In so many games like BioShock (Last boss had three forms) or Zelda (Mostly takes three hits to take down a boss) and even back to Half Life 2 (Three hits to take out a gunship) why do so many video games use the number three?
I guess it makes sense. I'm sure the number three has a more sacred value (I'm thinking of the Holy Trinity) but from a video game perspective, I think it simply has to do with the first hit, the second and more experienced hit, and the third and final hit. Each "hit" has its own form to it. It's sort of like a hamburger I suppose. You have the top bun, then the patty, and then the bottom bun. It's a bit redundant I can see but it's the only guess I can venture.
A website put it like this:
He suggests that in our minds we break concepts into three parts to understand whatever it is we are thinking about. We use threes to define systems. We use the third or middle point with regard to the extremes to define a point of view.Yadda yadda yadda.
It's about the rule of three in the creative arts. Three is kind of a special number, whether it be books, movies, games, or even art. If you ever read the book "The Outsiders" there were three brothers who lost their parents, or in the Harry Potter series there is three best friends, or as you stated in games, there is usually three hits to a zelda boss, or in BioShock the final boss does take 3 times also, and in BioShock there is even 3 main NPC characters. (Atlas, Ryan and Trenebaum).
Three carries literary power as well. Try repetition, repetition, repetition. When you use anything in three's there is an obvious structure. The first use is simply ordinary use, the second gets your attention setting up the third which drives the point home.
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