These bosses just weren't worth the hassle.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00So while not everybody plays video games for the challenge, a lot of people do,
00:04and the sense of achievement in finally defeating a tricky boss is undeniable. Yet sometimes a
00:10boss is so bloody annoying that players en masse have just skipped it outright,
00:14whether bypassing an optional boss fight or just finding clever ways to circumvent a story
00:19boss that you're supposed to battle the hard way. So let's take a look at them today, as I'm Jules,
00:23this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 Annoying Video Game Boss Fights That Everybody Skips.
00:2810. 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
00:55second chance equipped and can't negate his one-hit kill attack Sin Harvest. Defeat proved
01:00infinitely more irritating in the original PS2 version of the game, where cutscenes couldn't
01:04actually be skipped, meaning that you had to sit through a 45-second preamble cutscene every time
01:09you wanted to try again. And there comes a tipping point where, after hammering at him for two or
01:14three hours, most players just give in and decide to sack him off. As neat as it was to see him in
01:18the game, the legend of his difficulty quickly became known enough that many players just never
01:22bothered attempting it.
01:249. Warden Eternal
01:26Halo 5 Guardians
01:28Halo 5's campaign was, let's face it, pretty disappointing all in all. A fact aggravated by
01:33a series of reoccurring encounters with its ultimate antagonist, the Warden Eternal. The
01:38fights just aren't fun or clever. They're just boring and frustrating, characterised by the
01:42Warden's high damage attacks and sheer amount of punishment that he can take before going down.
01:46But the fifth and final time you battle him is undeniably the worst,
01:50and you're forced to fight three versions of the damn Warden all at once. It's an extremely
01:55frustrating fight that'll probably get you killed numerous times. That is, unless you use a much
01:59welcome glitch to skip the fight entirely. That's right, upon entering the arena and triggering the
02:04battle, catapult yourself towards a raised platform and execute a ground pound. You're
02:08then able to exit the arena via a nearby door, while the Warden trio just awkwardly stares up
02:13at you, seemingly unable to reach you or do anything about your scarpering. And just like
02:17that, you can save yourself hours and hours of anguish trying to beat them for real, especially
02:21if you're playing on Legendary difficulty. Hilariously, despite the glitch being discovered
02:25within days of Halo 5's release, 343 never bothered to patch it, granting a lifeline to
02:29struggling players. And that's just as well, because you know what? This boss fight sucks.
02:338. Queen Sigrun, God of War
02:36The ultimate challenge in 2018's marvellous God of War title is, thankfully, optional,
02:41and comes in the form of Valkyrie Queen Sigrun, who can only be reached by first defeating eight
02:47ultra-tough Valkyries, which is enough to put off a lot of players already. But even if you do reach
02:51Sigrun, though, the boss fight becomes an exercise in self-flagellation, no matter the difficulty
02:56you're playing on. In addition to having tons of health, she possesses most of the Valkyrie's
03:00abilities, and worst of all, can minister a random pounce attack that can kill you in a single
03:04strike. Now, she doesn't quite make the other Valkyries look trivial per se, but it's not too
03:09far off it, such is the punishing extent of her hardiness and combat versatility. Only those who
03:14have categorically mastered the game's combat will have a hope in hell of beating her, because
03:18players have spent literally hours just trying to defeat Sigrun on easy difficulty. Yeah, she's that
03:23tough. 7. The Nameless King, Dark Souls 3
03:28So, 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 suffer
03:42through. Those who did, however, will have to face off against not only the mighty armored
03:46fellow himself, but also his terrifying dragon steed, the King of the Storm. Defeat the King of
03:51the Storm, which in large part to a terrible camera is no picnic itself, and you'll face the
03:55Nameless 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
04:29the player 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
04:41response, and so included two methods for players to skip the fight altogether. You can either shoot
04:46The End with a sniper rifle earlier on in the game when he briefly appears in the distance,
04:49outside of a cutscene, or fast forward your system clock by a week and let him die of old age.
04:54While you're definitely depriving yourself if you don't beat The End the hard way on your
04:58first playthrough, you can't really be blamed for wanting to speed through it the next time.
05:01It's clever, but also potentially infuriating when he gets the better of you again, and again,
05:06and again.
05:075. Iazumat Final Fantasy XII
05:10Now, to be polite, Final Fantasy XII's final elite mark, Iazumat, can just get in the bloody
05:15bin. Like a lot of the series' super bosses, even reaching this stage takes a Herculean level of
05:19effort 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, it's got a
05:38non-zero chance of insta-killing your party members, and will throw up defences mid-fight
05:43which 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 and 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
06:03anguish it takes to fell this bloody thing.
06:064. Mr. Tommasi – Control
06:09One of Control's post-game side missions sees the player taking on a hiss-corrupted Mr. Tommasi,
06:14who is extremely adept at dodging your attacks and has a mighty shield to boot. Furthermore,
06:18once Tommasi is down to half health, he'll spawn a bunch of Hiss Charge, 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 for
06:36even supremely skilled players to become overwhelmed. Plus, even if you defeat Mr.
06:41Tommasi himself, the fight isn't officially over until you've mopped up all the other enemies in
06:45the arena. Were this fight a mano-a-mano rematch with Tommasi, then it wouldn't have been so bad,
06:49but the swarm of ancillary foes nudge it into outright bullshit territory.
06:54Preserve your sanity, and give this one a miss, as so many of us did.
06:583. The Operator
06:59The Witcher 2 – Assassins of Kings
07:02The 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 boss
07:16fight that is the gaming equivalent of smacking your head against a brick wall, largely due to
07:20the sheer number of threats the player must keep track of and attempt to negate. And that's without
07:24getting into the invisible walls and dodgy environmental hitboxes which severely restrict
07:28your movement during the fight, only compounding the massive cluster headache that is this boss
07:33battle. Simply put, if you haven't got a very good build and don't go into the fight with a
07:37sound strategy, you will get absolutely hosed by the Operator again and again and again. And
07:42unless you're an extremely committed player, why wouldn't you just bounce off this and go back to
07:46the parts of the game that are, you know, actually enjoyable?
07:492. The Headless – Sekiro Shadows Die Twice
07:53FromSoftware 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
08:22Confetti, which will dampen the Headless' resistance to regular blades, don't even
08:26bother, because the fight will be the slog to end all slogs otherwise.
08:30Unlike most challenging bosses in other FromSoftware games, the Headless aren't a lot of
08:34fun to conquer because the deck feels so aggressively stacked in ways that really don't
08:38allow you to learn from your mistakes. It's just cheap, enough so that even the most seasoned of
08:43players might just up and leave. So at least we can count our blessings in that the Headless
08:46are kind of easily ignored.
08:491. Inner Agent 3 – Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion
08:54Inner Agent 3 from Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion is, to be blunt, a whole bunch of bult. Don't
08:59let the game's sprightly, appealing visuals fool you. This hidden boss, unlocked by acquiring all
09:0480 Mem Cakes, has made many an adult around the world assume the fetal position in a pathetic,
09:08tear-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
09:18cover, and there are no checkpoints between the five phases. Add to this that you need
09:22to be constantly moving and checking your ink levels and shield, as well as keeping
09:25an eye out for autobombs being fired your way, and the battle quickly becomes an exercise
09:29in tiresome plate-spinning. People have spent hours and hours trying to beat this damn thing,
09:34enough so that many simply decided to enjoy the breezier main campaign for what it is,
09:38and save themselves a whole lot of stress.
10:08Yes, you do. And don't let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright? You deserve
10:12love. You deserve happiness. You deserve success. You deserve just the best things,
10:16okay? Now go out there and absolutely smash it. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules,
10:21you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.