From IGN · Travis Northup · · 2m
Phantom Blade Zero Fixes Boss Fight Annoyance
Phantom Blade Zero adds checkpoints to boss fights, cutting player frustration.
In brief
Phantom Blade Zero adds checkpoints to boss fights, cutting player frustration. Phantom Blade Zero includes checkpoints in boss battles, reducing repetitive play and improving player experience. Originally reported by IGN.
Quick answers
- What is the Scrub Tax?
- The Scrub Tax refers to time wasted after dying in boss battles, including long walks, unskippable cutscenes, and loading screens.
- Why do boss fights waste time?
- Modern games require players to restart boss fights from scratch after dying, wasting hours on repetitive phases instead of challenging ones.
- How does checkpointing help?
- Checkpointing reduces the time spent replaying boss phases, allowing players to focus on the more challenging parts of the fight without frustration.
- Why is this important?
- Players spend significantly more time on repetitive boss phases than the actual challenging parts, making the experience feel less rewarding.
- What do players say?
- Players feel frustrated by the time wasted on repetitive boss phases and want more efficient ways to progress without restarting from scratch.
What is the Scrub Tax?
The Scrub Tax refers to time wasted after dying in boss battles, including long walks, unskippable cutscenes, and loading screens.
“the Scrub Tax is an irritating procedure (intentional or otherwise) that games make you go through after getting yourself killed like the low-skill scrub that you are”
Why do boss fights waste time?
Modern games require players to restart boss fights from scratch after dying, wasting hours on repetitive phases instead of challenging ones.
“if i die at any point in any phase of a boss fight, i should have to start over again from the very beginning”
Phantom Blade Zero’s solution
Phantom Blade Zero adds checkpoints during boss fights so players can quickly return to action after dying without restarting the entire encounter.
“phantom blade zero has shattered the idea that this is just the way it has to be”
How does checkpointing help?
Checkpointing reduces the time spent replaying boss phases, allowing players to focus on the more challenging parts of the fight without frustration.
“it trims a ton of fat and empty calories by making it easy to get right back into its showpiece showdowns”
Why is this important?
Players spend significantly more time on repetitive boss phases than the actual challenging parts, making the experience feel less rewarding.
“i can count on one hand the number of games that haven’t followed this format over the past decade”
What do players say?
Players feel frustrated by the time wasted on repetitive boss phases and want more efficient ways to progress without restarting from scratch.
“i’ve been excited for a final confrontation with a boss i’ve crawled over hot coals to face, only to find myself irritated 20 minutes later”
How does Phantom Blade Zero work?
Phantom Blade Zero allows players to return to action immediately after dying, reducing the time spent on each boss fight to under 5 minutes per death.
“a death in phantom blade zero is likely to cost you less than 30 seconds”
Why do developers avoid checkpoints?
Some developers believe checkpoints make boss fights less challenging, but Phantom Blade Zero shows they can be both challenging and efficient.
“but travis, adding checkpoints to boss fights trivializes difficulty”
What’s the impact?
Phantom Blade Zero’s checkpoint system improves pacing and player enjoyment by reducing repetitive play and focusing on the most challenging parts of boss fights.
“i want developers to be able to take more chances with boss encounters, and checkpointing is a truly powerful tool”
Why is this a problem?
Many games lack checkpoints in boss fights, causing players to waste hours on repetitive phases instead of the challenging parts of the encounter.
“i’ve come to the conclusion that forcing players to restart boss fights from scratch is quite a cheap way to make those encounters feel more challenging”
What’s next?
Players are encouraged to share their experiences with Phantom Blade Zero’s checkpoint system to influence future game design decisions.
“i think that once players start finishing phantom blade zero later this week, they might very well share the same revelation”
Why does this matter?
Checkpointing in boss fights can improve player experience without reducing the challenge, making games more engaging and less frustrating.
“i want to live in a world where instead of being punished as i go through the completely normal process of learning an encounter, every failure has almost zero friction to it”
What’s the takeaway?
Phantom Blade Zero’s checkpoint system reduces player frustration in boss fights by allowing quick returns to action after death.
“phantom blade zero fixes my biggest annoyance with boss fights”
Here's the gist
Phantom Blade Zero includes checkpoints in boss battles, reducing repetitive play and improving player experience.
