Yes - although it's more a general need for set-piece battles which have to break up the regular gameplay. They either have to focus on a specific gameplay mechanic or do something new. The Metroid Prime games are a great example of these elements done well.

I also hate hitpoint battles. Most disagreeable was Skies of Arcadia, where the final (two!) bosses had hugely damaging attacks, lots of hitpoints, but by that point were easy to beat using resurrection and an awful lot of patience.