Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[Asuras]

I much prefer the ones you can dodge with player skill than random any day. I feel that it cheapens an encounter when you're just able to outgear it.

I disagree that player skill equates to memorizing boss fight mechanics. Part of the reward of getting advanced gear and levels is feeling powerful when going through older content. I certainly enjoy going back to starting zones and one-shotting level 2 and 3 mobs from time to time. I certainly see nothing wrong with that. When you outgear older content, you steam-roll through it. Of course, when designers make content with disguised "death-touch" abilities and phases that can be deadly when pushed (stronger DPS), it shows an element of laziness in the design. They did not want to account for gear level at all. It simply makes designing the fight more difficult. You have to do things the way it was scripted (albeit short-cuts or mechanic-cheats that players have developed).

[Lemon8or]

I disagree that player skill equates to memorizing boss fight mechanics. Part of the reward of getting advanced gear and levels is feeling powerful when going through older content. I certainly enjoy going back to starting zones and one-shotting level 2 and 3 mobs from time to time. I certainly see nothing wrong with that. When you outgear older content, you steam-roll through it.

Different cup of tea for different people I guess. Besides turn 9 phase 1, I don't think I memorize any fight's rotation. I memorize how to deal with each mechanics as it comes up. I always felt it cheapens the fight in older RPG when you can get so powerful you just massacre everything. For example, when I played Pokemon Blue for the first time, I ignore every single pokemon and just level my starter Squirtle into Blastoise. Sure it was fun one-shotting the Elite Four when my Blastoise was like level 100 (mind you Blastoise could learn Earthquake so I plowed through the Electric gym and use Normal type moves for Water type Pokemon) but it's not as fun as leveling different pokemons trying to anticipate different scenarios. Or more recently Disgaea. You can grind yourself, rebirth a couple times and be the strongest character ever then go through the story but what's the point in that? I surely don't appreciate it. If you ask me "then what's the point of getting stronger items and better yourself". Well it's to challenge harder fights, not to steam roll through easy ones.