Games you gave up on/couldn't continue because of difficulty reasons?

[StaceyPowers]

Has anyone here ever become invested in a game, played through a significant portion of it (i.e. not like me giving up on Dark Souls by my third day), only to hit an impassable difficulty barrier that made it impossible for you to continue at your skill level?

I always have this fear of this happening with any game which is at the edge of my skill level, especially (obviously) if I am playing at it at the most casual/easy level. I worry I’ll run into a boss I can’t kill or find myself up a creek without a paddle with resources.

Thankfully, I think game designers are pretty good at giving us multiple routes through any given scenario, so this is unlikely to happen.

But nothing ever gets rid of my angst about it, which I deal with by creating a LOT of save points.

So, has it ever actually happened to anyone? If so, what was the game, and what was the hurdle which forced you to give up forever?

@The Blackangel @LadyDay @killamch89 @kingpotato @Crazycrab @Shagger @skyfire @DylanC

[Crazycrab]

The Getaway on PS2:

 

 

It's important to note that game does not have a traditional health bar.  The designers wanted an immersive, photorealistic look so there's really no visible hud at all, it's up to the player to among other things keep track of how much ammo was left in your clip for example.  The only indication of your health is that the character will start limbing and staggering around like he's injured. It was quite a neat idea.

 

I was enjoying it and the game itself is very challenging but not unfairly so... Until This one part that I swear to god the developers put in there as an intentional block.  It's towards the end of the game where you are following one of the main character villains onto a ship. You first have to clear the deck of bad guys and then enter the ship itself where the guy shoots at you when you come to an open door.  This one shot does a massive amount of damage sometimes even killing you instantly, like the asshole has a magic bullet! I know this for a fact because with practice and repetition on subsequent attempts I am able to get past all the guys on the deck without getting hit once but then I get to this door...  BAM It's over or at least my health is so low that it might as well be. I tried everything from creeping very slowly and carefully towards the door, running out as fast I could, rolling out and layout down cover fire but the result was always the same.

 

I was enjoying it wanted to see how it ended but I just could not figure out how to get past this part and gave up.  I've never beaten it.  😞

[Shagger]

I'm about to speak negatively of the Souls games.

 

Before you read what I have to say, let me make something perfectly clear. If you're a fan of these games, I've got nothing against you. This is a re-telling of my own experience combined with what is only my own opinion, nothing more, nothing less. These games have appeal, just not to me. If you like them, good for you. I'm glad that you managed to find fun and satisfaction in them where I could not. So if you simply can't take negative critique of these games, I'm not responsible for how you feel if you choose to read on.

Sorry, but I felt compelled to say this little disclaimer because some fans of these games are so sensitive and unable to take criticism they rally round to kick me off message boards and gaming communities just for expressing my opinion. I'm not kidding, it's happened before.

 

I gave up on Deamon Souls, not because it was hard, but because it was crap.

 

Basically, the game's "challenge" is a lie. Enemy behaviours and patterns are cryptic, nonsensical and unfairly prey on one's natural instincts as a gamer, so you can't use strategy, not to mention the blind traps in the environments. The controls are cripplingly and deliberately sluggish and slow to respond, so you can't rely on skill. All you can do is tediously go through a frustrating gauntlet of trial and error to figure out those cryptic patterns and trap placements, so all you really need to beat it is time. Time that the game just flat out doesn't deserve. I'll need to take a brave pill before I say this, but because of that the game isn't even challenging, at least not genuinely so anyway. You're even discouraged you from taking on enemies at a higher level for, well, you know,  a challenge because you earn almost no XP from them. What other RPG has you earn no experience for taking on tougher enemies? I discovered this because the game deliberately misleads you into entering the wrong level at the start, that's how much an ass hole this game is. I get the mechanic of when you die, you have to try to fight back to where you were to get some of your XP back, I don't have a problem with that, but that's still very harsh in a game where you pretty much have to die then employ trial and error to progress.

 

All that might have been fine if the rest of the game had something to offer, in fact no, nothing can absolve the bullshit this game throws at you, but the point is I think that game hides behind it so-called difficulty to distract players from its other issues. The graphics are horrible even by the standards of the day, cliché in its design and art style, has no story worth telling and the online component is pointless and only means the game can't be paused (In a single player RPG, that is just ludicrous). That "trial and "error" approach also makes the game more repetitive than it needed to be. I've never played a game that managed to be both this frustrating AND boring all at that the same time. I want an RPG to test my skill, reflexes and strategy. This game and it's inexplicably popular brethren are only good for testing your patience.

 

I know in the minority with my view on this, but I don't care. Soul's fanboys always say I hate the game because I need to "Git Gut" and I'm just don't like a challenging game, but that's not true. That "trial and error" style of difficulty that these kinds of games employ is cheep, lazy and I'm even tempted to call it padding. So it's not that the game is hard, it's why it's hard that makes me hate it.

 

To be clear, I have not played any of the Dark Souls series (Deamon Souls put me off for life), but from what I hear a lot of the problems like the storylines, blind traps and control issues are gone or greatly lessened, but that "trial and error" approach to difficulty is something that will always be a pet hate of mine, so I'm not interested in playing those types of games ever again.

 

Thank you for reading. Can I ask that you at least sterilize your pitchforks before you use them? I don't want to get an infection.

Edited December 29, 2019 by Shagger
Still the typo king.

[The Blackangel]

53 minutes ago, Shagger said:

Sorry, but I felt compelled to say this little disclaimer because some fans of these games are so sensitive and unable to take criticism they rally round to kick me off message boards and gaming communities just for expressing my opinion. I'm not kidding, it's happened before.

Before I get to my games, I wanted to respond to this. The people that pull this kind of shit, well I have two words about that: FUCK THEM. Not everyone is going to get along, or agree on everything. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. I can't say anything about Daemons Souls because, while I have the game, I have yet to actually play it. I know, I'm lazy. It's your right to not like a game. I personally hate Halo and GTA. Many people think I'm fucking nuts. Some will agree with me. But all in all, stick to your guns, and tell the others to piss off. You and I didn't exactly start off on the best foot, but I think we've moved past it. We choose to stay, or we choose to leave. Who gives a shit?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now on to my game entry.

I would have to put DarkStone for PS1 on this list. The game is impossible from the start. The paths through the forest outside the town are so monotonous and many so well hidden that you can never find your way around. The enemies pop up out of nowhere and before you know it you're dead. Finding your way back to town, even with your map, is a whole quest in itself. The game is absolutely terrible.

One that while I can enjoy, but can't stand at the same time is Zelda: Goddess Of Wisdom. It's a ROM-hack, but it is so god damn hard that it's next to impossible. I've been playing it for three years, and have only just found a third dungeon. I say A third dungeon because none of them are labeled in any way, and I have no fucking clue if I'm going in the right direction or not. The items I need, I'm not getting. I don't know if they're dungeon items, or something I'm supposed to find somewhere on the world map. It's honestly one of the hardest games I've ever played.

One that I'll keep playing until I beat it, not because I enjoy it, but because after 30+ years of trying is Legacy Of The Wizard. I've talked about it before. You have to find 4 crowns to release and awaken a dragon so that you can kill the dragon. I have so far found only one crown. I'm too stubborn to give up. But once I do beat the damn thing, I highly doubt I'll ever play it again. It's gotten so bad that I've devolved to using a Game Genie to power up my characters to try to make the game easier. It doesn't help.

Edited December 30, 2019 by The Blackangel

[Crazycrab]

8 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

I say A third dungeon because none of them are labeled in any way, and I have no fucking clue if I'm going in the right direction or not. The items I need, I'm not getting. I don't know if they're dungeon items, or something I'm supposed to find somewhere on the world map

 

Sounds like Breath of the Wild 🤣

[skyfire]

I think for me lack of time along with added difficulty has made me keep a big backlog of such games. 

[kingpotato]

I also didnt enjoyed Dark Souls 2...the only soul game that I've played, although I've been told that its not the best entry out there and that I should try the first one instead since its a better Soul game.

The game itself is not bad, the controls are kinda clunky but easy to get used to, the enemies if you go one at a time are manageable, the problem comes when you are facing 2 or more of these bastards, they will gang up on you, sure you can lure them and kill each one separately but at lower levels the fights are long and they can get boring, as well I was told that this only happens on this entry of the game so I dont know about the rest. But having multiple enemies is not the worst of it , that doesnt bother me the most, my problem comes with the cryptic traps, you never know if something will kill around the corner, there is no way to know if there is a trap unless you activate it, sometimes I could be doing a really good job only to be killed by a weird placed trap. Other than that I dont have a problem with the game, everything else is as well difficult but I could consider them "fair". Still I dont think I'm going to get another Soul games except maybe for Sekiro.

[skyfire]

I think there are some of the games in the NFS series which I gave up due to same old routine.