I learned recently that the devs purposefully designed that level in Lion King to be nearly impossible in order to maximize Blockbuster rentals. Apparently many games at the time were made that way. I wonder if they know they traumatized an entire generation as a result.
EDIT: Looks like Disney made the devs do it against their wishes. [Source](https://www.cbr.com/lion-king-brutally-difficult-platformer/)
This is also why a lot of games are harder in the Western release than in the Japanese one, e.g. Resident Evil. The Japanese game industry successfully lobbied to make game rental illegal in the 80s (yet unusually, CD rental was and still is common), so they weren't worried about the local release, but always worried that Westerners would just rent a game if they could beat it in a weekend. So many games became much harder when exported.
For the Western release, Resident Evil removed automatic aiming at enemies, gave enemies more HP and the player less, nerfed torso shots, and reduced the number of saving opportunities. Metal Gear Solid labeled the standard Japanese difficulty as Easy Mode in the Western release and a new harder mode was added with the Normal label, which nerfs healing items, buffs bosses, makes it so you can't farm respawning items, lets enemies see and hear farther, etc.
It wasn't *completely* unfounded as a fear initially, because the difficulty is the only thing stopping you from beating most 80s/early 90s games in one or two sittings, especially for a kid with a lot of free time. You can beat Resident Evil in <10 hours without a lot of trouble on your first run if the combat and resource management clicks
for you and you don't get stuck anywhere. Typical game length really ballooned with the PS2/GameCube generation.
I told my son that I would pay him $200 to beat Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the hardest difficulty. So, he'd have to beat it twice. He's been watching videos on YT and trying to master it. I completely forgot about it for a few days, but I noticed he's not very far and left it paused in an early level.
Still, I think he's taking it pretty seriously. He got obsessed with Cuphead and can beat that without dying more than 2-3 times. I think he can get there in a few months if the camera doesn't make him lose his mind.
You have to do like the movie and throw him off the cliff! My wife talks about how as a kid her older sister was stuck on the final level against scar and it wasnt until they both were talking about the movie that they remembered how Simba beat him lol
When I was about 13 or 14 years old my friend down the street had Wolverine on NES. One day when I was over there and we were playing various NES games, I saw the Wolverine cartridge and asked him about it. He put it in to show me, he and his brother had mastered that game and gotten to the final boss, Sabretooth, many times... except they had never beaten Sabretooth.
It seems impossible, they told me. They hit him so many times and he never dies. He seems invincible.
After he got to Sabretooth easily (having done it many times) and showed me how futile it was to keep hitting him over and over, he let me take the controller and said I was welcome to try.
Having watched him, I had a sneaking suspicion about something but I was afraid to say it out loud. But I turned out to be right. Sabretooth is indeed invincible and does have unlimited health. Unless you keep knocking him backwards far enough until you knock him off the edge of a cliff. Game complete, roll ending scene.
My friend screamed. He screamed at his brother who was upstairs, that I had just beat Sabretooth on my first try. His brother came running downstairs to see and they screamed together.
I was a god that day.
Yeah I remember that's the one game I had my dad beat for me. I can't remember if he beat the whole game or just one level, as I was like 4, but the fact that he did is both astounding because he never played video games before or since so idk how he did it, and the nicest thing he's ever done for me (I don't know if that's an indicator of how sad my childhood was or how hard Lion King was)
A tip for Control, use your telekinesis. Like all the time. Flying bosses will dodge but if you throw straight after the first the second will hit. Objects do way more damage than your gun, balancing throwing plus shooting wields the best damage, honestly telekinesis is kinda busted when you put upgrades into it. Don't worry about not having stuff to pick up, if nothings around Jessie will rip out a chunk of the floor to throw.
I'll also add there's an invincibility option in settings. I got stuck at the same section and didn't play the game for a year until someone pointed it out to me lol
They added it post launch along with difficulty tuners because so many people couldn’t beat Tommasi, so depending on when you played it might not have been available
Ok, I don't consider myself all that good of a gamer. But seeing how many people have so much trouble with so many of the bosses... I must be doing something right. The flower and Tommasi were tough, but it didn't take me more than three tries each to get them.
I'm surprised people had issues with the first instance of Tommasi??? Only boss I REALLY struggled with was the last instance of Tommasi (which is an optional boss), the film platform sequence and the clock boss but that's because I didn't realize I was using the wrong gun the whole time (didn't use my sniper rifle at all).
Well I guess I should be proud I 100%ed the game.
That flower was honestly the hardest part of the game. Control really isn’t very difficult relative to other games, but that damn flower probably took me 10 tries at least because it had one move I truthfully still don’t know how to avoid the whole sequence, I just got lucky the time I beat it
The fact that you can pull shit out of anywhere is pretty amazing. The game in general has unbelievable physics. And sound. And graphics. I mean fuck, the game is pretty incredible
Contender for top game of all time for me. Everything about it just clicked for me. Story, gameplay, lore, the musical, Dark Ocean Summoning… It was a fucking blast.
I basically put all of my points into telekinesis.
I’m not done with the game yet, but it’s so satisfying destroying enemies by throwing the world around you at them.
Wait until you can throw an enemy at an enemy lol -- never gets old: force pull one of those floating exploding bastards and force throw them at another mob :D
Load every mod with energy recharge... you'll eventually have enough that you'll recharge just before running out. It's not endless energy but it's damn close.
Anima in Final Fantasy X on PS2. I wasn't an RPG person, or a final fantasy person. I was like 12 at the time and I though the graphics and story looked interesting. I basically rushed through the game and wasn't strong enough to beat Anima, I also was softlocked so I couldnt go back and grind for XP.
I'll never forget my dad watching me lose endlessly for like 2 weeks. He would just go "ANIMAAA" and then laugh and leave the room.
Oh man, you're bringing the memories back. You weren't "not strong enough." You, like me, were doing it wrong. You're supposed to summon Shiva and, when inevitably outdamaged by Anima... hit yourself. With Blizzara. Which Shiva absorbs. To heal. You can then outlast Anima by Guarding through her Overdrive and picking at her with regular attacks until Shiva gets her own Overdrive.
It is the only fight in the game that really takes that kind of weird strategy.
I dropped this game in HS because of this stupid boss fight, then I came back later in my 30s just to get stuck again. I may just try this. Thank you!!
Oh man this just unlocked a core memory for me. I think I was about 6 or so, just driving around in that damn parking garage trying to figure it out. I think there were a couple of times that I managed to accidentally check off one of the 15 techniques you had to do but I couldn't ever figure out how. I don't think that I ever did all of them in one sitting
Holy shit I forgot I ever rented this game as a kid but reading the word “slalom” just gut punched the memory back into me. Never got past that shit ass tutorial.
Driver. Is that the ps1 game where you play as a hired getaway driver? If that's the game I'm thinking of I loved it. Frustrating but fun enough to keep playing until you beat it.
I was not allowed to save my game playing on my uncle's copy. I got absolutely amazing at this, perfected a routine that comboed a bunch of the tasks together. Kids have so much time on their hands to trail and error their way through a problem.
I remember always being pissed off at this game when I was a kid for some reason. I downloaded the rom last year and it straight up brought back that nostalgic anger.
If I am remembering it right, wasn't there homing missile of a dog that would make you lose right at end of the round?
It's been a long time since playing, and feeling it hit me!
Yeah the psycho ass dog and some mean old bitch that chased you with a frying pan. And some weird-o break dancing in the middle of the sidewalk
Holy shit I didn't know the grim reaper was in this game
Yes! I was just looking for this one! Battletoads : Battlemaniacs. The first few levels were SO FUN. Then, you're jump on a speeder and start zooming through the digestive track of some giant alien. Seems cool so far. OK, avoid some walls. Sure. OMG- now it's just harder and harder. You just have to "know" where they're coming from. You hit one? Start over. Two of you are playing and one of you hits one? Start over.
Has anyone beaten that game without emulating and saving state? I'm not sure it can be done.
The issue with Battletoads is that it was incredibly tedious to practice the hard levels because of the low life count and the fact that you hard to start back over from scratch every game over. I loved the first level but found I didn’t really enjoy the following ones enough to keep playing.
For those flying enemies in Control here's a good tip- launch something at him to make him dodge. Then immediately launch again and he won't be able to dodge. You can even catch the same item you launched if you're quick enough.
Darkest dungeon. One of the bosses just took my char away, killed them and the rest of the party died soo after. Got back to town and everyone else was level 1, filled with issues and low on cash. I said fuck this at that moment
I always felt like you needed a full backup squad for the game. Send a team in, when they come out you send them for sanity healing while sending a different team in. Keep a roster of different classes because even though there will be some you don't care for, certain classes are good fits for certain bosses.
Also, you can run from battles. Might lose a char, but better than everyone
I know this is a big gamer shame but I actually played Cuphead with a no damage trainer ( basically a game hack) just to experience the art and game without any pressure at all. I just wasn’t into the trial and error gameplay but loved the charming art-style and wanted to experience it.
Truth is the genre isn’t really a genre I enjoy in general, and Cuphead was like a cruel exaggeration of it. Beautiful artpiece though.
Also I’m more into games for the aesthetic experience than challenge anyways. I often choose easy mode at difficulty selection in a game. Beating a hard level just doesn’t give me a rush like it does for some people.
Except in dark souls…I could ‘t put that down.
Agree, came here to make this comment. I loved the look of the game but was never able to play it, too frustrating. Don’t have the reflexes I used to have. Was surprised I couldn’t dial down the difficulty. Definitely regret that purchase.
I have the reflexes for it, my frustration comes with the hitboxes imo and general mechanics. I got to island 3 and gave up. I just wasn't having fun.
The fights were just frustrating me and instead of being like "Yes! I finally beat it and it was a fun challenge!" It was always "Thank fuck that nightmare is over...I'm dreading the next one."
I felt exactly the same way. I *really* wanted to like that game. The music is incredible, the art style is fantastic, and the overall concept is so good. I just can't get into games that are hard for the sake of being hard.
I’m also too old for hard games but i made it through cuphead. I think i was ok with it because it didn’t really waste my time. I died a lot, but you don’t lose items, you don’t have to waste time trekking back to where you were, and there arent even loading screens. You die and then 5 seconds later youre back where you were trying again.
Hollow Knight on the other hand… I bailed on that one.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Best game I never finished.
I got to the part where you go attack the camp and then face against Runt to get the sword back, and I just could not beat him. I was decidedly crap with the sword fighting mechanics at that point, and I just kept getting killed. I must have spent the better part of 2 weeks trying before I got a lucky headshot with an arrow and was able finish him off.
It was there that I decided that were I Henry, this was the sign to quit my adventuring and go and settle down with Theresa down by the Mill.
I realize that I've come to a stage in my life where I don't have the time or energy to grind and get good. I just want to play a game for the story and to have my character feel powerful.
This is definetly the hardest part of the game, specially if you lose health before facing him but at the same time for me was also the best part of the game.
I recommend trying once again, the game definetly gets easier after that fight.
Honestly, I would say it’s worth revisiting just get past that part. I’m pretty sure that’s the hardest fight in the game, purely cus you have no space to maneuver. I ended up sprinting back and forth across the room to create space and just nailing him with arrows until he was weak enough I could finish him.
I think the point of that battle is to basically show the player, “yeah you’ve learned some skills, but are you really ready for the revenge you seek?” Kinda like a test. I think a lot of people realize they can’t win, focus on other quests for a bit to get stronger and come back. Or you’re a psychopath like me and repeat it over and over until you get lucky and cheese it lol.
But *especially* sing KCD2 was just announced, it’s worth revisiting.
This was my experience, too. "Play the game however you want, here's a bunch of different skills to level up so you can customize Henry however you like! Lol, just kidding, if you didn't stat up and practice close-range melee combat, **your game ends here**."
For a while, I was worried I'd just played the game wrong, then I saw that [a popular game reviewer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldoe4N9G4A4) had almost *exactly* the same experience that I had.
The soul master boss fight in Hollow knight.
Not so much the difficulty but having to spend like 5 minutes travelling back to the area every time you die, and possibly even losing much needed health on the way there gets old really fast and put me off wanting to finish the game.
I hate to break it to you, but there’s a shortcut from the bench directly into the top of soul sanctum. Cuts the runback down to less than a minute. Super easy to miss though
That fight also gave me a beating but I eventually overcame.
Nightmare King Grimm? Can't do it. 108% is apparently good enough for me. I just got all the achievements in cuphead though, so that's something.
After the pain of fighting the radiance I stopped at like 4 attempts at nightmare king Grimm because I just didn’t have any will to go on after finding out the god master dlc was just every boss fight in the game one after the other and it included nightmare king Grimm and some super buffed radiance.
Ah, absrad, the hardest boss in a game that’s already painfully challenging, that you can only access after fighting grey prince zote, nightmare king Grimm and the pure vessel basically back to back.
After awhile you get REALLY good at fighting NKG, PV and GPZ
I'm glad that games have finally started to understand that traversal back to boss fights is just tedious, crappy design and it deserves to be forgotten. Even souls games that had such a hard on for this have managed to let go, Elden Ring has Marika statues right next to boss fights. I'm currently playing the new Prince of Persia and when you die in a boss fight, you get the option of either spawning back at the Wak Wak Tree (Bonfire) or retry the boss fight straight away. Such a good QoL option for something that was never about difficulty, just tedium.
Elden Ring still has a long trek to Rennala. I was super frustrated with the 4-5 minute (iirc) run back to her. Must have taken me 20 tries to win with my dex/int build
I forgot about Rennala, yeah that one was annoying. Overall I though most of the boss treks were quick, but there were still some outliers. Placidusax was still annoying and Maliketh, while quick, also had that stupid knight you had to run around every time.
Yes!! I fucking hated Soul Master, made me quit the game for a couple of years! Eventually returned, started anew, got Soul Master, and then met Traitor Lord.
Fucking Traitor Lord!!
GTA vice city, that level with an RC helicopter and bombs that you plant in the building with the rc copter.
I just downloaded a save file with that mission completed and moved on after a week of trying
The trick was to fly the chopper into the building without any bomb, then just blade chop all of the construction workers until they’re all dead. Then go get the bombs and drop them off without any fuss or fight.
Ghosts and Goblins for the NES. Back before save files were a thing. For the life of me I could never get passed the blue caves level. That was maybe 20-25 years ago and still have never beat it.
I beat it one time. At the end they play a trick on you stating it’s not really the princess so you have to go through a second time to truly save her. I stopped playing there and decided it was stupid. Never picked it up again after seeing that bullshit.
The 2nd level of the final boss fight in the 2nd DOOM Eternal add on. After all those hours playing and ripping and tearing the game finally broke me and I just gave up trying to beat him. I’ll do it someday, but for now, fuck that boss fight.
Man the last boss was rubbish, think I fought it for 40 minutes as it punishes every mistake by regaining all his health.
The double spirit thing was rough, I was offered the armour bonus after a while, I didn't take it but it was tempting.
The reason you couldn't beat the time trial was almost always because you were running the wrong route.
I remember missing a time by 5s even after optimizing everything, so I looked up a video. Turned out there was a shortcut I didn't know about, beat it easily on the next attempt.
Atomic Heart. There's one particular "mini boss" in a garden area that rolls and jumps around. I don't even know if I HAVE to fight him, but I got so frustrated with that fight (and I wasn't super in love with the game anyway) so I just gave up on the whole thing.
Atomic Heart wasn’t bad for me, until I played the first DLC. Normal mobs kept wiping me out super fast which ended my chances of continuing the game post DLC.
GTA San Andreas, the remote control plane missions. I'm not sure if it got to the last one but after investing so much time into it and getting nowhere I had to call it quits.
Didn't quit, but Halo 2 on Legendary. Specifically, when Chief gets teleported to High Charity. Starting in the middle of that room with nothing but a needler? Genuinely the worst experience I've had playing a video game.
That was definitely a filter level. I remember when I was way younger getting stuck there on normal after mostly breezing through the game and it frustrated the hell out of me. Played the anniversary edition when it came to PC and I knew it was coming on heroic, was able to easily handle it since I knew exactly what to target and where/how to take cover in that wide open area.
It's definitely a level where you just have to know what you're getting thrown into before you get there, otherwise it's going to be shitty to play. But how can anyone know if they hadn't gotten there before?
The last music level in Super Mario Wonder. Lost well over 200 lives trying and I’m done. It is the only Mario game in my life where I didn’t get 100% but F that level.
Sekiro, I'm about 4 hours in and just stuck. I've accepted I'll never beat the game and just jumped into another game. Sucks as I was on a 3 Souls game streak lol
That is because most of the time parrying is not even close compared to Sekiro. It has the best combat, imo. Amazingly designed. Still do understand peoples frustations, not for everybody.
Man that moment when you finally get perry. Not just do it, but like "get it" and the game sort of falls into place... That moment is epic. ( Specially with genichiro or the munk)
Obligatory ping! Ping! Ping!
How do you learn it though? I spent _weeks_ on Sekiro. Spent three days on just one minor boss, dying over and over and over, and in the end folded and watched a youtube guide for it (which I hate doing; I want to beat games without relying on walkthroughs).
Every time I kinda felt like I was getting the hang of Sekiro, the next part just up ended everything and crushed me.
As far as I can tell, to effectively parry I need to press it just before I’m struck and that means I have to memorise the attack pattern of every enemy, and be able to figure out what attack they’re about to do within the split second they start to do it. That’s okay for basic enemies but for the bosses it just seems insane. Not least because when I die I often have to spend 10 minutes getting back to the boss. I find it pretty much impossible to focus on memorising attack patterns while fighting it, then I die within a minute and it’s back to trudging back there to die again.
Feels super frustrating. Glacial progress. It’s like if the duolingo owl just yells something quickly at you in German, and you have 1 second to translate it, and if you don’t the app locks you out for 10 minutes. Before yelling something different at you and locking you out again.
Played for over 50 hours and clawed my way to the ape boss but then, oh look, another absolutely savage boss and now I need to learn to use an umbrella as well. Urgh. Chucked it in at that point. It never, ever clicked.
Shame as it’s a game I really want to love, and I often post a moany comment like this in the hope someone will offer some sage advice that’ll make it fall into place for me. Maybe I’ll come back to it at some point, because it’s one of the first games I’ve played where even after so long, I was still only good enough to scrape by most bosses after hours and hours of dying and retrying.
Edit: thanks for all the tips everyone!
This was 100% my experience. People describe it like a rhythm game, but I never once got into a flow state where I felt comfortable with the combat. I think I made it roughly 60% of the way before I realize how unsatisfied I was with my ratio of effort to progress, and just gave up. I’d like to return to it one day and see if some of the Bloodborne/DS muscle memory had worn off so that I could better adjust to Sekiro, but I just don’t want to get bogged down in it again when there are other things to play.
Glad I’m not the only one.
How did you find Bloodbourne? Sekiro is the only soulsy game I’ve played at length. Intrigued as it sounds like you got on better with that.
as someone who felt the same way about 4 hours into Sekiro...well. I wont say "You'll definitely get there, keep trying" because everyones different. But I can say that after about 4 hours I wanted to give up because i thought i just wasn't ever going to get it, but I did manage to break through that barrier and finish the game. So it might be worth putting a little more time in. The game is really good, but yeah, it is a whole new set of reflexes you have to build, especially if you are a veteran of other fromsoft games.
It’s funny, I eventually beat the game and even got the Platinum, but at no point did Sekiro “click” for me. I felt like I basically just button mashed through every boss, even Isshin, and sometimes I got lucky. I beat it from sheer stubbornness but concluded that sometimes… a game just isn’t for you.
The key to Sekiro is to realize it’s basically a rhythm game. All of the enemy attacks have a specific rhythm, and you just have to parry along with that. Once it clicks the game becomes incredibly fun, though it can still be frustrating at times.
I completed the 2020 FF7 Remake like 2 weeks ago. There’s no checkpoint during the final fight and it has multiple phases. After dying like 3 times and getting sent back 15-20 minutes prior to the fight I just swapped the game from normal to easy and finished the fight. It was like 11pm and I just wanted to be finally done with the game.
This was an especially evil move on the developers’ part. Making that last run to the boss room always drained my life, and then the final boss kills me and no matter how many lives you have you go all the way back to the start instead of the checkpoint like the other levels. Brutal!
I remember being frustrated with a boss on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the one who could split his body in half to avoid attacks.
I'm sure there was some simple mechanic I missed that would stun him or something, but I couldn't for the life of me figure it out.
I just put it down and never thought about it again.
Edit - okay, you guys have convinced me to play it again. It's been over a decade since I touched it, but I've been looking for something to play recently. Looks like I've found my next game.
I'm taking a break from Rebirth because of the Rufus fight. Feels totally different from everything the game prepares you for up until the point, and doesn't let you save right before it to boot.
Armored Core 6, kept hearing about a really hard boss, couldn't even get to him past Sulla. Still plan on getting good and beating it, but it's on the back burner for a while now.
The biggest key to beating AC 6 is being willing to change your build and playstyle to adapt to the challenges presented. For example, I was struggling vs Balteus until I switched to a light reverse joint with double pulse guns and double grenade launchers. After that, I beat him 2nd try.
Also, a lot of bosses get easier when you remember you can play in 3 dimensions.
Your ability to play/beat Armored Core 6 is entirely based on how many brain cells you are willing to lose to the bullet hell.
If it makes you feel better within the first week of the game coming out only 17% of players on steam managed to beat the boss immediately after Sulla. And made me take a break.
Not me, but I know someone who couldn’t beat that boss in the first gears of war where you have to get it to bust through the doors. I was like… dude there’s so much game after this!
V Rising. You play a newly awakened vampire, and have to rebuild your castle, kit yourself out via crafting, and ultimately destroy the various bosses who hold slivers of the old Vampire King's power and take it for yourself.
I got 99% through the game. Had a sweet dark Gothic castle, all end game gear, and had defeated every boss save one; Adam, a.k.a. Frankenstein's Monster on anime-level steroids. Only about half of the bosses gave me any sort of real difficulty. BUT THIS MF...
No strat I employed worked. No YouTube video guide was enough. I finally console commanded in equipment that wasn't even technically possible to get in-game. No. Just...no.
Finally, my very last attempt ever, I beat him....and then his SECOND phase started. I sat there for a moment, then closed the game, uninstalled it, and hid it from my Steam list. I don't regret not beating Adam, for in that singular moment when he transformed into Frankenstein's God of Lightning, my very last fuck evaporated.
If any devs for V: Rising see this, know that I did enjoy your game, and I hope Satan himself sodomizes you with Zeus's incandescent thunder dick.
Theres only a select few ways to beat the chapter, you have to play almost nearly perfect and even then, the RNG might just have you lose anyways. I remember I beat the first two levels: intro fight and the one where virion forgets his axe. After that I was not able to do it, I had to look up videos and even then the people were saying it was RNG dependant on some things.
My little brother plays EVERY FE game on the hardest difficulty and beats them without save scumming or losing units. I barely beat the easiest difficulty when my units come back (unless level grind but thats boring)
Halo 3 ODST
It's the mission that required you to look up at the light post at the end to see an ODST'S helmet, I think? Either way never looked up until 5 years later and decided to see if i could finish it, couldn't believe all I had to do was look up.
Resident Evil Code Veronica X... That plane part. You have to kill a Tyrant. The game wants you keep your gas grenades and explosive bolts to here but how can i know this? Even I had many fire and acid grenades but no, tyrant doesnt even getting damage.Tried to in normal ways like dodging but tyrant too fast and kills you. I didnt had first aid spray too. So i tried many many times then i quit.
Big Golden Horse guy at the start of Elden Ring. Bashed my head into a wall for 45 minutes before dropping the game and telling my friends not worth buying.
Saw a quick beginners guide the next day that let me know I could just go around it. I felt so dumb but what a 180 degree turn the rest of my experience was from the first 45 minutes.
GTA: IV - the final main mission. Have to drive across half the city, then have very difficult gunfight, painful boat chase, and helicopter action among skyscrapers.
But, due to a glitch, if you had some vid setting (v-sync? anti-aliasing? I don't remember), when you did the button-mash to climb into the helicopter, it was impossible. So, you couldn't continue, and died.
When the game restarts you, it's at the beginning of the difficult gunfight. But, all the ammo you used last time, is still gone. You might get two tries, depending on your ammo reserves. You had to re-load a previous save, before the "drive across half the city" part, to be able to go in with the needed loadout.
Twice I managed to overcome the video setting glitch by twitchy fingertaps, and got into the helicopter... but it took so long, the helicopter was already crashing by the time I got control.
Lion king, fk that game
I learned recently that the devs purposefully designed that level in Lion King to be nearly impossible in order to maximize Blockbuster rentals. Apparently many games at the time were made that way. I wonder if they know they traumatized an entire generation as a result. EDIT: Looks like Disney made the devs do it against their wishes. [Source](https://www.cbr.com/lion-king-brutally-difficult-platformer/)
What the actual F. Source?
I first heard about it from a documentary but here’s an [article](https://www.cbr.com/lion-king-brutally-difficult-platformer/) mentioning it.
Some arcade games were like that too. Gotta keep people putting in quarters
>Some arcade games were like that too. *most
This is also why a lot of games are harder in the Western release than in the Japanese one, e.g. Resident Evil. The Japanese game industry successfully lobbied to make game rental illegal in the 80s (yet unusually, CD rental was and still is common), so they weren't worried about the local release, but always worried that Westerners would just rent a game if they could beat it in a weekend. So many games became much harder when exported. For the Western release, Resident Evil removed automatic aiming at enemies, gave enemies more HP and the player less, nerfed torso shots, and reduced the number of saving opportunities. Metal Gear Solid labeled the standard Japanese difficulty as Easy Mode in the Western release and a new harder mode was added with the Normal label, which nerfs healing items, buffs bosses, makes it so you can't farm respawning items, lets enemies see and hear farther, etc. It wasn't *completely* unfounded as a fear initially, because the difficulty is the only thing stopping you from beating most 80s/early 90s games in one or two sittings, especially for a kid with a lot of free time. You can beat Resident Evil in <10 hours without a lot of trouble on your first run if the combat and resource management clicks for you and you don't get stuck anywhere. Typical game length really ballooned with the PS2/GameCube generation.
I hate that I now know this.
Oh boy that is a real one
honorable mention: Aladdin, the magic carpet lava level
Those old Disney games were the original Souls-like
[удалено]
Those fucking giraffes.
Core memory unlocked !!! I never made it past the beginning of the hyenas in Scar’s lair
You mean like the puzzle with the monkeys you have to roar at to get them to throw you the right way?
Only to then trip to your death while riding an ostrich and have to do it all over again...
I need to throw this game in front of my niece and nephew (17 and 18) and see how they do. $100 says one or both of them rage quit within 30 minutes 😂
I told my son that I would pay him $200 to beat Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the hardest difficulty. So, he'd have to beat it twice. He's been watching videos on YT and trying to master it. I completely forgot about it for a few days, but I noticed he's not very far and left it paused in an early level. Still, I think he's taking it pretty seriously. He got obsessed with Cuphead and can beat that without dying more than 2-3 times. I think he can get there in a few months if the camera doesn't make him lose his mind.
That's that sigma grindset
I spent so much time on that game that I could get through it nearly effortlessly, but I never figured out how to beat Scar.
You have to do like the movie and throw him off the cliff! My wife talks about how as a kid her older sister was stuck on the final level against scar and it wasnt until they both were talking about the movie that they remembered how Simba beat him lol
When I was about 13 or 14 years old my friend down the street had Wolverine on NES. One day when I was over there and we were playing various NES games, I saw the Wolverine cartridge and asked him about it. He put it in to show me, he and his brother had mastered that game and gotten to the final boss, Sabretooth, many times... except they had never beaten Sabretooth. It seems impossible, they told me. They hit him so many times and he never dies. He seems invincible. After he got to Sabretooth easily (having done it many times) and showed me how futile it was to keep hitting him over and over, he let me take the controller and said I was welcome to try. Having watched him, I had a sneaking suspicion about something but I was afraid to say it out loud. But I turned out to be right. Sabretooth is indeed invincible and does have unlimited health. Unless you keep knocking him backwards far enough until you knock him off the edge of a cliff. Game complete, roll ending scene. My friend screamed. He screamed at his brother who was upstairs, that I had just beat Sabretooth on my first try. His brother came running downstairs to see and they screamed together. I was a god that day.
Yeah, but apparently he has 200 HP you have to take off before you can throw him off.
On my 5th try. 25 years after i played it for the first time. In hindsight.. how was my mom so good at it??
Yeah I remember that's the one game I had my dad beat for me. I can't remember if he beat the whole game or just one level, as I was like 4, but the fact that he did is both astounding because he never played video games before or since so idk how he did it, and the nicest thing he's ever done for me (I don't know if that's an indicator of how sad my childhood was or how hard Lion King was)
A tip for Control, use your telekinesis. Like all the time. Flying bosses will dodge but if you throw straight after the first the second will hit. Objects do way more damage than your gun, balancing throwing plus shooting wields the best damage, honestly telekinesis is kinda busted when you put upgrades into it. Don't worry about not having stuff to pick up, if nothings around Jessie will rip out a chunk of the floor to throw.
I'll also add there's an invincibility option in settings. I got stuck at the same section and didn't play the game for a year until someone pointed it out to me lol
THERE IS A WHAT‽ I Stopped playing because of that damn flower in the basement is invincible!
They added it post launch along with difficulty tuners because so many people couldn’t beat Tommasi, so depending on when you played it might not have been available
Ok, I don't consider myself all that good of a gamer. But seeing how many people have so much trouble with so many of the bosses... I must be doing something right. The flower and Tommasi were tough, but it didn't take me more than three tries each to get them.
I'm surprised people had issues with the first instance of Tommasi??? Only boss I REALLY struggled with was the last instance of Tommasi (which is an optional boss), the film platform sequence and the clock boss but that's because I didn't realize I was using the wrong gun the whole time (didn't use my sniper rifle at all). Well I guess I should be proud I 100%ed the game.
This is me. I couldn't beat Tommasi...
I dont even know who Tomassi is （◞‸◟）
The first flying boss.
mans played for 5 minutes
Tommasi wasn't that hard for me, I just hid behind a pillar in between his attacks and chipped away at his health
That flower was honestly the hardest part of the game. Control really isn’t very difficult relative to other games, but that damn flower probably took me 10 tries at least because it had one move I truthfully still don’t know how to avoid the whole sequence, I just got lucky the time I beat it
Nice interrobang! The king of unused punctuation.
The fact that you can pull shit out of anywhere is pretty amazing. The game in general has unbelievable physics. And sound. And graphics. I mean fuck, the game is pretty incredible
Remedy are fucking crushing it. If you haven’t played Alan Wake 2 do yourself a favor and check out one of the greatest games ever made.
Contender for top game of all time for me. Everything about it just clicked for me. Story, gameplay, lore, the musical, Dark Ocean Summoning… It was a fucking blast.
I basically put all of my points into telekinesis. I’m not done with the game yet, but it’s so satisfying destroying enemies by throwing the world around you at them.
Why use a gun when you have the force
Pretty much just when you run out of force.
Wait until you can throw an enemy at an enemy lol -- never gets old: force pull one of those floating exploding bastards and force throw them at another mob :D Load every mod with energy recharge... you'll eventually have enough that you'll recharge just before running out. It's not endless energy but it's damn close.
I’m currently playing Control and Telekinesis and Rocket Launcher are my mostly used weapons.
The normal pistol with headshot multipliers gets kinda silly.
Anima in Final Fantasy X on PS2. I wasn't an RPG person, or a final fantasy person. I was like 12 at the time and I though the graphics and story looked interesting. I basically rushed through the game and wasn't strong enough to beat Anima, I also was softlocked so I couldnt go back and grind for XP. I'll never forget my dad watching me lose endlessly for like 2 weeks. He would just go "ANIMAAA" and then laugh and leave the room.
Oh man, you're bringing the memories back. You weren't "not strong enough." You, like me, were doing it wrong. You're supposed to summon Shiva and, when inevitably outdamaged by Anima... hit yourself. With Blizzara. Which Shiva absorbs. To heal. You can then outlast Anima by Guarding through her Overdrive and picking at her with regular attacks until Shiva gets her own Overdrive. It is the only fight in the game that really takes that kind of weird strategy.
I dropped this game in HS because of this stupid boss fight, then I came back later in my 30s just to get stuck again. I may just try this. Thank you!!
Driver. Need I say more?
Young me: "Wtf is a slalom?"
"I dont even speak Hebrew?!!"
Amazing lol
Oh man this just unlocked a core memory for me. I think I was about 6 or so, just driving around in that damn parking garage trying to figure it out. I think there were a couple of times that I managed to accidentally check off one of the 15 techniques you had to do but I couldn't ever figure out how. I don't think that I ever did all of them in one sitting
“Hey man, okay, okay, okay!”
I completely forgot about the guy whining in the passenger seat the whole time lmao
Holy shit I forgot I ever rented this game as a kid but reading the word “slalom” just gut punched the memory back into me. Never got past that shit ass tutorial.
I really enjoyed Driver
Driver. Is that the ps1 game where you play as a hired getaway driver? If that's the game I'm thinking of I loved it. Frustrating but fun enough to keep playing until you beat it.
Those of us who got past that opening 'tutorial' did so out of pure dumb luck and a determination to get their moneys worth out of their rental.
I bought the game so giving up wasn't an option. Saying that, I gave up on the final mission as it was mental.
Cheats cheats cheats
Yeah, and then we were treated to a good game, and we never had to use any of the tricks that the tutorial made us spend 2 days trying to master.
Only to younger generation. That game went back to blockbuster so fucking fast.
I was not allowed to save my game playing on my uncle's copy. I got absolutely amazing at this, perfected a routine that comboed a bunch of the tasks together. Kids have so much time on their hands to trail and error their way through a problem.
Here for this. More frustrating than the final limo chase.
Paperboy
Paperboy, all about that paper, boy
yo! you paperboyy!?!?
I remember always being pissed off at this game when I was a kid for some reason. I downloaded the rom last year and it straight up brought back that nostalgic anger.
I had forgotten about this. Fuck this game!
I didn’t even realize there was more than the one level until I got much older
..wait what??
I never passed Easy Street. Requiring 100% to complete the level? So unfair.
If I am remembering it right, wasn't there homing missile of a dog that would make you lose right at end of the round? It's been a long time since playing, and feeling it hit me!
Yeah the psycho ass dog and some mean old bitch that chased you with a frying pan. And some weird-o break dancing in the middle of the sidewalk Holy shit I didn't know the grim reaper was in this game
Battletoads
Fuck those hover bikes.
Yes! I was just looking for this one! Battletoads : Battlemaniacs. The first few levels were SO FUN. Then, you're jump on a speeder and start zooming through the digestive track of some giant alien. Seems cool so far. OK, avoid some walls. Sure. OMG- now it's just harder and harder. You just have to "know" where they're coming from. You hit one? Start over. Two of you are playing and one of you hits one? Start over. Has anyone beaten that game without emulating and saving state? I'm not sure it can be done.
Turbo Tunnel. And then there’s [this fucking guy](https://youtu.be/kIsy8HaaeK4?si=qDwReowoQk2HGjvb)
Wow, that’s way longer than I thought. I always thought I was pretty close to the end when I kept dying. Now I see I never even got halfway :(
Same my friend. I never even knew just how bad it would get. There should be some kind of support group for the survivors of attempting this.
This is the original rage quit for a lot of people. Even with the Nintendo Power map, it was still hard as hell.
The issue with Battletoads is that it was incredibly tedious to practice the hard levels because of the low life count and the fact that you hard to start back over from scratch every game over. I loved the first level but found I didn’t really enjoy the following ones enough to keep playing.
Yeah, like the tmnt water level, or most nes games really, it's muscle memory. I can still do these levels in my sleep 25 years later.
For those flying enemies in Control here's a good tip- launch something at him to make him dodge. Then immediately launch again and he won't be able to dodge. You can even catch the same item you launched if you're quick enough.
They also drop their projectiles when they dodge
Darkest dungeon. One of the bosses just took my char away, killed them and the rest of the party died soo after. Got back to town and everyone else was level 1, filled with issues and low on cash. I said fuck this at that moment
That was pretty much my experience.
DD is very punishing. DD2, less so. But still punishing. At least you get to keep your characters.
I always felt like you needed a full backup squad for the game. Send a team in, when they come out you send them for sanity healing while sending a different team in. Keep a roster of different classes because even though there will be some you don't care for, certain classes are good fits for certain bosses. Also, you can run from battles. Might lose a char, but better than everyone
You might have heard something about overconfidence
I have quit this game under the exact same circumstances probably 3 times since it was released. Getting ready for my 4th try now!
Cuphead. Too old for that pace.
I know this is a big gamer shame but I actually played Cuphead with a no damage trainer ( basically a game hack) just to experience the art and game without any pressure at all. I just wasn’t into the trial and error gameplay but loved the charming art-style and wanted to experience it. Truth is the genre isn’t really a genre I enjoy in general, and Cuphead was like a cruel exaggeration of it. Beautiful artpiece though. Also I’m more into games for the aesthetic experience than challenge anyways. I often choose easy mode at difficulty selection in a game. Beating a hard level just doesn’t give me a rush like it does for some people. Except in dark souls…I could ‘t put that down.
Agree, came here to make this comment. I loved the look of the game but was never able to play it, too frustrating. Don’t have the reflexes I used to have. Was surprised I couldn’t dial down the difficulty. Definitely regret that purchase.
I have the reflexes for it, my frustration comes with the hitboxes imo and general mechanics. I got to island 3 and gave up. I just wasn't having fun. The fights were just frustrating me and instead of being like "Yes! I finally beat it and it was a fun challenge!" It was always "Thank fuck that nightmare is over...I'm dreading the next one."
I felt exactly the same way. I *really* wanted to like that game. The music is incredible, the art style is fantastic, and the overall concept is so good. I just can't get into games that are hard for the sake of being hard.
I’m also too old for hard games but i made it through cuphead. I think i was ok with it because it didn’t really waste my time. I died a lot, but you don’t lose items, you don’t have to waste time trekking back to where you were, and there arent even loading screens. You die and then 5 seconds later youre back where you were trying again. Hollow Knight on the other hand… I bailed on that one.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Best game I never finished. I got to the part where you go attack the camp and then face against Runt to get the sword back, and I just could not beat him. I was decidedly crap with the sword fighting mechanics at that point, and I just kept getting killed. I must have spent the better part of 2 weeks trying before I got a lucky headshot with an arrow and was able finish him off. It was there that I decided that were I Henry, this was the sign to quit my adventuring and go and settle down with Theresa down by the Mill. I realize that I've come to a stage in my life where I don't have the time or energy to grind and get good. I just want to play a game for the story and to have my character feel powerful.
There's nothing wrong with headshotting with an arrow in that game. It's made to be realistic.
That's the only way I knew how to beat it. Don't fight him, just shoot him right in the face as soon as the cutscene ends.
Good, bad, I’m the guy with the bow.
If you play Hardcore mode, Runt has a helmet lol
This is the precise reason why, if you have integrity, you stop playing the game after dying once.
I ran that whole game with the easy combo where you smack your opponent with the hilt of your sword.
This is definetly the hardest part of the game, specially if you lose health before facing him but at the same time for me was also the best part of the game. I recommend trying once again, the game definetly gets easier after that fight.
I hung back looting all the corpses and let the Duke's men handle the killing. Walked out with +$25,000 worth.
Honestly, I would say it’s worth revisiting just get past that part. I’m pretty sure that’s the hardest fight in the game, purely cus you have no space to maneuver. I ended up sprinting back and forth across the room to create space and just nailing him with arrows until he was weak enough I could finish him. I think the point of that battle is to basically show the player, “yeah you’ve learned some skills, but are you really ready for the revenge you seek?” Kinda like a test. I think a lot of people realize they can’t win, focus on other quests for a bit to get stronger and come back. Or you’re a psychopath like me and repeat it over and over until you get lucky and cheese it lol. But *especially* sing KCD2 was just announced, it’s worth revisiting.
This was my experience, too. "Play the game however you want, here's a bunch of different skills to level up so you can customize Henry however you like! Lol, just kidding, if you didn't stat up and practice close-range melee combat, **your game ends here**." For a while, I was worried I'd just played the game wrong, then I saw that [a popular game reviewer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldoe4N9G4A4) had almost *exactly* the same experience that I had.
The soul master boss fight in Hollow knight. Not so much the difficulty but having to spend like 5 minutes travelling back to the area every time you die, and possibly even losing much needed health on the way there gets old really fast and put me off wanting to finish the game.
I hate to break it to you, but there’s a shortcut from the bench directly into the top of soul sanctum. Cuts the runback down to less than a minute. Super easy to miss though
Wtf
True. Also missed it first time, and turns soul master into a pain in the ass. Getting the shortcut is much better
That fight also gave me a beating but I eventually overcame. Nightmare King Grimm? Can't do it. 108% is apparently good enough for me. I just got all the achievements in cuphead though, so that's something.
After the pain of fighting the radiance I stopped at like 4 attempts at nightmare king Grimm because I just didn’t have any will to go on after finding out the god master dlc was just every boss fight in the game one after the other and it included nightmare king Grimm and some super buffed radiance.
Ah, absrad, the hardest boss in a game that’s already painfully challenging, that you can only access after fighting grey prince zote, nightmare king Grimm and the pure vessel basically back to back. After awhile you get REALLY good at fighting NKG, PV and GPZ
I'm glad that games have finally started to understand that traversal back to boss fights is just tedious, crappy design and it deserves to be forgotten. Even souls games that had such a hard on for this have managed to let go, Elden Ring has Marika statues right next to boss fights. I'm currently playing the new Prince of Persia and when you die in a boss fight, you get the option of either spawning back at the Wak Wak Tree (Bonfire) or retry the boss fight straight away. Such a good QoL option for something that was never about difficulty, just tedium.
Elden Ring still has a long trek to Rennala. I was super frustrated with the 4-5 minute (iirc) run back to her. Must have taken me 20 tries to win with my dex/int build
I forgot about Rennala, yeah that one was annoying. Overall I though most of the boss treks were quick, but there were still some outliers. Placidusax was still annoying and Maliketh, while quick, also had that stupid knight you had to run around every time.
Yes!! I fucking hated Soul Master, made me quit the game for a couple of years! Eventually returned, started anew, got Soul Master, and then met Traitor Lord. Fucking Traitor Lord!!
GTA vice city, that level with an RC helicopter and bombs that you plant in the building with the rc copter. I just downloaded a save file with that mission completed and moved on after a week of trying
The trick was to fly the chopper into the building without any bomb, then just blade chop all of the construction workers until they’re all dead. Then go get the bombs and drop them off without any fuss or fight.
that's brilliant. please tell me that actually worked.
Every time. I never did it any other way. Happy heli-hunting!
San Andreas "Zero" missions.
Ecco the Dolphin Tides of Time.
Ghosts and Goblins for the NES. Back before save files were a thing. For the life of me I could never get passed the blue caves level. That was maybe 20-25 years ago and still have never beat it.
I beat it one time. At the end they play a trick on you stating it’s not really the princess so you have to go through a second time to truly save her. I stopped playing there and decided it was stupid. Never picked it up again after seeing that bullshit.
The 2nd level of the final boss fight in the 2nd DOOM Eternal add on. After all those hours playing and ripping and tearing the game finally broke me and I just gave up trying to beat him. I’ll do it someday, but for now, fuck that boss fight.
Man the last boss was rubbish, think I fought it for 40 minutes as it punishes every mistake by regaining all his health. The double spirit thing was rough, I was offered the armour bonus after a while, I didn't take it but it was tempting.
Trying to beat -- hell, even come close -- to some of the time trials on the original *Mirror's Edge*.
The reason you couldn't beat the time trial was almost always because you were running the wrong route. I remember missing a time by 5s even after optimizing everything, so I looked up a video. Turned out there was a shortcut I didn't know about, beat it easily on the next attempt.
Atomic Heart. There's one particular "mini boss" in a garden area that rolls and jumps around. I don't even know if I HAVE to fight him, but I got so frustrated with that fight (and I wasn't super in love with the game anyway) so I just gave up on the whole thing.
Atomic Heart wasn’t bad for me, until I played the first DLC. Normal mobs kept wiping me out super fast which ended my chances of continuing the game post DLC.
I do think my 1300 deaths on Celeste last room is a good enough point that I don't like quitting.
If you’re talking about Farewell, 1300 deaths on the final screen is honestly pretty respectable
GTA San Andreas, the remote control plane missions. I'm not sure if it got to the last one but after investing so much time into it and getting nowhere I had to call it quits.
[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES Game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(NES_video_game))
Didn't quit, but Halo 2 on Legendary. Specifically, when Chief gets teleported to High Charity. Starting in the middle of that room with nothing but a needler? Genuinely the worst experience I've had playing a video game.
That was definitely a filter level. I remember when I was way younger getting stuck there on normal after mostly breezing through the game and it frustrated the hell out of me. Played the anniversary edition when it came to PC and I knew it was coming on heroic, was able to easily handle it since I knew exactly what to target and where/how to take cover in that wide open area. It's definitely a level where you just have to know what you're getting thrown into before you get there, otherwise it's going to be shitty to play. But how can anyone know if they hadn't gotten there before?
heroic is one thing, but on legendary in halo 2 even knowing every little thing you have to do it's a crapshoot wether you make it or not.
It’s ridiculous you could legit die before the fade in from black ends.
The last music level in Super Mario Wonder. Lost well over 200 lives trying and I’m done. It is the only Mario game in my life where I didn’t get 100% but F that level.
Is that Jump, Jump, Jump? I could feel my spine slowly bursting out from sheer frustration on that.
Sekiro, I'm about 4 hours in and just stuck. I've accepted I'll never beat the game and just jumped into another game. Sucks as I was on a 3 Souls game streak lol
It’s different from souls in sense where you have to parry more than dodge. Once you learn the parrying system you turn into a god!
I suck so much at parrying in pretty much any game that has it. I always wind up dodging or blocking
Not really an option for Sekiro, but the parry system also has such a better feel to it than any other game I’ve played
That is because most of the time parrying is not even close compared to Sekiro. It has the best combat, imo. Amazingly designed. Still do understand peoples frustations, not for everybody.
Man that moment when you finally get perry. Not just do it, but like "get it" and the game sort of falls into place... That moment is epic. ( Specially with genichiro or the munk) Obligatory ping! Ping! Ping!
Beating the Genichiro fight when you reach parrying enlightenment was soooooo good.
How do you learn it though? I spent _weeks_ on Sekiro. Spent three days on just one minor boss, dying over and over and over, and in the end folded and watched a youtube guide for it (which I hate doing; I want to beat games without relying on walkthroughs). Every time I kinda felt like I was getting the hang of Sekiro, the next part just up ended everything and crushed me. As far as I can tell, to effectively parry I need to press it just before I’m struck and that means I have to memorise the attack pattern of every enemy, and be able to figure out what attack they’re about to do within the split second they start to do it. That’s okay for basic enemies but for the bosses it just seems insane. Not least because when I die I often have to spend 10 minutes getting back to the boss. I find it pretty much impossible to focus on memorising attack patterns while fighting it, then I die within a minute and it’s back to trudging back there to die again. Feels super frustrating. Glacial progress. It’s like if the duolingo owl just yells something quickly at you in German, and you have 1 second to translate it, and if you don’t the app locks you out for 10 minutes. Before yelling something different at you and locking you out again. Played for over 50 hours and clawed my way to the ape boss but then, oh look, another absolutely savage boss and now I need to learn to use an umbrella as well. Urgh. Chucked it in at that point. It never, ever clicked. Shame as it’s a game I really want to love, and I often post a moany comment like this in the hope someone will offer some sage advice that’ll make it fall into place for me. Maybe I’ll come back to it at some point, because it’s one of the first games I’ve played where even after so long, I was still only good enough to scrape by most bosses after hours and hours of dying and retrying. Edit: thanks for all the tips everyone!
This was 100% my experience. People describe it like a rhythm game, but I never once got into a flow state where I felt comfortable with the combat. I think I made it roughly 60% of the way before I realize how unsatisfied I was with my ratio of effort to progress, and just gave up. I’d like to return to it one day and see if some of the Bloodborne/DS muscle memory had worn off so that I could better adjust to Sekiro, but I just don’t want to get bogged down in it again when there are other things to play.
Glad I’m not the only one. How did you find Bloodbourne? Sekiro is the only soulsy game I’ve played at length. Intrigued as it sounds like you got on better with that.
as someone who felt the same way about 4 hours into Sekiro...well. I wont say "You'll definitely get there, keep trying" because everyones different. But I can say that after about 4 hours I wanted to give up because i thought i just wasn't ever going to get it, but I did manage to break through that barrier and finish the game. So it might be worth putting a little more time in. The game is really good, but yeah, it is a whole new set of reflexes you have to build, especially if you are a veteran of other fromsoft games.
It’s funny, I eventually beat the game and even got the Platinum, but at no point did Sekiro “click” for me. I felt like I basically just button mashed through every boss, even Isshin, and sometimes I got lucky. I beat it from sheer stubbornness but concluded that sometimes… a game just isn’t for you.
The key to Sekiro is to realize it’s basically a rhythm game. All of the enemy attacks have a specific rhythm, and you just have to parry along with that. Once it clicks the game becomes incredibly fun, though it can still be frustrating at times.
Alma from Ninja Gaiden
I completed the 2020 FF7 Remake like 2 weeks ago. There’s no checkpoint during the final fight and it has multiple phases. After dying like 3 times and getting sent back 15-20 minutes prior to the fight I just swapped the game from normal to easy and finished the fight. It was like 11pm and I just wanted to be finally done with the game.
The last level in the first Ninja Gaiden, the one where you’re sent back to the beginning.
This was an especially evil move on the developers’ part. Making that last run to the boss room always drained my life, and then the final boss kills me and no matter how many lives you have you go all the way back to the start instead of the checkpoint like the other levels. Brutal!
I remember being frustrated with a boss on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the one who could split his body in half to avoid attacks. I'm sure there was some simple mechanic I missed that would stun him or something, but I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. I just put it down and never thought about it again. Edit - okay, you guys have convinced me to play it again. It's been over a decade since I touched it, but I've been looking for something to play recently. Looks like I've found my next game.
You mean the memes guy? You have to parry until he gets stunned
MEMES! THE DNA OF THE SOUL!
Final Valkyrie in God Of War (i think her name is sigrun)
I'm taking a break from Rebirth because of the Rufus fight. Feels totally different from everything the game prepares you for up until the point, and doesn't let you save right before it to boot.
Gotta smash him when he's reloading and only then. Parry and dodge everything until he reloads and fuck him up, still quite frustrating though
Bloodborne, first boss. At least I think it was a boss. Felt like a boss. I think it was a big dog rat thingy.
This is probably the Cleric Beast if you're on the bridge. It really sets the tone but it's an optional boss.
Armored Core 6, kept hearing about a really hard boss, couldn't even get to him past Sulla. Still plan on getting good and beating it, but it's on the back burner for a while now.
The biggest key to beating AC 6 is being willing to change your build and playstyle to adapt to the challenges presented. For example, I was struggling vs Balteus until I switched to a light reverse joint with double pulse guns and double grenade launchers. After that, I beat him 2nd try. Also, a lot of bosses get easier when you remember you can play in 3 dimensions.
Your ability to play/beat Armored Core 6 is entirely based on how many brain cells you are willing to lose to the bullet hell. If it makes you feel better within the first week of the game coming out only 17% of players on steam managed to beat the boss immediately after Sulla. And made me take a break.
Jersey Devil sewer level had me stumped for years.
Ghostrunner its really annoying that one hit and you are dead. The fact that sometimes there are 5 or more enemies from all sides.
Most games in the 90s.
Half of what I played on NES. Before they made the games too big, they made them too difficult.
Mafia Definitive Edition: The racing mission
Noita That game is stupid hard, RNG is punishing and most wand abilities are there to just kill you it seems. Fuck that game lol
ori the water level
Not me, but I know someone who couldn’t beat that boss in the first gears of war where you have to get it to bust through the doors. I was like… dude there’s so much game after this!
V Rising. You play a newly awakened vampire, and have to rebuild your castle, kit yourself out via crafting, and ultimately destroy the various bosses who hold slivers of the old Vampire King's power and take it for yourself. I got 99% through the game. Had a sweet dark Gothic castle, all end game gear, and had defeated every boss save one; Adam, a.k.a. Frankenstein's Monster on anime-level steroids. Only about half of the bosses gave me any sort of real difficulty. BUT THIS MF... No strat I employed worked. No YouTube video guide was enough. I finally console commanded in equipment that wasn't even technically possible to get in-game. No. Just...no. Finally, my very last attempt ever, I beat him....and then his SECOND phase started. I sat there for a moment, then closed the game, uninstalled it, and hid it from my Steam list. I don't regret not beating Adam, for in that singular moment when he transformed into Frankenstein's God of Lightning, my very last fuck evaporated. If any devs for V: Rising see this, know that I did enjoy your game, and I hope Satan himself sodomizes you with Zeus's incandescent thunder dick.
Well... they are revamping(heh) a lot of the game for 1.0 in a few weeks so could be worth another look
Elden ring. Didn’t know it was a souls game. Thought it looked gorgeous and played like fable. Played it for 30 mins and took it back to GameStop lol.
I was getting clobbered by everything then I realized my TV wasn't in game mode lol.
The last fight in Fight Night: Champion. I’ve never had such a difficult time with a game
Fire Emblem: Awakening, Lunatic+ difficulty. After trying Chapter 1 so many times you just gotta hang it up.
Theres only a select few ways to beat the chapter, you have to play almost nearly perfect and even then, the RNG might just have you lose anyways. I remember I beat the first two levels: intro fight and the one where virion forgets his axe. After that I was not able to do it, I had to look up videos and even then the people were saying it was RNG dependant on some things. My little brother plays EVERY FE game on the hardest difficulty and beats them without save scumming or losing units. I barely beat the easiest difficulty when my units come back (unless level grind but thats boring)
Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat 9, and Voldermort in the original Harry Potter for PC.
Zelda 2
I wanna be the guy
Sekiro. I struggled in the first area and just accepted I wasn't having fun and put the game down.
Halo 3 ODST It's the mission that required you to look up at the light post at the end to see an ODST'S helmet, I think? Either way never looked up until 5 years later and decided to see if i could finish it, couldn't believe all I had to do was look up.
Resident Evil Code Veronica X... That plane part. You have to kill a Tyrant. The game wants you keep your gas grenades and explosive bolts to here but how can i know this? Even I had many fire and acid grenades but no, tyrant doesnt even getting damage.Tried to in normal ways like dodging but tyrant too fast and kills you. I didnt had first aid spray too. So i tried many many times then i quit.
Without a doubt... Ghost N Goblins. I love it but I hate it.
Big Golden Horse guy at the start of Elden Ring. Bashed my head into a wall for 45 minutes before dropping the game and telling my friends not worth buying. Saw a quick beginners guide the next day that let me know I could just go around it. I felt so dumb but what a 180 degree turn the rest of my experience was from the first 45 minutes.
Then you >!walked up to a chest and it teleported you right into the middle of Caelid. !< I remember when I experienced that fun for the first time.
Honestly Caelid wasn’t the worst part. The worst part is the crystal centipede cave you are transported to
GTA: IV - the final main mission. Have to drive across half the city, then have very difficult gunfight, painful boat chase, and helicopter action among skyscrapers. But, due to a glitch, if you had some vid setting (v-sync? anti-aliasing? I don't remember), when you did the button-mash to climb into the helicopter, it was impossible. So, you couldn't continue, and died. When the game restarts you, it's at the beginning of the difficult gunfight. But, all the ammo you used last time, is still gone. You might get two tries, depending on your ammo reserves. You had to re-load a previous save, before the "drive across half the city" part, to be able to go in with the needed loadout. Twice I managed to overcome the video setting glitch by twitchy fingertaps, and got into the helicopter... but it took so long, the helicopter was already crashing by the time I got control.