Boss Skip Feature?

[Castaras]

Ok, would you like to see a option to skip a boss battle in KH3 after the third attempt? but still progress the story like in GTA5??

EDIT: I dont mean get rid of boss fights all together, i meant say for instance Demyx, after three tries it gives an option to skip that fight.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

Skip a boss battle? in KH? never. All the memorable rage moments would be gone, the challenge would be gone, and I, myself, am gaming for this stuff as one of the major reasons xD

 

[VoidGear.]

Definitely not. I don't think KH games have ever been THAT hard that it's impossible to get past a bossfight, and it IS a video game after all, not a movie.

 

[Tyrant Raver]

Uh... why though? The game would be boring if there's no boss fights and just trash mob killing.

I know some bosses are hard, but not Prepare-to-Die-Edition hard.

 

[Alja]

That is what Beginner mode is for, really.

I know you can't change difficulty once you set it, but still, if you start a game on Proud or Critical for the first time and don't manage to beat it, it's on you. That's why we have both Standard and Beginner mode and I think that's enough (heck, I mean we might even get the King Mickey mechanic back?).

 

[Launchpad]

Just watch the game on YouTube if you can't beat bosses. Difficult and satisfying games advance the medium.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

I know some bosses are hard, but not Prepare-to-Die-Edition hard.

I just ordered that edition for the PS3 today

it's gonna be a goooood winter vacation soon

Just watch the game on YouTube if you can't beat bosses. Difficult and satisfying games advance the medium.

Words of truth.

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

No thanks mate. I think boss battles are one of the core elements that make Kingdom Hearts games fun, so removing them would not be a good thing in my opinion. I know everybody is tired of Dark Souls-comparisons, and I am sorry that I am making such a thing, but it would be a bit same if you`d remove boss battles from Souls games. Part of the fun would be lost.

It`s really cool to learn to counter the bosses move set, that ultimately leading to you`r victory.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Not THIS kind of skip (aka a "this boss is too hard"), but I'm open to dialogue for implementing skipping bosses in other ways for other purposes.
Speedrun purposes, for example. KH is on ps4 now, we can totally have some Dark Souls level of getting past boss fights.

 

[Elysium]

I don’t think it’s a big deal if they were to make it an option. I wouldn’t skip bosses myself, but a lot of people who play these games are really young.

 

[Alja]

I'd say we're past the time that Kindgom Hearts is truly geared at a very young audience. Just because a game is suited for them because of the amount of violence doesn't mean they necessarily have the skills and insight to understand the complex thing that KH has become over the years. I'm actually surprised at how many young kids have played the game back in the day.

But the beauty of our generation is that those with young kids most likely grew up with games themselves, meaning they can help out with especially difficult bossfights. Or even better, just watch their parent/older siblings play the game.

Not THIS kind of skip (aka a "this boss is too hard"), but I'm open to dialogue for implementing skipping bosses in other ways for other purposes.
Speedrun purposes, for example. KH is on ps4 now, we can totally have some Dark Souls level of getting past boss fights.

I really love watching speedruns, but the main appeal for me is to see the runner slay those fights with incredible moves, timing and finesse. If they are allowed to skip those fights, I'll literally just watch them run around the different worlds. No cutscenes even because they would destroy the time of the run. And that's honestly nothing I would want to watch because I see no skill behind running through the world, avoiding all enemies at all cost (depending on the run obviously) and not even being forced to fight bosses. It might work with games like Breath of the Wild where you can skip ahead to the final boss rather quickly, but a KH run would be incredibly boring since it would force you to go through all the worlds first.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

I really love watching speedruns, but the main appeal for me is to see the runner slay those fights with incredible moves, timing and finesse. If they are allowed to skip those fights, I'll literally just watch them run around the different worlds. No cutscenes even because they would destroy the time of the run. And that's honestly nothing I would want to watch because I see no skill behind running through the world, avoiding all enemies at all cost (depending on the run obviously) and not even being forced to fight bosses. It might work with games like Breath of the Wild where you can skip ahead to the final boss rather quickly, but a KH run would be incredibly boring since it would force you to go through all the worlds first.

Well, that is assuming a KH game with skippable boss fights would be just running around worlds like (most of) its predecessors.
Clearly such a feature would require some adjustments, and worlds could return being more than just painted backgrounds.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

If the game had that type of option, I can imagine some people purposely losing so they can skip it, but an option to make things a little easier on the player if they're struggling on a difficult boss is a-okay. KHII had the option of having Mickey rescue us during certain, questionably chosen boss battles (Mickey, why are you in the Underworld?!) So to have something similar like that in KHIII would be fine, or maybe have party members revive you at a cost such as sacrificing all their HP and can't be revived for the rest of the battle.

 

[Soldier]

No, the boss skip feature would remove the entire foundation of kingdom hearts that has been built up over the years. If you could skip ANY battle after failing 3 times, then you learn nothing. The point of kingdom hearts is like any RPG, you're given basic enemies, then a boss that you must slay to prove your skill at the game. Over time, the bosses get harder and stronger, requiring you to level up and get stronger yourself. IF THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED, then you can likely beat KH 3 in under 2-3 hours, making the entire experience completely unfulfilling. I've been waiting over 12 years for this game to come out, dealing with prequels, remixes, and delays along the way. What fudge says above me is fine, if they brought back the mickey mechanic from KH2. But removing the need to defeat bosses to progress the game? keep that away from KH!

 

[VoidGear.]

No, the boss skip feature would remove the entire foundation of kingdom hearts that has been built up over the years. If you could skip ANY battle after failing 3 times, then you learn nothing. The point of kingdom hearts is like any RPG, you're given basic enemies, then a boss that you must slay to prove your skill at the game. Over time, the bosses get harder and stronger, requiring you to level up and get stronger yourself. IF THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED, then you can likely beat KH 3 in under 2-3 hours, making the entire experience completely unfulfilling. I've been waiting over 12 years for this game to come out, dealing with prequels, remixes, and delays along the way. What fudge says above me is fine, if they brought back the mickey mechanic from KH2. But removing the need to defeat bosses to progress the game? keep that away from KH!

I mean tbh, just considering KH3 won't be an immense load larger than KH1 and 2, it will already be beatable sub-3 hours even with bosses included. Although it would be fun to see someone play through it in like 45 minutes. xD

 

[Audo]

There's literally no harm in having it as an option. I don't really get why people are reacting strongly to this lol. If you wouldn't want to skip the bosses, then... don't? But for some people who have less skill, or less ability, or physical handicaps, etc, it could be the difference between never being able to finish the game, and being able to get to the ending. I really don't see a problem with it. It has no effect on you if you wouldn't ever use such a feature. If anything, being able to skip bosses might encourage devs to make more challenging bosses for other players that want that since now they don't have to worry as much as everything being accessible to everyone. You could get more of what you want.

This is like when people got pissy at the idea of Nintendo's SuperGuide system and believing it would dumb down their games and yet it didn't harm the game for anyone who didn't want to use it and it gave Nintendo freedom to make more challenging levels.

As for whether or not KH3 would ever have this feature, or one like it, probably not.

No, the boss skip feature would remove the entire foundation of kingdom hearts that has been built up over the years. If you could skip ANY battle after failing 3 times, then you learn nothing. The point of kingdom hearts is like any RPG, you're given basic enemies, then a boss that you must slay to prove your skill at the game. Over time, the bosses get harder and stronger, requiring you to level up and get stronger yourself. IF THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED, then you can likely beat KH 3 in under 2-3 hours, making the entire experience completely unfulfilling. I've been waiting over 12 years for this game to come out, dealing with prequels, remixes, and delays along the way. What fudge says above me is fine, if they brought back the mickey mechanic from KH2. But removing the need to defeat bosses to progress the game? keep that away from KH!

but if you werent to use the optional skip button, what does it matter? if you think it would be unfulfilling to skip the bosses then you could just... not skip them. let the people who would want to skip the bosses worry about whether or not it is fulfilling to them. because you know what is also not fulfilling for a lot of people? hitting a complete roadblock in a game and not being able to proceed, lol.


games have a huge issue where on average only like 10-25% of people who buy a game reach the game's ending. this is kind of an industry wide problem and i don't think it's that horrible to look at possible solutions for this or ways to increase that amount.

 

[Launchpad]

A larger amount of games implementing a boss skip feature could ultimately result in less boss battles in games, or more clumsily designed bosses in general.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Btw, perhaps now it's not so off-topic considering this is where the discussion is heading... I had a similar discussion yesterday with a bunch of people who where bashing on anyone who defeats Terra in KH II with the Fenrir strat or in any similar manner, stating that "it wasn't playing the game in the proper way".
I strongly disagree with this notion. A game is, by definition, a recreative activity one does of their own volition meant to entertain. As long as this requirement is fulfilled, the game is working properly.
Which means, as Audo was saying, if there are some, maybe younger, people who would derive pleasure from skipping a particular boss fight I don't see why it couldn't be an OPTION available for them.
I don't believe in a "Bible of the Gamer" that describes how one should be playing, and I think it's one of the worst things videogame players came up with throughout the years.

By all means, people putting themselves to the test by completing challenges, with restrictions even, are obviously proving they're overall better gamers. They took on a challenge and overcame it. But that's a secondary filter in my opinion. Just as I don't want a game that is completely dumbed down, I also don't like a game made only for the 1% MLG pro gamers with Kaizo Mario elements at every step.
And besides... I understand being enamored on the vision of a KH player battling a boss over and over and finally figuring out a way to win and everything explodes in a blaze of glory... but that's not how it always goes.
If I could've skipped, say, Oogie Boogie in KH II I don't think it would've been such a tragic loss, nor does that battle requires any kind of strategic thinking.

tl;dr you should be given the opportunity to limit and challenge yourself, but you shouldn't prevent other people from playing a game casually without much effort as well.

 

[Alja]

I think you can't compare the Lingering Will fight to any other story boss fight in the series. After all, he is a secret boss, he is by his nature alone optional and I also don't see any problem in looking up strategy guides to help you fight him (I don't think using a guide for anything in this game is shameful).

But he's an optional secret boss, not a story boss. Like I mentioned before, we already have beginner mode that is exactly meant for people who are casual gamers or not that good in it. And it's not as if a Boss fight on beginner mode will lead to you never being able to progress the game. You are still able to grind some levels while doing side quest and you are barely ever stuck in a situation where you're unable to proceed. You grind some, gain a few levels, more munny for potions and ethers and you're good to go. It's not like in KHUX for example where you might end up stuck for real if you don't have the jewels/money to pull more medals, left with nothing to do but waiting because you can't grind your way out of that situation. It is a totally viable option on beginner mode (also with abilities like EXP Walker, Second Chance and Defender). And if you can't defeat the boss on critical either try again or just don't because you don't have to defeat him on critical.

games have a huge issue where on average only like 10-25% of people who buy a game reach the game's ending. this is kind of an industry wide problem and i don't think it's that horrible to look at possible solutions for this or ways to increase that amount.

The thing is though why do only 10-25% of people reach the ending (if those are correct numbers, I don't have any idea)? Is it really because games are too difficult even though many come with several difficulties and unlockables? Or is it because the game itself isn't what the player expected, the amount of games available is so great that players might start several games at once, the player might not have a lot of time and eventually abandon the game (happened to me TONS of times! I'd start games and then I wouldn't be able to play for a long time and getting back into it would mean to play all of it again because I forgot the plot)..?

There are probably many reasons for people to quit games and I really don't believe that the majority does it because games are truly too difficult. I rather believe that many want to finish games on the highest difficulty (for the fame), but are bummed by the fact that they can't. Or they don't sit down and try to power through a difficult patch for x hours because they a) don't have the patience or b) can't spend the time. And in that case, I really wonder whether buying a 60 dollar game just to walk through the easy patches is really worth it. I'd even go as far to say that people would skip the boss fights for whatever above mentioned reason and then go on to complain how easy the game was because there was no real challenge. I truly believe this might hurt the industry more than help it.

Again, I don't really see the point when KH comes with 4 difficulty settings and might have another King Mickey revival feature. And it's not like summons and limits/other mechanics don't make boss fights even easier.

 

[Elysium]

There's literally no harm in having it as an option. I don't really get why people are reacting strongly to this lol. If you wouldn't want to skip the bosses, then... don't? But for some people who have less skill, or less ability, or physical handicaps, etc, it could be the difference between never being able to finish the game, and being able to get to the ending. I really don't see a problem with it. It has no effect on you if you wouldn't ever use such a feature. If anything, being able to skip bosses might encourage devs to make more challenging bosses for other players that want that since now they don't have to worry as much as everything being accessible to everyone. You could get more of what you want.

I hadn’t even though of all this, but you’re right. They could make harder bosses for real players without turning away the general audience.

I guess for me, I know there are a lot of little kids who will play this series and for them the game is just a glorified movie. I don’t think adding the option for them to bypass a boss if they keep failing it will ruin the game for the rest of us, only let them enjoy the game and get what they wanted when they bought it/asked their parents to buy it. They could even guarantee you can’t get a trophy for a level or a boss if you bypass, f.e., just so other gamers aren't enraged.

Btw, perhaps now it's not so off-topic considering this is where the discussion is heading... I had a similar discussion yesterday with a bunch of people who where bashing on anyone who defeats Terra in KH II with the Fenrir strat or in any similar manner, stating that "it wasn't playing the game in the proper way".

Well, this would even describe me, lol. Which I don't even mind. If the only way they can make a boss difficult is with cheap and unreasonable gimmicks, then I don't feel bad about "cheating" at all. And all those other snobby, stuck-up gamers can suck it.