Are most modern boss battles unnesscary?

[Menegrothx]

I think that boss battles should not be used unless they serve a narrative purporse (/have a meaning to exist) or test the player's abilities. And in many modern games boss battles usually don't do neither, and I wonder why did there need to be a boss battle in the first place.

In more serious games like Bioshock or Last of Us, I feel that boss battles can be detrimental to the game, if there isn't a good reason for the boss battle. It can be immersion breaking if a boss battle appears out of nowhere, "because it's a video game, and video games are supposed to have boss battles at the end". Shodan of System Shock 1/2, Glados of Portal 1 and Pyramid Head of Silent Hill 2 are examples of boss battles in more narrative driven&mature games that are perfectly fine. Or Shadow of the Colossus as a whole

In games that focus purely on gameplay, boss battles that don't have a purpose from the story/narrative POV are fine, but they should always challenge the player and put his skills to the test in my opinion. Like Glados of Portal, although it's not a hard battle, you must apply the skills you've learned throughout the game in that battle. That's the way it should be imo. A great boss battle should both have narrative importance and challenge the player that way, but naturally I don't expect that from older games, as long as the boss battle is creative and challenging, they're fine.

One thing I really hate is when platformers have a boss battle between every 3-5th stage. Although a platformer can have great boss battles and in some cases they're one of the main reasons people play the game (Mega Man, some castlevania games etc), I'm not usually playing a platformer to fight bosses, I'm playing it to jump around levels avoiding obstacles. This is more of a problem in PS1/PS2 generation platformers, not in 8/16-bit ones.
I really hate it when I get stuck in a great platformer game because of some too hard/unfair/poorly designed boss battle. Crash Bandicoot games, Pacman World and Blinx the Timesweeper are some examples of games where I enjoy the platforming levels, but where bad/mediocre boss fights can drain my motivation to play the game if I get stuck in those. Super Magnetic Neo is another one like that, though it's a not very well designed game in general, so the levels aren't any better than the boss fights.

[oxymoron]

I've never really liked boss battles. I'd rather be immersed and enjoying what I'm playing without having to prove my worthiness to beat the game.

[Menegrothx]

Boss battles can be really fun in shmups and other 2D games. Mega Man and Castlevania games are a good example, when you're locked in a room where you have to avoid projectiles and the boss and dish out damage whenever possible. It's really satisfying to win a hard boss battle.

I think the problem is that boss battles don't translate well from 2D to 3D. You are always either against a really big health pool, or using some gimmicks, rather than having that sense of tight controls and avoiding danger while dishing out damage and taking calculated risks that you have in 2D games.

In tactical&strategy games like isometric WRPGs, RTS, SRPG, 4X etc, often the best challenge comes when you have to fight a certain set of enemies, rather than one big one. That's why something like World of Warcraft's Arena where two teams of 2/3/5 players fight against each other, is more deep and tactical than the boss fights in WoW, where 25 or 40 players kill one giant monster. It's that synergy between different player classes that allows for much more varied and interesting situations.

[Xeogred]

Duke Nukem Forever had some of the best bosses in an FPS this gen.

Bring it.

I want more boss battles.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I love boss battles.

Just killed the Kayran in The Witcher 2. That was great.

I say bring them on! If you find a narrative reason for them, all the better.

[Cronozilla]

I think boss battles are the best parts of games. I hate it when games are just a long grind.

I'm really happy that the super crazy boss fights are coming back.

[Menegrothx]

Duke Nukem Forever had some of the best bosses in an FPS this gen.

Bring it.

I want more boss battles.

It's not like FPS games are known for having good boss battles anyways. Half Life 2 and it's episodes had some decent ones, as did Quake. When it comes to 3D, first person perspective games, the alternative is usually better. Like the last level of Thief 2, there was no big bad guy, but the game put your skills to the test. In Thief 1 you do kill a final boss, and it's totally pathetic and anti climatic.

I think boss battles are the best parts of games. I hate it when games are just a long grind.

Who says that a game with out boss battles must have a grinding in it or that boss battles can't be part of grinding? The Mega Man tradition of bringing back old bosses you've already killed (happes in some other games) is unnecessary grinding and lazy design at it's finest

[KDub]

Of course they are necessary, even in games that mostly rely on a narrative; you have to have peaks in your story. If it it is just one slow rise to the end it would be boring.

[Menegrothx]

Of course they are necessary, even in games that mostly rely on a narrative; you have to have peaks in your story. If it it is just one slow rise to the end it would be boring.

And who says you need a boss fight in order to have a peak in a story? Visual novels and adventure games can tell great stories and they don't have any boss fights. And boss fight isn't the only way to challenge a player. There a different ways you can create peaks and challenge, depending on the context. An interesting plot twist, a thought provoking conversation, a puzzle, a minigame, an interesting set piece fight, there are many ways to create memorable moments. I sure as hell remember the visit to Moonside a lot better than any of the numerous boss fights of Earthbound. There are some good moments in that game that I remember, but the boss fights with giant moles and things like that? Very unremarkable. The final boss is great though, not disputing that.

[Key-Glyph]

I'm with the bossfight lovers. There's nothing like a well-designed climactic throwdown to make you celebrate the skill you didn't know you had in you.

They also tend to have amazing music.

What I don't like is an unskippable cutscene and/or chunk of dialog before a bossfight. That makes me crazy if I have to reload.