Phantom Blade Zero Fixes My Biggest Annoyance With Boss Fights

The author of this opinion piece, Travis Northup, is a fan of action RPGs, including Phantom Blade Zero. In his review, he discusses an annoyance he has experienced in many souls-like and action games, which he refers to as the "Scrub Tax." This is a term he coined to describe the various irritating elements games incorporate after players have failed a boss fight, such as long walks back to the boss' lair, unskippable cutscenes, and loading screens.

These elements waste players' time and get in the way of the learning and improvement process that should be part of the challenge. One of the most infuriating aspects of the Scrub Tax is the complete lack of checkpoints during boss fights. Players are forced to start over from the beginning each time they die, which means they spend more time replaying less challenging phases than the later, more difficult ones.

This has become a common design choice in recent years, even in games that are specifically designed to be challenging. For example, Travis recalls playing Lies of P and getting frustrated by having to repeat the first slow phase of a challenging boss fight multiple times before finally beating the final phase. This experience made him realize just how much time is wasted by these tedious roadblocks.

Phantom Blade Zero, however, shows that this doesn't have to be the case. The game's developer, S-Game, has designed the boss fights to be challenging but rewarding without the need for checkpoints. This allows players to move through each encounter more efficiently, making the overall experience smoother and more enjoyable. As a result, Travis expresses his frustration that more games don't handle boss encounters in this way.

He acknowledges that difficulty is a good thing, but believes that designers should focus on creating engaging boss battles that challenge players without unnecessarily wasting their time.