Boss battles undergo: Boss fights are one of the more contentious topics in contemporary video games. Had I not already said boss fights are avoidable and receive genuine death threats? I would have thought that a foolish assertion to make. There will undoubtedly mix reactions to the revelation that God of War: Ragnarök will offer mid-boss checkpoints to those who desire them.
I haven’t dared to say it before because of the horrifyingly long list of various embargoes on the Ragnarök review code. But I was secretly ecstatic about finding this really useful feature for the past week or two. I can now share it with you! There is a setting in God of War. Ragnarök’s accessibility options to insert a checkpoint in the middle of miniboss battles.
Let’s be quite clear right now: This is a choice. “Miniboss Checkpoints” found under the Combat area of the fantastic collection of over 70 accessibility choices. It is disabled by default and is not promoted by the game. By turning this on. A boss’ health meter will still be halfway down if you defeat it and then restart the battle with it.
According to the game, this option should use if a Miniboss has presented an impossible task. It imprisons in the God of War and No Mercy difficulties. But of course. It’s an option that just lessens the annoyance of these tedious difficulty walls for folks who simply despise boss fights (and we are numerous).
Such news is never received politely. People immediately jumped in to point out how horrible this is when accessibility advocate Steve Saylor tweeted his support for the choice and made it plain that he too thought it would benefit all gamers. Not just those with disabilities. People’s specific concern is that. Should this type of option prove popular with anyone else? It will somehow impose upon them. Despite reductio ad absurdum’s repeated arguments to the contrary.
One typical Twitter reply stated, “At that point simply make the game an interactive movie or something,” adding, “Wouldn’t that just defeat the idea of a boss battle?” Given that Ragnarök is a game largely focused on constant battle. Occasionally broken up by the far more difficult boss bouts. It is such an odd failure to recognize the challenges involved. A frustratingly recurring misconception holds that providing a clearer path around these spikes somehow lowers the entire game to a passive experience.
Giving up is the alternative, which individuals who vehemently support boss fights frequently appear unable to understand. You purchase a copy of a game for an eye-watering $70. But you quickly run into a problem that, no matter how hard you try. You are unable to resolve this. I’m done now. You’ve lost the game, and a sizable sum of money was wasted. Ironically, there is now only one way to observe what transpires at this point: a completely passive experience. using YouTube to view it
I sincerely hope that others would disregard the clamor from the “git-gud” idiots and replicate Santa Monica’s moves here since making boss fights is something that is substantially easier to get beyond. For those who want that, is such a wonderful development for games. You could even go one step further and create options to simply bypass them so you can continue playing the other 95% of the game. And no one is saying that Elden Ring or anyone else should experience it. But where boss battles are impossible obstacles that block off the majority of a game, refusing to give in is hubris.
