Time , is a fusion of Lavos, Schala, and the Dragon God capable of destroying all of spacetime if left to its own devices. As in the previous game, there are also numerous alternate endings caused by defeating it at various times in

3960-522: The Mouth of Madness ) feature Lovecraftian elements, which become more noticeable in each film. The blackly comedic Re-Animator (1985) was based on Lovecraft's novella Herbert West–Reanimator . Re-Animator spawned two sequel films. Released in 1986, From Beyond was loosely based on Lovecraft's short story of the same name . The 1987 film The Curse was an adaptation of Lovecraft's " The Colour Out of Space ". Its sequel, Curse II: The Bite

4048-600: The Ruby and Emerald Weapons. Some superbosses will take the place of the final boss if certain requirements are met. Some superbosses can yield special items or skills that cannot be found any other way that can give players a significant advantage during playthrough of the rest of the game, such as added experience or an extremely powerful weapon. For example, the "raid bosses" from Borderlands 2 give rare loot unavailable anywhere else. Some superbosses in online games have an immense amount of health and must be defeated within

4136-838: The Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon in Final Fantasy and the Amon clan in Yakuza . The Warden from Minecraft could be considered a superboss, as it is vastly more difficult to fight than the final boss, the Ender Dragon. However, Mojang, the developer of Minecraft, has explicitly stated that the Warden was not intended to be fought by players. A wolfpack boss is a group of enemies who may be considered weak on their own, but in large groups can be considered strong enough to be

4224-465: The Woods , a comedy horror which deliberately subverts cosmic horror conventions and tropes.The concept of a sky-creature was part of an homage to the imagery evoked by H. P. Lovecraft , the 2010 film Altitude is a Canadian horror direct-to-video film directed by Canadian comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews . William Eubank , director of the 2020 film Underwater , has confirmed that

4312-470: The World, Against Life in which he refers to the stories written in the last ten years of Lovecraft's life as "the great texts". Lovecraft's penchant for dreamscapes and for the biologically macabre has also profoundly influenced visual artists such as Jean "Moebius" Giraud and H. R. Giger . Giger's book of paintings which led directly to many of the designs for the film Alien was named Necronomicon ,

4400-528: The X-ray Eyes featuring a protagonist driven to insanity by heightened vision that allows him to see God at the heart of the universe. Though not direct adaptations, the episodes of the well-known series The Outer Limits often had Lovecraftian themes, such as human futility and insignificance and the limits of sanity and understanding. Amongst the other well-known adaptations of this era are Dark Intruder (1965) which has some passing references to

4488-518: The adventure board game Arkham Horror (1987) and Arkham Horror: The Card Game (2016), and recruited new fans for the Cthulhu mythos. Magic: The Gathering expansions such as Battle for Zendikar (2015), Eldritch Moon (2016), and Shadows over Innistrad (2016) contain Lovecraftian components. The tabletop co-op game Cthulhu: Death May Die is also based on Lovecraft's works as it

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4576-481: The books as being influenced primarily by the works of Lovecraft, in addition to those of Robert E. Howard and the legend of Dracula . This was adapted into the 2004 film Hellboy . His Elseworlds mini-series The Doom That Came to Gotham reimagines Batman in a confrontation with Lovecraftian monsters. The manga artist Junji Ito is heavily influenced by Lovecraft. Gou Tanabe has adapted some of Lovecraft's tales into manga. Issue #32 of The Brave and

4664-470: The boss battle against Lavos was not "especially difficult", with the initial boss rush being "a little cheesy", but that it was nevertheless an "unqualified success" due to its status as serving as the culmination of the game's story. Casey Foot of TheGamer described Lavos as "the perfect antagonist for Chrono Trigger ’s story", explaining that it did not distract from the other plot points, acting as "an overarching threat" that, across different time periods,

4752-400: The boss in question becomes progressively stronger and/or less vulnerable as their health decreases, requiring players to use different strategies to win. Some bosses may contain or be composed of smaller parts that can be destroyed by players in battle, which may or may not grant an advantage. In games such as Doom and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , an enemy may be introduced via

4840-444: The boss to regain or regenerate health, but may also give players opportunity to regain health from health boosters and ammo dropped by the boss's defeated minions. A miniboss, also known as a "middle boss", "mid-boss", "half-boss", "sub-boss" "semi-boss", or occasionally "tank", is a boss-like enemy weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level. Some minibosses are stronger versions of regular enemies, as in

4928-473: The characters must come together to defeat. However, Bryan Vore of Game Informer critiqued Lavos as a "faceless engine of destruction" rather than a true character, saying that Magus needed to "pick up Lavos' slack". The Escapist writer Anthony John Angello discussed Lavos in the context of the real-world climate crisis . They note that unlike in reality, where the existential threat is complicated, with multiple causes and issues to address, Lavos represents

5016-522: The classic horror tale." By the late 20th century, Lovecraft had become something of a pop-culture icon, resulting in countless reinterpretations of and references to his work. Many of these fall outside the sphere of Lovecraftian horror, but represent Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture . Lovecraft's work, mostly published in pulp magazines , never had the same sort of influence on literature as his high-modernist literary contemporaries such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald . However, his impact

5104-653: The completion of specific additional levels, choosing specific dialogue options or after obtaining a particular item or set of items, such as the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series or performing a series of tasks in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker . These bosses are generally more difficult to defeat. In games with a "true" final boss, victory leads to either a better ending or

5192-434: The concept of a boss rush, a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. Michael Fahey of Kotaku noted in a podcast that usage of the term "boss" by Nintendo Power grew sharply around 1988, and that there was no clear single etymology of the term. In the same podcast, former Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo speculated that bosses became known as such because they were "in charge of all

5280-564: The core concepts of Dungeons & Dragons . The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon. The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can players claim the orb, complete the game and be eligible to appear on the high score list. In 1980, boss battles appeared in several arcade action games. In March 1980, Sega released Samurai ,

5368-651: The correct fighting approach. Bosses usually take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoid specific attacks. Bosses are common in many genres of video games, but they are especially common in story-driven titles, and are commonly previously established antagonists in the plot of the video game. Action-adventure games , beat 'em ups , fighting games , platform games , role-playing video games (RPGs), and shooter games are particularly associated with boss battles. They may be less common in puzzle games , card video games , racing games , and simulation games . The first video game with

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5456-463: The creatures of his film are tied to the Cthulhu Mythos . Masking Threshold (2021) uses Lovecraftian story elements. Director and writer Johannes Grenzfurthner confirms the influence in interviews. Churuli (2021) an Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery follows two undercover police officers in search of a fugitive in a mysterious forest, encountering bizarre and otherworldly phenomena. The 2022 horror film Venus

5544-425: The danger; it is unclear whether Lavos is truly "evil" or even if it is fully sapient. It has a general lack of dialog and behaves similarly to an animal, being possibly oblivious to its effect on life beyond collateral damage. That said, Lavos' secondary and tertiary forms are technological in nature, suggesting some form of intellect. Lavos initially crash-lands on the planet in 65,000,000 B.C., an event witnessed by

5632-556: The disaster at the Ocean Palace. The Dream Devourer's defeat at the hands of Crono and his allies only momentarily frees Schala from its control, who tells Magus to forget she ever existed. The interactive fiction spin-off Radical Dreamers reveals that a wayward piece of Lavos, the Frozen Flame , enabled early humans to communicate with the creature, greatly evolving them and allowing them to both use magic and create

5720-476: The end of a level or area. While most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some games have only regular opponents and some games have only bosses (e.g. Shadow of the Colossus ). Some bosses are encountered several times through a single game, typically with alternate attacks and a different strategy required to defeat it each time. A boss battle can also be made more challenging if

5808-486: The energy of Lavos through the use of the Mammon Machine, although this relationship is symbiotic, with Lavos also gathering the kingdom's magic. Queen Zeal attempts to use the machine to harness even more power, via her daughter, Schala . Magus intervenes, rescuing Schala, but prompting the awakening of Lavos and the destruction of Zeal. In 600 A.D., Lavos awakens yet again when the party battles Magus, causing

5896-542: The face of the supernatural. From the 1950s onwards, in the era following Lovecraft's death, Lovecraftian horror truly became a subgenre, not only fueling direct cinematic adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft, but providing the foundation upon which many of the horror films of the 1950s and 1960s were constructed. One notable filmmaker to dip into the Lovecraftian well was 1960s B-filmmaker Roger Corman , with his The Haunted Palace (1963) being very loosely based on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward , and his X: The Man with

5984-470: The feel and tone of his work without specifically referring to mythos elements. Some have said that Lovecraft, along with Edgar Allan Poe, is the most influential author on modern horror. Author Stephen King has said: "Now that time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of

6072-438: The feel of a film that might have been made in the 1920s, at the time that Lovecraft's story was written. 2001's Dagon is a Spanish-made horror film directed by Stuart Gordon . Though titled after Lovecraft's story " Dagon ", the film is actually an effective adaptation of his story The Shadow over Innsmouth . Cthulhu is a 2000 Australian low budget horror film directed, produced, and written by Damian Heffernan. It

6160-482: The final boss and often players are required to meet certain conditions in the game or complete a sidequest or the entire game to fight the superboss. The first such superboss (or secret boss) was Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo , that required players meet certain conditions before he would appear as the final boss. In Final Fantasy VII , players may choose to seek out and fight

6248-462: The game's characters. The exterior of Lavos consists of a spiky shell that protects its true form within. It is suggested that Lavos originated as the spawn of another, similar creature, due to its life-cycle of replication. A parasite, Lavos travels from planet to planet, burrowing into the core and sapping its energy for millions of years, and collecting the DNA of its organisms for its own. Finally, upon

6336-479: The game; however, there are exceptions, such as in Conker's Bad Fur Day , in which the final boss is the antagonist's alien pet. Final bosses are generally larger, more detailed or better animated than lesser enemies, often in order to inspire a feeling of grandeur and special significance from the encounter. In some games, a hidden boss, referred to as the "true" final boss, is present. These bosses only appear after

6424-442: The horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread , forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as

6512-464: The incorporation of the Mythos into new stories. Alan Moore has touched on Lovecraftian themes, in particular in his The Courtyard and Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths (and Antony Johnston 's spin-off Yuggoth Creatures ), but also in his Black Dossier where the story "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss?" mixed Lovecraftian horror with Bertie Wooster . Neonomicon and Providence posit

6600-675: The name of a fictional book in several of Lovecraft's mythos stories. Dan O'Bannon , the original writer of the Alien screenplay, has also mentioned Lovecraft as a major influence on the film. With Ronald Shusett , he would later write Dead & Buried and Hemoglobin , both of which were admitted pastiches of Lovecraft. Lovecraft has cast a long shadow across the comic world. This has included not only adaptations of his stories, such as H.P. Lovecraft's Worlds , H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness , Graphic Classics : H. P. Lovecraft , and MAX 's Haunt of Horror , but also

6688-412: The planet's eventual destruction, it creates Lavos Spawn, offspring that leave the planet and continue the cycle. Lavos's mere presence has profound effect on organic life, with some characters attributing the evolution and extinction of many important organisms to it, especially humanoid races. There is reoccurring interest in the story from those seeking power to attempt to communicate with Lavos despite

6776-475: The player has fought. After the shell is defeated, the player moves inside to fight its true form, first as a giant humanoid whose arms must be destroyed before the head is vulnerable, and then as a smaller humanoid with two assisting "bits" (although the right side bit is actually the true essence of Lavos). While players can battle Lavos at any time after arriving at the End of Time, they will struggle to beat it before

6864-507: The prehistoric Ayla , who coins the name "Lavos" by combining the Iokan words for "big" and "fire". As Lavos is a name invented by humans, its true name, if one exists, is completely unknown. The ensuing ice age causes the Reptites, an advanced species of reptilian humanoids , to go extinct, incidentally ensuring the survival of the human race. In 12,000 B.C., the Kingdom of Zeal is powered by

6952-487: The recommended point in the story and achieve many of the game's multiple endings. However, New Game Plus mode allows players to defeat Lavos early with much greater ease, prompting many what-if scenarios, some of which are joke endings. The 2008 Nintendo DS port of the game links the story to Chrono Cross by adding a hidden superboss , the Dream Devourer, the result of Schala becoming fused with Lavos following

7040-597: The role of an incomprehensible, untamable, indifferent terror. The films of Panos Cosmatos , Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy take cosmic horror themes and blend them with psychedelic and new age elements, while the work of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead in Resolution , Spring and The Endless has also been described as "Lovecraftian." Other films directly incorporating or adapting

7128-719: The story like a radiant suicide, utter the great NO to life without weakness; then you will see a magnificent cathedral, and your senses, vectors of unutterable derangement, will map out an integral delirium that will be lost in the unnameable architecture of time. Michel Houellebecq , H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life The core themes and atmosphere of cosmic horror were laid out by Lovecraft himself in " Supernatural Horror in Literature ", his essay on gothic , weird , and horror fiction . A number of characteristics have been identified as being associated with Lovecraftian horror: Much of Lovecraft's influence

7216-555: The story. Lavos was designed by manga artist Akira Toriyama , and its sprite was drawn by Tsutomu Terada. Due to a lack of references by Toriyama, there were many arguments within Square on how he would have designed different aspects of Lavos when creating its in-game representation. The creature has Lovecraftian influences, with its Japanese name possibly referencing Ravukurafuto , the Japanese rendering of " Lovecraft ". Similar to

7304-434: The time, such as Kefka from Final Fantasy VI and Zemus from Final Fantasy IV , who Williams compared to Queen Zeal instead. Williams argued that, regardless of the harm Lavos poses, Lavos was necessary for the survival of the human race. Lovecraftian horror Lovecraftian horror , also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror , is a subgenre of horror , fantasy fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes

7392-540: The work of Lovecraft include the 2011 film The Whisperer in Darkness based on Lovecraft's short story of the same name , the 2017 Finnish short film Sound from the Deep incorporating elements from At the Mountains of Madness in a modern-day setting, and Richard Stanley 's Colour Out of Space based on Lovecraft's short story " The Colour Out of Space ". Of note also is Drew Goddard 's 2012 film The Cabin in

7480-703: The world refused to change" and James Lovelock 's longstanding opinion that "changing [the] future" is impossible. Writer Michael P. Williams compared Lavos to creatures in Lovecraftian works, citing aspects such as destruction of the world for its gain, its driving insane of Earth's inhabitants, and it being an "ancient being from beyond the known universe." Williams notes that Lavos is unlike Lovecraftian creatures in other ways, such as it being "deadly physical and highly resilient" unlike Lovecraftian works' "inconceivable, amorphous horror" creatures. Williams noted Lavos as not being evil, unlike other characters in games at

7568-412: Was keen to distinguish his work from existing gothic and supernatural fiction , elevating the horror, in his own words, to a "cosmic" level. Stephen King has said the best of Lovecraft's works are "uniquely terrible in all of American literature, and survive with all their power intact." The hallmark of Lovecraft's work is cosmicism , the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that

7656-412: Was loosely inspired by " The Curse of Yig ", originally a collaboration between Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop . The 1991 HBO film Cast a Deadly Spell starred Fred Ward as Harry Phillip Lovecraft, a noir detective investigating the theft of the Necronomicon in an alternate universe 1948 Los Angeles where magic was commonplace. The sequel Witch Hunt had Dennis Hopper as H. Phillip Lovecraft in

7744-604: Was the first to bring the Lovecraftian horror subgenre to computer platforms. This was a text-based adventure game , released by Infocom , who are best known for the Zork series. Alone in the Dark (1992 video game) contains Lovecraftian elements and references. Shadow of the Comet , a game which takes place in the 19th century, is strongly inspired by the myth of Cthulhu. Boss (video games)#Final boss In video games ,

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