- 1 day ago
These bosses just weren't worth the hassle.
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00:00So while not everybody plays video games for the challenge, a lot of people do. And the sense of
00:05achievement in finally defeating a tricky boss is undeniable. Yet sometimes a boss is so bloody
00:11annoying that players en masse have just skipped it outright, whether bypassing an optional boss
00:16fight or just finding clever ways to circumvent a story boss that you're supposed to battle the
00:20hard way. So let's take a look at them today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are
00:2410 Annoying Video Game Boss Fights That Everybody Skips.
00:2710. Sephiroth – Kingdom Hearts
00:31Square Enix took what should have been a thrilling blast of fan service and turned it into a
00:36nightmarish endurance trial with Kingdom Hearts' optional boss fight against Final Fantasy VII
00:40icon Sephiroth. The platinum match at Olympus Coliseum sees Sora battle Sephiroth in a fight
00:46that truly separates the weekend warriors from the hardened veterans. His attacks are powerful
00:51enough to take inattentive players out in record time, especially if you haven't got second chance
00:56equipped and can't negate his one-hit kill attack Sin Harvest. Defeat proved infinitely more irritating
01:01in the original PS2 version of the game, where cutscenes couldn't actually be skipped, meaning
01:06that you had to sit through a 45-second preamble cutscene every time you wanted to try again.
01:11And there comes a tipping point where, after hammering at him for two or three hours, most
01:14players just give in and decide to sack him off. As neat as it was to see him in the game,
01:18the legend of his difficulty quickly became known enough that many players just never even
01:22bothered attempting it. 9. Warden Eternal – Halo 5 Guardians
01:27So Halo 5's campaign was, let's face it, pretty disappointing all in all, a fact aggravated by a
01:34series of reoccurring encounters with its ultimate antagonist, the Warden Eternal. The fights just
01:38aren't fun or clever, they're just boring and frustrating, characterised by the Warden's high
01:43damage attacks and sheer amount of punishment that he can take before going down. But the fifth and final
01:48time you battle him is undeniably the worst, and you're forced to fight three versions of the damn
01:53Warden all at once. It's an extremely frustrating fight that'll probably get you killed numerous
01:57times. That is, unless you use a much-welcome glitch to skip the fight entirely. That's right,
02:02upon entering the arena and triggering the battle, catapult yourself towards a raised platform and
02:07execute a ground pound. You're then able to exit the arena via a nearby door, while the Warden
02:11trio just awkwardly just stares up at you, seemingly unable to reach you or do anything about your
02:16scarpering. And just like that, you can save yourself hours and hours of anguish trying to
02:19beat them for real, especially if you're playing on legendary difficulty. Hilariously, despite the
02:24glitch being discovered within days of Halo 5's release, 343 never bothered to patch it, granting
02:29a lifeline to struggling players. And it's just as well, because you know what? This boss fight sucks.
02:348. Queen Sigrun – God of War
02:36The ultimate challenge in 2018's marvellous God of War title is, thankfully, optional, and comes in the
02:42form of Valkyrie, Queen Sigrun, who can only be reached by first defeating eight ultra-tough Valkyries,
02:48which is enough to put off a lot of players already. But even if you do reach Sigrun, though, the boss
02:52fight becomes an exercise in self-flagellation, no matter the difficulty you're playing on. In addition
02:57to having tons of health, she possesses most of the Valkyries' abilities, and worst of all, can minister a
03:02random pounce attack that can kill you in a single strike. Now, she doesn't quite make the other
03:06Valkyries look trivial per se, but it's not too far off it, such as the punishing extent of her hardiness
03:12and combat versatility. Only those who have categorically mastered the game's combat will
03:16have a hope in hell of beating her, because players have spent literally hours just trying
03:20to defeat Sigrun on easy difficulty. Yeah, she's that tough.
03:247. The Nameless King – Dark Souls 3
03:27So here's the first of two FromSoftware entries on our list, and we begin with the infamous
03:32Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Without question one of the trickiest boss fights in any FromSoftware
03:38game, the Nameless King is at least an optional obstacle that you're in no way obligated to
03:42suffer through. Those who did, however, will have to face off against not only the mighty
03:45armoured fella himself, but also his terrifying dragon steed, the King of the Storm. Defeat the
03:51King of the Storm, which in large part to a terrible camera is no picnic itself, and you'll
03:55face the Nameless King in one-on-one combat, where his vicious lightning attacks can almost one-shot
04:00unsuspecting players. Dodging is the name of the game here, but his attacks are extremely difficult
04:05to avoid, enough so that even many hardy Dark Souls players ultimately decided to throw in the
04:10bloody towel. 6. The End – Metal Gear Solid 3 – Snake Eater
04:15Now, there's a strong argument to be made that Metal Gear Solid 3's The End is one of the most
04:19ingenious boss fights ever conceived, as players face off against a geriatric yet extremely capable
04:24sniper who can cause them a real headache. The End's extreme aptitude at tracking and subduing the
04:29player will result in most being sent back to the beginning of the battle numerous times,
04:33and while figuring out a way to beat him is fun the first time, it's a boss fight that can feel
04:37a little bit laborious on repeat playthroughs. Yet, Hideo Kojima seemingly anticipated this response,
04:42and so included two methods for players to skip the fight altogether. You can either shoot the
04:46End with a sniper rifle earlier on in the game when he briefly appears in the distance outside of a
04:50cutscene, or fast-forward your system clock by a week and let him die of old age. While you're
04:54definitely depriving yourself if you don't beat the End the hard way on your first playthrough,
04:58you can't really be blamed for wanting to speed through it the next time. It's clever,
05:02but also potentially infuriating when he gets the better of you again and again and again.
05:075. IASIMAT
05:08Final Fantasy XII
05:10Now, to be polite, Final Fantasy XII's final elite mark, IASIMAT, can just get in the bloody bin.
05:15Like a lot of the series' superbosses, even reaching this stage takes a Herculean level of
05:20effort in and of itself, but persevering through the actual fight is a resolve-shattering exercise
05:24beyond compare, because this boss has an eye-watering 50 million HP. Although, to be fair,
05:29the Zodiac remaster included a nerfed version of this fight, but still the battle can take even
05:34skilled players several hours to complete. And beyond this absurd amount of health,
05:38it's got a non-zero chance of insta-killing your party members and will throw up defenses
05:42mid-fight, which limit the damage of your attacks. It is a textbook example of a video game pointedly
05:47chastising the player, and unless you've got a lot of free time that you really want to waste,
05:51it's just not worth it. Though you do get 30,000 gil in the God Slayer's Badge,
05:55which can be used to unlock one of the game's strongest weapons, the Worm Hero Blade,
05:59that's not nearly enough to compensate for both the time spent and the mental anguish it takes
06:04to fell this bloody thing. 4. Mr. Tomasi
06:07Control
06:08One of Control's post-game side missions sees the player taking on a hiss-corrupted Mr. Tomasi,
06:14who is extremely adept at dodging your attacks and has a mighty shield to boot. Furthermore,
06:18once Tomasi is down to half health, he'll spawn a bunch of hiss-charged and a hiss-distorted will
06:23show up out of nowhere, to sneak attack you if you aren't paying the utmost attention to your
06:27surroundings. Just a few hits are enough to kill you here, which becomes especially infuriating in
06:32the latter stages of the fight when more waves of hiss-minions spawn, making it incredibly easy
06:36for even supremely skilled players to become overwhelmed. Plus, even if you defeat Mr. Tomasi
06:41himself, the fight isn't officially over until you've mopped up all the other enemies in the arena.
06:45Were this fight a mano-a-mano rematch with Tomasi, then it wouldn't have been so bad,
06:50but the swarm of ancillary foes nudge it into outright bullshit territory. Preserve your sanity
06:55and give this one a miss, as so many of us did.
06:583. The Operator
06:59The Witcher 2 – Assassins of Kings
07:01The Witcher 2's optional boss battle against The Operator is truly the stuff that nightmares are
07:07made of. He summons insanely powerful gargoyles, is resistant to most poisons and weapon oils,
07:12throws fireballs, has a defensive shield, and can even teleport around the map. The result is a
07:16boss fight that is the gaming equivalent of smacking your head against a brick wall,
07:20largely due to the sheer number of threats the player must keep track of and attempt to negate.
07:24And that's without getting into the invisible walls and dodgy environmental hitboxes which
07:28severely restrict your movement during the fight, only compounding the massive cluster headache that
07:32is this boss battle. Simply put, if you haven't got a very good build and don't go into the fight
07:36with a sound strategy, you will get absolutely hosed by The Operator again and again and again.
07:42And unless you're an extremely committed player, why wouldn't you just bounce off this and go back
07:46to the parts of the game that are, you know, actually enjoyable?
07:492. The Headless – Sekiro Shadows Die Twice
07:53Now, From Software players are a hardy bunch indeed, though even the most diehard fans have their
07:58limits, especially where optional bosses are concerned. In that respect, there's a good chance
08:02that you couldn't be bothered to take on the four Headless mini-bosses in Sekiro Shadows Die Twice,
08:07especially as skipping them doesn't prevent you from picking up the game's platinum trophy.
08:11The Headless are a major pain in the ass to even highly skilled FromSoft players,
08:15surrounding themselves with a black mist that can stop you sprinting or dashing,
08:18while their attacks also inflict the terror status. And if you haven't got some divine confetti,
08:23which will dampen the Headless' resistance to regular blades, don't even bother,
08:27because the fight will be the slog to end all slogs otherwise.
08:30Unlike most challenging bosses in other FromSoft games, the Headless aren't a lot of fun to conquer,
08:35because the deck feels so aggressively stacked in ways that really don't allow you to learn
08:39from your mistakes. It's just cheap, enough so that even the most seasoned of players might just
08:43up and leave. So at least we can count our blessings in that the Headless are kind of easily ignored.
08:491. Inner Agent 3 – Splatoon 2 – Octo Expansion
08:53Inner Agent 3 from Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion is, to be blunt, a whole bunch of bull-t. Now,
08:59don't let the game's sprightly, appealing visuals fool you, this hidden boss, unlocked by acquiring
09:03all 80 mem-cakes, has made many an adult around the world assume the fetal position in a pathetic,
09:09tear-soaked mess. The boss fight is a five-phase cage match in which Agent 3 is insanely fast,
09:14aggressive, and hardier than ever before. To make matters worse, you're not given much cover,
09:18and there are no checkpoints between the five phases. Add to this that you need to be constantly
09:22moving and checking your ink levels and shield, as well as keeping an eye out for auto-bombs being fired
09:27your way, and the battle quickly becomes an exercise in tiresome plate-spinning. People
09:31have spent hours and hours trying to beat this damn thing, enough so that many simply decided
09:35to enjoy the breezier main campaign for what it is, and just saved themselves a whole lot of stress.
09:40And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 annoying video game boss fights that everybody skips. Hope
09:45you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section
09:48below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Twitter and type in
09:51at RetroJ, but the O is a zero. Or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice, where I do all of my
09:56Warhammer battle reports and streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there,
09:59my friends. But before I go, I just want to say one thing. I don't want you to skip out on
10:03something today, and that is a bit of self-love and self-care, because you deserve all of the best
10:08things in life. Yes, you do. And don't let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise,
10:11alright? You deserve love. You deserve happiness. You deserve success. You deserve just the best
10:16things, okay? Now go out there and absolutely smash it. I believe in you. As always, I've been
10:20Jules. You have been awesome. Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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