That wouldn't happen to be that hot/cold level? I hated that one.The Squid King said:
Also: the Armored Core games generally have some supremely difficult missions mixed with fairly easy ones. To be expected, it's From Software after all.
Biggest Difficulty Spike You Have Ever Experienced
- Thread starter Brownie80
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Also: the Armored Core games generally have some supremely difficult missions mixed with fairly easy ones. To be expected, it's From Software after all.
All of NFL Street (the first one). That game is damn near impossible since it throws you straight in against the pros and never once eases you in with random players from the street. Want my advice, skip it and play NFL Street 2, it was better in every way.
NFL Street 3 was mediocre.
NFL Street 3 was mediocre.
Driver 1's 'The Interview' was more of a language barrier, for me atleast. Nowadays I consider it one of my favorite parts in the game. The last mission however is tough as nuts but not as ridiculous as the mentioned mission from D2.Brownie80 said:
Jak 2. The ammo depot with that FUCKING TANK.
Jak 2 again, the delivery mission that gets you in contact with Krew. I love evading dozens of bullets in a bike that goes down in five hits.
Jak 3. That goddamn section with Daxter riding the missile.
Uncharted 3, when you meet a certain enemy in Iram that can shoot a projectile that kills you in about three hits... on NORMAL. And they have machine guns, and there are a lot of them, and they soak up a LOT of damage.
Jak 2 again, the delivery mission that gets you in contact with Krew. I love evading dozens of bullets in a bike that goes down in five hits.
Jak 3. That goddamn section with Daxter riding the missile.
Uncharted 3, when you meet a certain enemy in Iram that can shoot a projectile that kills you in about three hits... on NORMAL. And they have machine guns, and there are a lot of them, and they soak up a LOT of damage.
The first Motorstorm game was fairly easy until you're 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through it and then the terrible rubber banding and horrible AI fully kick in and each race makes you want to pull your hair out.
Playing XCOM on Impossible, after Classic. For me normal was pretty easy, classic ironman was a decent challenge (finished it on my 7-8th try), but Impossible... Well, let's just say i couldn't finish the very first mission for 2 days in a row trying all day. Your rookies start with 4 hp and Sectoids do 4 damage with the plasma pistol, so you don't need university level math to do the calc... Even, if you manage to get past the first month Thin Mans start to appear with 6 hp, 6 damage, 90% accuracy and unblockable poison cloud. Enemy count raises from 8 to 12 in an abduction mission. Panic starts on 2 and rises by 3, when an abduction is unattended, which means you HAVE to lose at least 2-3 country on the first month. Never managed to get past the 3rd month...
Another one is from the same genre: Fire Emblem Awakening, Hard Classic to Lunatic Classic. On the prologue mission the enemy does 12 damage instead of 4 and has around 30 hp, instead of 15-20. Random encounters are unbeatable, since they are always at least 10 level higher and equipped with B grade weapons. So you either buy the DLC to do some grinding or try the hard way: beat the game without grinding like in the old days. Which is more fun anyway.
Another one is from the same genre: Fire Emblem Awakening, Hard Classic to Lunatic Classic. On the prologue mission the enemy does 12 damage instead of 4 and has around 30 hp, instead of 15-20. Random encounters are unbeatable, since they are always at least 10 level higher and equipped with B grade weapons. So you either buy the DLC to do some grinding or try the hard way: beat the game without grinding like in the old days. Which is more fun anyway.
I think the trick to Riovannes is how you position your troops - if you leave a specific spot open, Rafa actually jumps down the lower level to join you instead of suicide rushing. Any battle with those twins though was terrible. I think the developers knew how OP they were and intentionally made the win condition just getting one of them to critical health - actually defeating everyone would have been a nightmare.Atmos Duality said:Yeah, I was expecting someone to bring up the Wiegraf+Velius fight from Final Fantasy Tactics.Storm Dragon said:This crap right here:
I don't think I need to elaborate any further on the subject.
Wiegraf is hilariously easy to cheese to death, and the trick to Velius is to rush his subordinates off them, then force him to waste turns nuking only one or two party members at once with Cyclops.
But the first time anyone plays through that, they have no idea what's coming or how to cheese it.
(especially if they've been relying on Agrias and/or Mustadio for regular battles)
And the worst part of that difficulty spike: the following mission, Roof of Riovanes is much, much worse IMO. Because the entire battle hinges on either you bringing uber-fast units, or praying that Rafa isn't a fucking moron on her first turn.
90% of the time, Rafa is a fucking moron.
I've watched her rush the assassins, and get annihilated. Attack Elmdore physically, get Hamedo'd and then annihilated.
Or rush PAST Elmdore to charge one of her shitty Mantra spells, kiting the Rape Posse to her, putting them out of my range, resulting in her getting annihilated.
Most of those occurring before my units got a single turn.
Also, Legends of Legaia: often the overworld and dungeon sections go well enough, but several of the bosses, even the early ones, suddenly require a lot of grinding. The pair of lightning enemies in the forest, the tree-eating parasite on top of the tower, and the swordsman Gaza are especially brutal.
On the hardest difficulty, the sniper shots have like a 90% of killing your outright from full health. Just about the most frustrating experience I have ever had in a video game. Just try FINDING them before they kill you, let alone get a counter shot lined up.MysticSlayer said:
Holy crappin' heck, yes... I refused to cheat my way through the first playthrough of a game, and I got so stuck on the Meat Circus. What's really sad is that cheating through that level makes no difference... it's still ridiculously hard.Mikejames said:
I also remember the one battle in Final Fantasy Tactics... what was it? Chocobo River? Lete River? Something like that... especially since I have a tendency to grind out access to all of the classes before we even meet Algus... so I would also be level 99, and all the chocobos would be as well...
Well, in Fallout New Vegas, pretty quickly after leaving the first town, you will have the option to getting to New Vegas via 3 ways:
West, which is filled with Cazadores, thinking about Cazadores still makes me feel uneasy. They are these bugs that are the size of dogs and cows, they move in a pattern which is near impossible to hit, and that is saying something, them being the size of dogs and cows and all that. Oh, and did I mention, they kill you pretty much instantly? Even if the initial sting doesn't make your blood ooze trough your eyes, the poison certainly will, and they almost always move in groups of three or four
North, which is filled with the infamous Deathclaws, even when you come close to the area, a guy comes and tells you that you shouldn't go there, there are some Deathclaws. I don't think he really made it that clear to you, that way is filled, FILLED with Deathclaws, you go there, you die. You can't outrun them, you can't hide from them, you can't even dream of killing them, you take one step too much, your ass is theirs. There are even blind ones, and even they can spot you over a 1000 feet do to your smelly wasteland trousers.
And then there's East, which... is just a nice pleasant stroll and sightseeing tour.
So, because the first town is pretty much in the South-West corner of the map, you look at the map and take the straight path, run in to Cazadores and dies. Then you try to go around them, you meet some Deathclaws and you die.
Patrolling the Mojave REALLY makes you wish for a nuclear winter after that.
West, which is filled with Cazadores, thinking about Cazadores still makes me feel uneasy. They are these bugs that are the size of dogs and cows, they move in a pattern which is near impossible to hit, and that is saying something, them being the size of dogs and cows and all that. Oh, and did I mention, they kill you pretty much instantly? Even if the initial sting doesn't make your blood ooze trough your eyes, the poison certainly will, and they almost always move in groups of three or four
North, which is filled with the infamous Deathclaws, even when you come close to the area, a guy comes and tells you that you shouldn't go there, there are some Deathclaws. I don't think he really made it that clear to you, that way is filled, FILLED with Deathclaws, you go there, you die. You can't outrun them, you can't hide from them, you can't even dream of killing them, you take one step too much, your ass is theirs. There are even blind ones, and even they can spot you over a 1000 feet do to your smelly wasteland trousers.
And then there's East, which... is just a nice pleasant stroll and sightseeing tour.
So, because the first town is pretty much in the South-West corner of the map, you look at the map and take the straight path, run in to Cazadores and dies. Then you try to go around them, you meet some Deathclaws and you die.
Patrolling the Mojave REALLY makes you wish for a nuclear winter after that.
Shining Force had a pretty insane difficulty spike in the second chapter.
The battles are pretty simple up until the last one. Even then, it's not too bad until you get to the boss. The Marionette. Holy shit... If you are not aware of what he does before hand, I don't see how you could beat this battle on your first try. There are four things that make him insanely difficult for where he is in the game.
First of all, he has Freeze level 3! You've only seen Freeze level 1 at this point in the game and only just recently! This can hit up to five targets and will likely one shot many of your party members. He can also cast it from a ridiculous range.
Secondly, he punches like a truck. Actually, you should count yourself lucky if he chooses to do this since Freeze level 3 does more damage and he has infinite mp. There's really no reason for him to attack you physically but even still, it'll still one shot many of your weaker characters and severely injure your stronger ones.
Thirdly, he regenerates 8 health on each of his turns. This is common place for bosses later in the game but this is the first boss to do it. You are basically going to have to do twice as much damage as his health actually shows.
Finally, he's very fast. This means that he's going to evade a lot of your attacks. It seems like he dodges almost 25% of the physical attacks that are thrown at him.
Anyway, with proper positioning and strategy, you can beat him without taking too many losses but his sheer power is quite staggering when you first fight him. Whenever I play-through this game, he's still the one fight that really makes me worry.
The battles are pretty simple up until the last one. Even then, it's not too bad until you get to the boss. The Marionette. Holy shit... If you are not aware of what he does before hand, I don't see how you could beat this battle on your first try. There are four things that make him insanely difficult for where he is in the game.
First of all, he has Freeze level 3! You've only seen Freeze level 1 at this point in the game and only just recently! This can hit up to five targets and will likely one shot many of your party members. He can also cast it from a ridiculous range.
Secondly, he punches like a truck. Actually, you should count yourself lucky if he chooses to do this since Freeze level 3 does more damage and he has infinite mp. There's really no reason for him to attack you physically but even still, it'll still one shot many of your weaker characters and severely injure your stronger ones.
Thirdly, he regenerates 8 health on each of his turns. This is common place for bosses later in the game but this is the first boss to do it. You are basically going to have to do twice as much damage as his health actually shows.
Finally, he's very fast. This means that he's going to evade a lot of your attacks. It seems like he dodges almost 25% of the physical attacks that are thrown at him.
Anyway, with proper positioning and strategy, you can beat him without taking too many losses but his sheer power is quite staggering when you first fight him. Whenever I play-through this game, he's still the one fight that really makes me worry.
Oh my god, this guy was the bane of my existence a few years back. I swear to god I was stuck on that boss for weeks, and when I finally did kill him, it took 45 out of the 50 minutes allotted for the mission. Few things in gaming have stressed me out as much as seeing a badly scarred Khezu flying away as the timer ticked slowly down.Blaster395 said:
It's somewhat random. I've actually run multiple instances of that battle with the same exact setup, and she has done completely different things. Her speed is hacked so she always gets a turn before the Rape Squad, but unfortunately, her behavior isn't hacked for the same consistency.vid87 said:
(Elmdore seems hard coded to ALWAYS use Muramasa first, after that, he's free to do whatever; good thing too because if he actually physically attacked, he would have a high chance of just one-shotting Rafa. He crits a lot.)
They're total cheaters to boot. Check out how they can equip headbands as accessories.
One of them can even dual wield katanas; which isn't possible for player units.
Might not be the biggest I've ever played, but it's the one I remember. In Dawn of War, playing Skirmish on Easy was basically a walk in park: the AI had the strategic capability of a blind donkey and just continued to send tier 1 units (always like 1-2 at a time) to attack your base, never upgrading to tier 2 and beyond.
So you'd think that one difficulty above, normal, would be a bit more challenging, but still mostly just a way to enjoy the game. You'd be wrong.
This AI must've been studying the arts of war, 'cause if you hade previously played on easy you'd most certainly get your ass kicked. I remember thinking how frustrating this was, because easy lacked any challenge, while normal was too much of a challenge.
So you'd think that one difficulty above, normal, would be a bit more challenging, but still mostly just a way to enjoy the game. You'd be wrong.
This AI must've been studying the arts of war, 'cause if you hade previously played on easy you'd most certainly get your ass kicked. I remember thinking how frustrating this was, because easy lacked any challenge, while normal was too much of a challenge.
Agni & Rudra from Devil May Cry 3: First of all, both these dudes are tough in their own right, especially since they're only like the 4th(?) boss(es) in the game. They move quick, hit hard, and have a lot of hp. Then there's the fact that they attack you together. If you ignore one of them for even a few seconds while beating on the other one you'll get a sword stuck up your ass. What really makes them a wall, though, is what happens after you kill one of them. If one is alive and the other dead for more than ~15 seconds the living one will pick up the dead one's sword and proceed to turn you into half-demon sashimi. The only feasible way to win this fight is to whittle down both health bars gradually and then murder them both in quick succession, which is REALLY GODDAMN HARD because, again, as soon as you turn your attention to one the other will sheath his sword in your rectum.
Shadow Kanji from Persona 4: It's a bit of a toss-up between him and Shadow Yukiko, but Yukiko's not too bad as long as you pay attention to when Chie (your resident weak-to-the-boss's-elemental-attack party member) needs to block. Kanji, on the other hand? First, he has a ton of hp (double that of Shadow Yukiko, who comes only one dungeon before him). Second, he's the first mandatory boss with no weakness. But the worst part of the fight is his henchmen. These guys have a pretty high hp as well, but you're almost forced to kill at least one of them because he will HEAL THE BOSS, not to mention he can buff all the boss's stats at once. Even the non-healer should be killed though, because he can undo your party buffs, which are really the best way to fight bosses in this game. Atlus actually neutered this fight in the PS Vita remake. That's how rough this fight was.
Yian Kut Ku from Monster Hunter 1: Yeah he's not that hard in hindsight, but the first time I played this game I got completely stomped. Up until now you've just been collecting berries and killing raptors, then this thing comes along and hands you your ass on a silver platter. The first boss that requires actual tactics and understanding of his attack patterns, this scaley bastard was a tough one to take down. He sure did teach you how to actually play the game in a way the "Go here, do this" tutorials that preceded him couldn't, though.
The Devil from Guitar Hero 3: Specific to hard mode. The entire final setlist was difficult, but the last "boss fight" was especially stupid due to a design oversight. Basically, there are 3 "guitar duels" throughout the game where you have to whittle down your opponent's life total by making them miss notes with powerups. The Devil would hit essentially 100% of his notes unless you hit him with a "mirror mode" effect or something of it's ilk. Due to the sheer number of notes in the expert setlist, one or two at most would kill him since the amount of health lost per note missed was the same regardless of difficulty. In hard though, he would take far more punishment to kill, and that meant more time for you to screw up and die during your sections, which were hard enough without that hoofed dickbag flipping your note chart randomly. I managed to beat the game on expert, but still haven't beaten it on hard because of that last fight.
Shadow Kanji from Persona 4: It's a bit of a toss-up between him and Shadow Yukiko, but Yukiko's not too bad as long as you pay attention to when Chie (your resident weak-to-the-boss's-elemental-attack party member) needs to block. Kanji, on the other hand? First, he has a ton of hp (double that of Shadow Yukiko, who comes only one dungeon before him). Second, he's the first mandatory boss with no weakness. But the worst part of the fight is his henchmen. These guys have a pretty high hp as well, but you're almost forced to kill at least one of them because he will HEAL THE BOSS, not to mention he can buff all the boss's stats at once. Even the non-healer should be killed though, because he can undo your party buffs, which are really the best way to fight bosses in this game. Atlus actually neutered this fight in the PS Vita remake. That's how rough this fight was.
Yian Kut Ku from Monster Hunter 1: Yeah he's not that hard in hindsight, but the first time I played this game I got completely stomped. Up until now you've just been collecting berries and killing raptors, then this thing comes along and hands you your ass on a silver platter. The first boss that requires actual tactics and understanding of his attack patterns, this scaley bastard was a tough one to take down. He sure did teach you how to actually play the game in a way the "Go here, do this" tutorials that preceded him couldn't, though.
The Devil from Guitar Hero 3: Specific to hard mode. The entire final setlist was difficult, but the last "boss fight" was especially stupid due to a design oversight. Basically, there are 3 "guitar duels" throughout the game where you have to whittle down your opponent's life total by making them miss notes with powerups. The Devil would hit essentially 100% of his notes unless you hit him with a "mirror mode" effect or something of it's ilk. Due to the sheer number of notes in the expert setlist, one or two at most would kill him since the amount of health lost per note missed was the same regardless of difficulty. In hard though, he would take far more punishment to kill, and that meant more time for you to screw up and die during your sections, which were hard enough without that hoofed dickbag flipping your note chart randomly. I managed to beat the game on expert, but still haven't beaten it on hard because of that last fight.
A few of them happen in Dragon Age Origins that are just plain unreasonable, primarily in Orzimmar. There are a few times while in Orzimmar where a group of random yahoos will jump you in the street and I swear most of the Boss battles are easier than these guys, they're nothing special they're just guys, and they can easily destroy your entire part in seconds, ON NORMAL.
Then every so often you'll run into something while on the world map that will absolutely wreck your shit with no warning whatsoever and you literally cannot avoid them. Like that scamming book salesmen who apparently has an army of Terminators as body guards. Again he's just a guy, and a really squishy looking guy at that, but I have lost count of the number of times I've died fighting him
Then every so often you'll run into something while on the world map that will absolutely wreck your shit with no warning whatsoever and you literally cannot avoid them. Like that scamming book salesmen who apparently has an army of Terminators as body guards. Again he's just a guy, and a really squishy looking guy at that, but I have lost count of the number of times I've died fighting him
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Damn that got hard pretty quick. I love that game to bits. I might have to play it again.
Rune Factory - All of them. The first dungeon is always nice and easy and you think it's ok to go to the second one. Oh I was wrong. The enemies started hitting pretty damn hard and all my weapons were so inadequate
The Last Remnant. Such a great game, and it's all pretty nice and smooth up until one particular boss fight. So I have to fight a great big army and then go straight to a boss? And if I die I have to do the big first fight all over again? Fuck you game! That isn't nice!
Rune Factory - All of them. The first dungeon is always nice and easy and you think it's ok to go to the second one. Oh I was wrong. The enemies started hitting pretty damn hard and all my weapons were so inadequate
The Last Remnant. Such a great game, and it's all pretty nice and smooth up until one particular boss fight. So I have to fight a great big army and then go straight to a boss? And if I die I have to do the big first fight all over again? Fuck you game! That isn't nice!
Forgot about that level. I was thinking about another one but that level is another horrible difficulty spike. Worse then the one I was thinking ofGundamSentinel said:That wouldn't happen to be that hot/cold level? I hated that one.The Squid King said:
Another ridiculous spike is the "Mark of a Hero" mission from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Nothing like taking a few of the most powerful monsters in a game, giving them a significant buff and giving the player only just enough time to beat them before instant failure. I get that technically it is a bonus mission but going from sort of difficult to having to play the hardest rank of online for equipment and still needing a couple of small miracles is a bit excessive.
I remember there being a path you could take through the first part that you could shoot the snipers from before they realized you, provided you were quick enough. It wasn't a secret path, but it was built into the level based on how you ran from building to building and cover to cover. I can't remember the exact path anymore, but I did use it after reading a guide. The one where you have to escort the three soldiers didn't have anything like that. At least from my experience, though, it was a much easier level and didn't really need the path. Then again, the sniper positions weren't randomized at all, and for some of them I could snipe them as they spawned in.Yozozo said:
Still, even with those exploits, the levels were among my most dreaded to face with each new playthrough. Some levels became harder for me on Hard, such as the Manor House right before them, because I played them to the point where I rarely got shot, but I still view them as among the most insanely and frustratingly difficult levels I've ever played.