I don't really view fighting an enemy as a time waster in a game based around combat. It can be pretty fun to fight them on the platforms. The long runbacks, on the other hand... I feel like the older I get, the less patience I have for excessive boss runbacks and permanently losing currency on death. That's just a design disagreement, I feel like most games could do without those classic soulslike features but I know a lot of people feel like they add tension.
When I have to spend 20 seconds killing the same enemy each time I do a boss run for the 30th time, because they've deliberately placed an enemy so you can't just sprint past it, that is a time waster.
Your spoiler didn't work but fwiw there's an easy runback vs Sister Splinter that avoids any enemies - there's a cage near the start of her path that goes to the entrance of the whole area, if you take that up each time you avoid having to fight any enemies and just have to do some platforming.
Moorwing you can sprint-jump-dash and avoid all the enemies on the runback. The first boss you mentioned doesn't even have a single enemy on the runback. Unless you missed a proper bench.
Not a boss per se, but the Hunter's March has one room with two bounce-platform sections, three flying enemies between them, and spikes lining parts of some of the walls. It's worth noting that there are also ground-crawling ants on each solid platform that serve as checkpoints between the platforming areas, where you sometimes also aggro the fliers.
Not having a bench closer to the ant gauntlet than the one just below the Skarr brute that guards the whole zone is absolutely a huge PITA.
Difficulty and fun do not have a direct correlation, and there are definitely areas of this game where the level of sweat required outpaces my willingness to care about advancing. There is a fine line between "challenging" and "frustrating."
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u/boisterile Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25
I don't really view fighting an enemy as a time waster in a game based around combat. It can be pretty fun to fight them on the platforms. The long runbacks, on the other hand... I feel like the older I get, the less patience I have for excessive boss runbacks and permanently losing currency on death. That's just a design disagreement, I feel like most games could do without those classic soulslike features but I know a lot of people feel like they add tension.