I've read up extensively on the literature available on other people's experiences regarding Road to Legend and among the things that bother me is the fact that the final battle seems to be superfluous.

By the time the final battle occurs, the heroes are generally so overpowered that even if the Overlord has a commanding lead in conquest points (and therefore XP) when the final battle occurs, he still stands little to no chance.

On the other hand, early in the game, the final battle will never happen anyway because the Overlord needs only to accomplish his plot or to raze Tamalir to win. So what's the point? Has any Overlord won the game by destroying the heroes in the final battle? I just feel like it goes against generally accepted norm of a final battle being an epic struggle between good and evil.

Depends on the Avatar and the Overlord Player's skill. On the old forums, Martyr13 boasted to have won 3 out of 5 final battles or something like that. Not having played any final battles, I don't know how hard they are to win for the OL.

As for early game wins, the point of the game is for the heroes to attempt to prevent the OL from winning by any means necessary. Tamalir victories have been proven to be tactically difficult if not very unlikely if the heroes are playing well, and they're supposed to be a way for the OL to win if the heroes are playing poorly.

My group has yet to achieve the final battle. We got close once, when I was OL

We have quit in copper twice, and the players folded in gold during my run. I'd taken the Demon Prince and Ascension, and had gotten all 4 temples. I had 7 comets, all within range of the final dungeon. The players decided that they couldn't handle a 7-wound and fatigue deficit in the final battle and gave up, much to my disappointment, since I had gone to a great deal of trouble to let them survive copper in reasonably good shape (pretty much an OL requirement if you want to get to the endgame)

The heroes being crazy powerful in gold isn't a forgone conclusion, and if the OL has been any sort of strategic, they should have a pretty good pile of evil already worked up that should cause the party no end of trouble on the way in

I haven't got there yet, either... had a game that just fizzled out in Gold, and the one we're working on now is in Copper. But from what I'm seeing in terms of upgrades and power, it's entirely possible for the OL to win the final battle. Remember that you can maul the players pretty good on the way in with your 5 level dungeon, translating into an increase of Health, not to mention the Avatar Upgrades you should be buying before hand.

We're going to be facing the Titan soon, and I'm looking forward to it.

Thundercles said:

I wonder how he did it. I'd love to finish off a campaign by destroying the heroes in the final battle. I had the impression that at that point, it would be a bit of a farce.

I am an overlord in mid silver. ( only one campaign not sure how anyone does 5). I think that the balance for the overlord is above ground investment in XP vs dungeon investment. If you invest too little in dungeon performance then gold is easy for the the heros. Mine continue to struggle in silver. The moat importnat upgrade is getting one group of creatures above level ie diamond in gold level by their first dungeon in that level. Treachery upgrades are probably better for lieutenants but help with dungeons. Animate weapons is my favorite. However this investment limits the spending I can do on quest goals etc. I have given up getting my quest goals as Sorcerer king in the blot out the sun quest.