Why do bosses always seem like the worst parts of a game?

[Plunder]

I know some people might have the knee-jerk reaction to argue against the point in the title, but really there are very few games where I actually enjoy and look forward to boss fights.

There are some exceptions like...

In Shadow of the Colossus it's only Boss fights and they are actually fun to replay, they are puzzles and can be mastered or quickened.
In Megamans it's almost the same memorize patterns and use optimal weapons...
Metal Gear Solid 1 was a rarity in that is had some very unique boss battles.

But in a lot of modern games and even a good chunk of the old school era the boss fights are the lamest and most tedious parts of games that I replay. They just have a huge unfair health advantage, they hit a lot of harder then you, have infinite stamina, infinite Magic pools, immune to poinson, immune to magic, there aren't ways to use your intelligence to make the fight faster or more even. You really can only min-max, grind, or exploit to beat them on fair grounds. Usually you are forced to play in a certain way or use a certain type of attack or weapon that doesn't fit the character or way you were playing.

This point stuck out to me the most when I recently replayed Demon's Souls and Dark Souls....the Boosses are boring, tedious, unfair, or just really easy. The Storm King was spectacular in DeS but still I find myself looking forward to the levels and the normal enemies much much more than any of the bosses ever. Same goes for a very large chunk of Final Fantasy games.

I wondering if anyone else feels the same, I'd like to see more creativity and intelligence put into bosses. Are there some great bosses I've maybe missed in the newer generations?

In like 90% of the games I've played from NES to PS4 I would actually prefer all the bosses not even be in the game. Most of the time it seems like they are shoehorned in, poorly designed, or just put in there because it's a gaming tradition (we have to have a boss cuz it's the end of the "level") I think more interesting game play scenarios and story telling can happen when there aren't these token boss battle aren't forced lazily into games.

 

[finalark]

In like 90% of the games I've played from NES to PS4 I would actually prefer all the bosses not even be in the game.

Given that most triple-A games from the late 2000s onward have zero boss fights and instead replace them with flashy set pieces I'd say you got your wish.

EDIT: Take the last game I played through, Tomb Raider 2013, for example. I think there was one thing in the entire game that'd qualify as a boss fight. Right before the end there's a big guy you gotta shoot in the back a few times after dodging his attacks. Every other major moment in the game was instead punctuated by QTEs as the game tried to wow me with how much crazy stuff could go down.

Or the game I played through before that, Uncharted 4. Where the final, and only, boss of the game was a poorly-implemented sword fight with awkward control that you had all of ten seconds to learn and master.

I miss back when games weren't trying to be movies.

 

[LeifEriksson]

It depends on the type of boss, at least for me.

If it's a action game or a fighting game, the worst thing you can do is just give the boss constant super armor with no way to remove it. Then the game just turns into "Poke him every once and a while and dodge the rest". *COUGH SAINTS ROW 4 FINAL BOSS COUGH*

If it's an RPG, the worst ones are the ones that rely on chance and nothing else. Like they just inflict you with enough status effects to make a rainbow and then sit back as they watch you flail around and try to hit something without hurting yourself.

That's all I can think of right now, because it's 2 in the morning. I'll rant about this later. Probably.

 

[FamilyTeam]

I dunno, mate... I've been through some awesome boss battles myself.
Maybe if you want good boss battles, you're not looking hard enough?

 

[Synnett]

Bosses are supposed to be the big thing... but it's hard to make them immersive. They are either too hard or too easy, keep doing the same things over and over (repetitive), or just bland.

If you wanted a good boss fight you'd have to put so much time and ressources to make them feel actually alive and enjoyable to battle. Give the boss hundreds of options to make it immersive.

 

[Lord Dio]

You'd prefer either incredibly easy, or incredibly hard puzzles, bad stage design, and hordes to a fun fight with a well-designed boss who tests your skills in a unique and entertaining way?

 

[LancerStaff]

Bosses are kinda like water levels... They usually turn the gameplay on it's head and since they're not the same sort of gameplay they usually turn out to be either too easy or too hard. Modern platformers nowadays usually make them move in a strict pattern and it ends up being about memorization much like the levels are.

Not a lot of games I'd say have great bosses... Bosses in Castlevania are basically the same as normal enemies. Bosses in Kingdom Hearts 2 are still very different from normal enemies but they're fun, fair for the most part, and are arguably the main focus of the game. Bravely Default is largely about the bosses, and Kirby bosses are kinda similar to KH... Megaman-y games have had bosses down since day one.

 

[Shiida]

i only hate final bosses cuz it means im gonna beat the game and that makes me sad : - (

 

[Reila]

Maybe for you, but for me bosses are the best part in many games I have played. See: Demon's/Dark Souls/2/3, Shadow of the Colossus, Mega Man, etc.