I find in my old age, I'm getting really bad at boss battles. On top of that, I don't have the determination I used to, so I tend to give up a lot quicker.

Seems like the last few games I tried, I make it to the first boss battle, get toasted a couple times, and just move on to something else. I figure, if the FIRST boss is causing me this much stress, it will get harder from there, and I just don't want to deal with it. Usually if the game has an easy mode, I can get through fine, but lots of games just have one difficulty.

Any one else having this problem?

I'm not. But yes, games need boss battles (I'm looking at you Batman: Arkham Knight).

Done right, a game without boss battles can be fantastic, so I don't think ALL games need them.

I agree about Arkham Knight, though.

This reminds me that I need to get back into Bloodborne. I was stuck on a boss and shied away from the game for quite awhile. I think I'm ready to go back.

I like boss battles, then again I'm in my early 40's. And I just bought God of War III remastered for my PS4, so I'm getting my fill of boss battles. Not hard, but not the easiest for me either. I usually don't get too deterred, so I'll die a few times in order to beat whatever boss is giving me trouble.

boss battles are great when done right and break up the monotony of killing low to higher level thugs over and over. i say bring 'em on...

Bring 'em on!

I think I'm probably getting worse at boss battles too in my ripe old age. But I still have determination for the most part and will keep going with something until I really hit a brick wall. Say I run into a boss and I don't even make a dent...then there is a problem. Either I really missed the boat on gear or I missed something completely. But I can certainly understand what you are saying there, and you are not alone.

I like them when they're done right. There's something still epic and thrilling to take on a larger then life enemy after killing or beating up on random no-name thugs throughout a game.

Agree with both of these points. I'm not very good at boss battles, but if I try a few times, I can usually make progress and start to figure out what I need to do, though sometimes I may need to walk away and come back. And finally getting that victory can be really satisfying.

I think the thing that bothers me most is that boss battles shouldn't be so much trial and error. Not that it needs to be completely obvious, but often times there aren't very clear indicators on what to do. That, or the preceding level should have prepped you with whatever skill you needed to take advantage of.

I hate when it's unclear because there's some random object that you need to shoot at that's hard to see or whatever.

That's one thing I like about the Batman games, if you die, they give you a hint on what to do. I don't have the time to try over and over again, so it's nice to point me in the right direction should I fail.

I've probably been about the same in terms in quality against boss battles. I'm pretty good at games. Some games sometimes don't present you how to beat the boss. And that sucks. The hardest bosses for me have been like the Ninja Gaiden games. Actually... I think Japan makes harder bosses than we do.

I don't mind boss battles. Some games present it well but not all games need them. Just depends on the game and what it is setting out to do. There's a format to them.

Would Bayonetta be a great game w/o the boss battles? No. It'd had great action but you need that crescendo for the game. The Arkham series needed it just cuz Batman has his rogues. That's just a given. The MGS series (haven't played V so I'm not sure how it handles it) has created a world w/ these eccentric personalities that fit the format for the story.

It's about necessity really.

Talking about Arkham... Arkham Origins... had a horrible use of bosses for some. Treating them like just standard foes just w/ upped difficulty. Deadshot and Shiva. Jesus... Make a big deal about them and when you get to them they're just BS encounters.

Assassin's Creed has the same problem. They build up the main target for a set of missions and at the end when it comes to fighting them all I have to do is chase them down, throw some smoke bombs at them, one hit with my sword and that's it.

This is a myth, and has been since the days of the NES. Random examples: Contra III, Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden III, Double Dragon II, Castlevania III, Zelda II, Ghosts 'n Goblins, etc. All much harder for the US versions (due to the rental market). These days it's even worse--Japanese gamers are wimps who want their hands held, and have mostly moved onto mobile games while the US and Europe keep consoles alive.