The strongest examples of what makes boss battles worthwhile are those that represent an increase in some way as was said in the Witcher 3 review like a crescendo. How a game begins determines what a boss battle builds from.
In Devil May Cry, for example, all of the boss battles lead to a final, most powerful transformation of Dante and Mundus is the reason for that challenge. In addition, the story leads to Dante expressing his deepest emotions, appearing as a fully actualized creature ready to face life and death. After that, Mundus is blasted out of the human realm without as much effort because Dante has proven the value of human emotions in his own way.
Another among the strongest examples is Devil May Cry 3 in which Dante and Vergil face each other, twice. Each time, there is reason to anticipate an epic battle that offers a sense of ultimate completion with everything, afterwards, seeming like Dante, again the main character, would be completing a necessary task to live a life of his own choice which is a good one (according to the concepts of the story).
Weaker examples show that boss battles are not critical to the point of the game beyond the fundamental winning. This is an argument with plot involved in each game considered, so I am not referring to games without plots like Pong or Brick Breaker because they are without applicability.
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