Games you gave up on a while ago then finally got back around to beating

[The Enquirer]

So has anyone ever bought a game then given up on it because it was too hard? If so what's your story?

So I got back around to finally beating this game recently and holy s***. I mean what the hell? Some of those enemies have so much health its insane. Does anyone else remember having a lot of trouble with the Super-Battledroids or is it just me who had issues? I mean the amount of damage some of those things take is just bonkers.

I do not remember it being that hard ages ago. I send my squadmates to the anti-armor/sniper etc positions but there are just some levels that took me so long to complete. I mean the one level "A Bridge Too Far" where you had to cross a narrow choke point, deal with two super battle droid dispensers that take 20 seconds each to destroy without interruptions, and a rather large turret, and swarms of cannon fodder. It took me a good 30 minutes to beat that thing with numerous deaths.

Once I did finally beat it though, I was glad I did. I ended up blitzing the bridge while I got sniper support, had one of my me run up to the grenade position, another to the anti-armor position while I had the pleasure of suppressing the turret, then having to give up our sniper support (about the only thing keeping us from getting overwhelmed by the lowly battledroids) and have him sabotage the battledroid dispensers. For anyone who ever played this game that level probably was one of the most difficult.

Captcha: "Piece of Cake"

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I got Final Fantasy VII on the PC when I was a young teen but my PC at the time was shithouse. Years later I ended up getting a PSX version which I ended up beating.

Similar story with Final Fantasy X: I had a PS2 for a while, got rid of it and ended up getting a better PS2. I didn't like Final Fantasy X much first time around but FF-XIII happened and then X looked a whole Hell of a lot better after. I ended up beating that one when I owned it the second time around.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. I had this one as a kid but couldn't get past the ice temple...cave...thing...

fast forward to about a year or two ago: I get a copy of FFMQ which is nearly complete (it's missing the manual) and discover that I can jump around on the ice-blocks that I can move around...Once I figured that out it was only a matter of about 10 hours before I finished that game.

Wow...there's a lot of Final Fantasy on here. I can't think of any others at the moment though.

 

[wintercoat]

Hmmm...y'know, I'm sure there's a couple, but none that come to mind immediately. I mean, there's several that I've never finished because I lost interest, then went back and replayed and finished them, but I can't readily think of any that were too hard...

Oh, I know! Prototype! There was a part in the first Prototype that I just could not get past. The part where you're first introduced to the super soldiers while there's a deadly gas filling the room that's constantly draining your health, and you're being constantly shot at by a couple dozen soldiers. No matter what I tried, I could not get past that part, so I stopped playing. Come back several months later to give it another try, and I got past that part with little trouble. Still have no clue why that part originally gave me so much trouble.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I completed Metroid Prime last year after owning it for years.

It was fun, and really served to highlight the changes in game design in the gap years.

 

[scorptatious]

Oh loads of games from my childhood thanks to the PSN and the Wii online store.

Specifically? I was about 75% the way through Metroid Prime and I quit playing for at least half a year. Then I thought, I really should finish that game. So I did.

 

[Darks63]

Dante inferno I remember rage quitting during the greed stage due to the glitch that forced me to restart the whole game and leaving the game for a bit , but when i came back to it i blew through the game.

Another was Dead space i got all the way to the 3rd chapter and was all out of money, ammo , and health so i quit the game for a few months. After a few months i came back to it and beat it using better tactics and cheesing enemies where i could.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Mario the lost levels would be the main one that came to mind I got it around 1993 if I recall correctly as part of the Mario All Stars collection on the SNES me and my cousin got all the way to the end (except we didnt know that) and then gave up on the last level as it was to hard for us. I tried half heartedly over the years to finish it and actually finished Mario 2 on it about 4 years ago (the only other one that was uncompleted) but the lost levels still eluded me.

Then two years ago my cousin came round and despite him not gaming anymore we decided to carck out the SNES and have another go for old times sake (mainly because of his insistence). He wasnt very good I think the years of non gaming have not dulled his skills but I was doing alright and after about 2 hours I finally finished the damn game and it only took me about 18 years. I am glad we got the easier version that saves after every level rather than the original that just does it at the start of the world as there would be no chance I would have finished it otherwise.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Dark Souls, over the course of two and a half years through many different characters. Hell I took a full six month break from it because I was so frustrated with it the week after I bought the thing.

I've got it done now though. Almost. The final boss is 100% based on precise parries, not hard you would think. You would be right if the 360 hardware didn't decide to give that area random as fuck fps drops to ruin your timing entirely

 

[wintercoat]

Mario the lost levels would be the main one that came to mind I got it around 1993 if I recall correctly as part of the Mario All Stars collection on the SNES me and my cousin got all the way to the end (except we didnt know that) and then gave up on the last level as it was to hard for us. I tried half heartedly over the years to finish it and actually finished Mario 2 on it about 4 years ago (the only other one that was uncompleted) but the lost levels still eluded me.

Then two years ago my cousin came round and despite him not gaming anymore we decided to carck out the SNES and have another go for old times sake (mainly because of his insistence). He wasnt very good I think the years of non gaming have not dulled his skills but I was doing alright and after about 2 hours I finally finished the damn game and it only took me about 18 years. I am glad we got the easier version that saves after every level rather than the original that just does it at the start of the world as there would be no chance I would have finished it otherwise.

True story: I got to the final level of Lost Levels, and like you was having a ***** of a time beating it. I stopped playing it for the day and went to bed. Woke up and turned on my SNES, ready to curbstomp Bowser into the lava. But wouldn'tcha know it, the internal battery on my cartridge died, and all of my saves were gone! D: Suffice it to say, I was more than pissed. I was so disheartened by it, I haven't played Lost Levels since, even though it's in my top 5 2D Mario games.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Well it's not because it was too hard that I gave up on it, but because the numerous crashes and slow downs made it hard to continue playing Dragon Age: Origins. Went and finished it a couple months ago, finally, amidst plenty of frame rate drops and crashes.

 

[xyrafhoan]

Baten Kaitos and its sequel/prequel, Baten Kaitos Origins. Some of those bosses were so frustrating I had to put the controller away... and come back to it months later and beat the boss on like try #1-2. And this was a game I legitimately liked and wanted to beat, but the instant kill BS of a few bosses in the first game and the general high difficulty of the second game (until I figured the trick out, at least) just left me a little disheartened. And I took *multiple* breaks on both games. It was worth it to come back to them though.

Some day I'll beat SMT: Strange Journey. I'm stuck on Zelenin and I'm probably not spamming enough Luster Candy/Debilitate. But today is not that day.

 

[Drummodino]

GTA IV and Fallout: NV. GTA I got bored of initially but I went back about a year later and finished the main story (which I enjoyed). Fallout I played about 20 hours of before I got sidetracked last year. I restarted it this year and got a good 60+ hours out of it. Fucking love that game.

That reminds me I still have to play Lonesome Road...

 

[LegendaryVKickr]

Just beat GTA IV a week ago. When I first got the complete edition my PS3 about a year and a half ago, it was one of my first purchases. I was disappointing with it's repetitive mission format, lack of mission checkpoints, and could not for the life of me handle some of the later missions. After failing a mission in which you chase a biker through a dark tunnel with trains coming at me for the umpteenth time, I gave up.

Got back into it a week ago, since I didn't have the budget for GTA V. Beat every bike mission in my first try to my pleasant surprise (except the final mission, which did finally have a checkpoint, typical) Found it was fun, but still lacking. Played the Ballad of Gay Tony next, and discovered that Rockstars real mistake was not making THAT the entire game. Every single mission left me open mouthed in shock. Like Saints Row 3 a bit, but not punctuated with guffaws.

Moral of the story: Play Ballad of Gay Tony, it's what GTA IV should have been. Also, bike missions suck (Why else would I skip over Lost and Damned?)

 

[Maphysto]

Dark Souls, over the course of two and a half years through many different characters. Hell I took a full six month break from it because I was so frustrated with it the week after I bought the thing.

I've got it done now though. Almost. The final boss is 100% based on precise parries, not hard you would think. You would be right if the 360 hardware didn't decide to give that area random as fuck fps drops to ruin your timing entirely

Equip a Target Shield and maneuver him so his back is to the entrance. That'll give you a wider parry window and should help with the fps drops as well.

For my part, I finally beat Amnesia: The Dark Descent after having owned it for about two years. I beat it just a few days before being tragically disappointed by Machine for Pigs.

Dark Souls is another one I picked back up. I first played a friend's copy about a month after it's realease, and hated the everloving shit out of it. Then after hearing some other friends gush over it, I decided to give it another go and bought the Steam version. Now I love it, and can't wait for March of next year.

 

[LetalisK]

*pulls out crystal ball* I predict I will be able to say "Skyrim" some time in the near future. Here's hoping.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Well, generally not because it was too hard. Some games just tire me after playing them for a long time, so I just put them down for a couple of weeks or months. Also, with most games I don't finish directly I start a completely new game when I pick them up again, because often I forget parts of the mechanics or story.

Here are a couple I finished recently after a long hiatus:

- Kingdoms of Amalur basically overloaded me with quests, so I took a few months break from it and finished it over the summer.
- I had a bit of a false start with Assassin's Creed III. I started a new game over the summer and finished it (and liked it).
- I had taken quite a long break before finishing Ni No Kuni. My studies had gotten in the way. I loved finishing it.

 

[snowpuppy]

Aurora, as in the 4X. And by beat I mean half know how the UI works.

 

[Tanis]

Vanquish (Hard Mode)

Ended up forgetting about it (I have a HUGE backlog) and didn't realize I was on THE LAST BOSS.
>_>
Yeah...took me all of half an hour to beat the game.

 

[Dandark]

I've recently been trying to replay and finish Dark souls and Xcom enemy unknown since I never got around to finishing them.

Im taking a break from Dark souls due to my Xbox not working properly and being unable to read the disk most of the time but my PC works fine and I've nearly finished Xcom. Just need to finish the last structure you must build then I can attempt the final mission with my "fair and balanced" squad members. Not sure if i'll ever be able to finish Dark souls at this rate though, it hardly ever works and even when it does im currently in the tomb of the giants...