What is "that part" for you in any game?
We all know it. The boss/area/section of any of your favorite games/well liked games that gives you pause whenever you consider replaying it. An area or boss that sucks so much to go through that you may even reconsider entirely. Who/what hurt you?
For me it'd have to be either Pontiff Sulyvahn from Dark souls 3, or Nyx from Persona 3. Pontiff just straight up sucks to fight. Unless you're a parry god, it's just nonstop aggression with seemingly few windows, and then the second phase kicks in and you're just skewered endlessly. I can't hack it. Did it once, never again. For Nyx, besides being a long and grueling fight, it loves to pull out the ol' Marin Karin making you pull out the ol' Diarahan. Can't do it. There's a reason I emulated it. Thank god for save states.
As a (mostly) retro gamer, tutorials.
Especially games made from late 90s to early 00s. Having to go through a training room/section/situation has always pissed me off. 98% off them were not skippable, and just insult your intelligence most of the time.
And I mean, smart tutorials that do not overstay their welcome can be fantastic. Especially if they serve a double function.
I remember in... Titanfall 1?... there was this early part where someone yells at you from above to look at them. No matter whether you slid your mouse up or down on the mousepad, your character would look up. And the game set Invert mouselook based on what you did. Very neat.
If you like it, that's freaking great! Seiously!
I'm not here to change anyone's mind. As someone who has been a gamer for about 39 years, I just cannot imagine a scenario where I'd need/want an NPC to "teach" me how to do something as mundane as look around, jump, duck, fire etc. No, thank you!
I won't ever shit on someone else's picnic, though. Happy gaming, friend!
I like when devs just let you use them to help you set preferred keybinds by showing off all the major buttons and actions.
I don't need to learn how to crouch under different kinds of low obstacles. If someone is dumb/inexperienced enough to need that kind of tutorial, the tutorial probably isn't helping them any more than trial and error.
I like Halo's method of automatically skipping the tutorial on Heroic or Legendary. A button to skip it on lower difficulties would have been nice, but at least they put some thought into how annoying the tutorial could be for people who didn't need it
This is honestly my biggest hesitation with picking up a new game over re-playing one of the ones I've played before.
I know I can dedicate about at least 2 hours in a night to one game, but a lot of games will eat up at least 25% of that, maybe even half of that, with a tutorial or an on-rails beginner section. In most cases I can't skip the tutorial or I'll be lost for the rest of the game (especially for management games and building or strategy games), but doing the tutorial will not only rob me of that time, but sap me of the energy I have to play the after-tutorial parts.
I've had a game that didn't let me leave the tutorial section until I was eleven hours in.
What game is that? Sounds like incredibly poor design.
Pokemon and it was awful. They must have a very low opinion of our children.
I had all but forgotten why I had avoided pokemon like the plague until your comment reminded me, the non stop hand holding was so obnoxious I never touched another pokemon or similar game.
I feel this
So many Nintendo games…. Classic Fire Emblem tutorials, “to move a unit, press a, then use the directional pad to….”, mash B button a thousand times, “move the unit to this location highlighted…”, more B mashing, “You need to move the unit here because…”, MORE B, “blah blah blah….”. I get it.
I'm this way with so many games that I've started and got 30-80% of the way through. Just the thought of having to go through the opening cinematics and tutorial and the early level(s) that are introducing you to the world makes me end up not picking them back up to play.
I feel like every game should have a button for like "I've played this game before, skip me over the first hour or so of the game". Like for Ghost of Tsushima, skip me to when it becomes open world, for Stray skip me to the first little town you find, or Horizon Zero Dawn skip me to when she becomes an adult after the trial.
It's really annoying because my Ps4 died so I lost all of my saves and there's like 20 games I want to get back into but don't because of the beginning.
I was replaying dead space this weekend until it reminded me it has unskippable cutscenes and tedious training levels. So for about all of 10 minutes and I moved onto doom.
Doom is infinitely better anyway, I think.
I really tried to like Dead Space, but it just never grabbed me.
Not saying it's a bad game, it is just not for me.
The survival horror feel of Doom 3 was what got me to try a horror game like dead space and I wanted to like it so bad but I just get bored.
I liked Doom 3 despite its departure from the previous 2.
I really tried to like Dead Space, but got bored also. I think it was like an hour or so in.
It's not so bad when the tutorial is so wrapped up in the game you barely notice. Barring that I agree whole heatedly.
A good training session doesn't feel like one.
You guys are gonna think this is ridiculous, but every time I replay LoZ Ocarina of Time, remembering the Shadow Temple gives me pause. And then when I get to that part, I procrastinate like all get-out. Pretty sure my current game has been saved at that spot for about 6 months now. And I have no shame: I will totally use a guide to get through it— because I don’t like it, I’m not having fun, I don’t care about figuring it out myself; I just want to get it over with.
The first time I played that game, I was probably 10 or 11, and it was scary! I’ve never recovered haha.
And this is actually my first comment ever on Tildes, so now the only thing you all know about me is that I’m scared of a children’s game. Also hello everyone!
That’s interesting. For me the water temple is the one that I remember being confusing as a kid, but during recent play throughs I just breeze through it.
Conversely, the fire temple is one that I remember being a fun adventure, but it always takes so much more time and effort whenever I play through that section as an adult.
I got so angry at the water temple when I was a kid that I quit playing the game and didn't revisit it until two months later lol
It was the limitations of the camera that made the Water Temple so frustrating in OoT. If I were to replay it now a days, I would just have a guide on deck for that part.
Welcome! I love ocarina too! You're in good company.
The first time I played Final Fantasy Tactics, I had to start over again because of "that part". The game locks you into a series of battles, including a one-on-one fight between the main character and a major antagonist.
It's possible to build a character that can't beat the boss, and if you don't have a backup save from earlier, you can't go back to learn new skills.
I think the remakes of the game now caution you before you go into this series of fights, but the original didn't give you any warning.
I ended up beating that boss because of the main characters squire ability that increases his agility every time you use it.
Just kept running away, eventually I was moving 5 times per every movement he made and it was a sinch to beat.
But then the rest of the game was hard, because all the enemies going forward were based off of the main characters level, which was now WAY higher than the rest of the group haha.
Yup, squire/monk is my go to strategy every single time. Tailwind x49, then punch him 7 times, then punch Belial 7 times. The only problem is if I make a mistake at the beginning and he catches up to me, I'm in danger.
Hah, I like how you don't even say Wiegraf, and yet everyone will know exactly what you're talking about.
Every time that fight starts, I take a deep breath.
The Challenge at the end of The Witness, which I played when it was on Xbox Game Pass. I loved that game like no other, but The Challenge completely broke me. I must have clocked around 100 attempts before finally accepting that I just don't have what it takes and giving up. I just bought it during the Summer Steam Sale, and would love to play through again, but knowing that The Challenge is looming there at the end is a tough mental barrier to overcome.
Here's one tip that helped me: turn off the music. It stresses you out and makes it harder to think.
I recall I started doing that for the last several attempts, and definitely got frustratingly close more than once. Hard to get that song out of your head even with it turned off though...
Oof, I forgot about that. I played The Witness with my partner (we'd swap off who had the controller and who was copiloting and just helping figure stuff out), and that last challenge broke me. We eventually turned off the music, which helped a ton because I was getting so stressed out (funnily it didn't seem to bother my partner at all), but it was kinda too late. We got so close a handful of times, but eventually stopped trying and never came back to it. I think my partner's still kinda bummed that we never finished it, ha... He's the kind of gamer who always finishes and gets 100% achievements for most things he plays, and truly enjoys challenges, whereas I rarely actually finish games and I'm totally fine with putting them down when they're no longer fun or get too frustrating.
I don't usually go for 100% achievements, but I enjoyed The Witness so much that it started approaching that naturally and I figured I'd go for it. Pretty sure I got them all except that final one. Very disappointing considering how hard I tried, so I can commiserate with your partner.
I lost access to that game because it was free from XBox Gold, but when my subscription lapsed I couldn't play it anymore.
In the last few months I ended up buying it and gave it another try and...it just wasn't the same.
I'm gonna sound so dumb typing this. Jedi Fallen Order: Dathomir Mud Slide.
The first time I played it, I legitimately rage threw the controller. I have no idea why this one area infuriated so much that I just couldn't get past it. I probably tried for an hour and a half to not only slide down properly, but to also jump at the appropriate moment.
It got to the point where my wife walked over 2 times and said, "YOU STILL HAVEN'T BEATEN THE SLIDE?!" To be honest, I'm still embarrassed by it, but quick Google search shows that I wasn't the only one.
The fact that I couldn't time a fucking jump properly or control a basic slide mechanic made me question myself and question whether or not I wanted to continue playing this game, despite it's positives.
I feel you. Great game, okay-to-dreadful platforming. The second game feels a lot better
Yeah, the first game seemed tacked together from the remnants of SW: 1313. They managed to cobble together a good game with a decent story and got inspired to make the next one with a clear direction. Jedi: Survivor is a solid game and is definitely up there as one of my favorites this year.
But man, the platforming in the first one was...rough in some places.
I haven't managed to finish it. I was quite enjoying it, but not enough to spend so many hours on traversing the platforms. It was also much harder than I was expecting.
Man, this is too relatable 😆 That sequence made me feel like such a bot.
Haha that part had to be the clunkiest spot! The sliding mechanics were just passable in that game and that slide was a proper showcase of how garbage they could be lol
I stopped playing because of it lol (assuming it's the first slide)
I thought the Kashyyk bouncing and jumping/double-jumping up the Origin Tree was much worse. Having to Jedi-flip sideways back to the branch you just launched yourself off of was infuriating.
I was losing my mind doing the Venator wreckage having to jump through and dodge all the crap and not get shocked
Mt. Moon in Pokemon RBY. It's so long, with annoying trainer fights, and 82374921 wild zubats. I think they trimmed it in FireRed/LeafGreen, but I don't remember.
Another one is Meridia in Super Metroid. The game is one of my favorite of all time, and I don't mind it as much as I used to, but the change in physics until you get the Gravity Suit sucks so much. And the enemies are bullet sponges, which is one of my least-favorite tropes in games.
Finally, there is the Water Temple in Majora's Mask. Even following a walkthrough half the time I can't finish it on time. IMO it's the worst dungeon in all of Zelda in an already pretty bad Zelda game.
I like Mt Moon! ...When I play randomizers or Archipelago, where it's littered with items/checks early on and tends to unlock a ton of early stuff for everyone.
Either way I think Rock Tunnel is much worse vanilla or rando, IMO. Nothing actually happens in there; it has no items; it's also a big navigational headache; it has more Zubats and Geodudes, but now it has ONIX, who outspeeds you if you try to run; it has tons of trainers; and guess what, use this useless move or you're blind. Then in rando it's this big effort gate... Once I ran out of things to do EXCEPT for going backwards through Rock Tunnel, and my Surf HM was stuck just past the cut tree by Cerulean. So I had to go through it backwards, grab that, and then go back out through it. Ugh.
What's Archipelago?
Check out https://archipelago.gg/ ! It's a multiworld randomizer, so it's multiple games with their items randomized across each other. Each game runs off the emulator Bizhawk with Lua scripts telling a central server which item/flag/check the game triggers, and the server has each of those checks mapped to trigger something in one of the games. e.g. The Helix Fossil might instead give an Ocarina of Time player the Slingshot, or someone may get to the Speed Booster in Super Metroid and it may only give you a piddling Potion in Pokemon Red/Blue. Everything is mapped out in the scripting logic such that no one can get trapped via the normal expected game paths by what items are available... But the randomizers are very customizable, so you can modulate the difficulty. You can even tell it to fuck you up if you're good enough to path around missing items. (Bomb or wall jumps in Super Metroid, bomb jumps in OoT, other navigational glitches and exploits, etc.)
The patches tend to edit most of the cutscenes and unnecessary dialogue out of the games to speed things up, they have some fun things like music or dialogue randomization that are hilarious, and the customization is incredible. You can bum through a few games with friends over a weekend, or you can just set up multiple games and play them by yourself. There's even a 1300-game run going on right now on the Archipelago discord, which is ridiculous but a testament to how robust it is. Ton of game variety too, everything from Nintendo mainstays to Sonic Adventure 2 to Starcraft 2 to The Witness. It encouraged me to finish both OoT and Super Metroid so I could play the randomized versions with friends; I highly recommend it.
That is ludicrous, my god....
Don't know that I'll give it a shot since I don't really have the time to play with others but that is incredible
I agree, Rock Tunnel sucks, but it's at least pretty straightforward, and there's nothing in there other than getting through that is important. Mt. Moon though... Want a Clefable or Wigglytuff? Better get to hunting for those Moon Stones!
Wow now that you mention it, I really don't like Mt. Moon either, lol. That place blows.
Brock in Pokemon Yellow was the hardest gym leader I ever faced in a pokemon game, just because your best pokemon is an electric type. You'd have to go way out of your way to train a Butterfeee, Mankey, or a Nidoran just to beat a Geodude and Onix.
Mankey slaps in Yellow (pardon the pun). Because of his fighting type he was actually a great pickup since there were no other similar types that early.
I remember getting stuck in Maridia before because I ended up going too far without the gravity suit. To their credit, they always made sure there was some way out but it wasn't always easy.
I’m definitely with you on Maridia. Super Metroid is easily one of my favorite games ever, and one I usually replay yearly, but every single time I get there there’s a 50/50 chance I either push on or say never mind and quit that playthrough
When I was first playing through HL2, I was ~12-15. Ravenholm legitimately scared me, and I almost quit several times because of that. Now, 20 years later, I'm on my nth play through, first time VR, and am very much looking forward to ravenholm.
The airboat part is my absolute least favorite now. Sluggish controls, sloppy boat movement, and it punishes you for anything less than perfect. I'm going to get my wife to play VR HL2 soon, so my current play through is to allow her to skip the airboat. At least, that's how I'm justifying it.
Man I despise all of the vehicle segments in HL2. Any game, really. They all control like shit
I honestly can't think of any FPS or other primarily pedestrian game that does vehicles well. Maybe halo, but the first game still has difficult warthog controls.
Came here for Ravenholm. Barely made it through the first time on release day. Never replayed it because I just don't have the nerve to get through it again.
I would definitely recommend giving it another try! I'm super biased because it's my favorite game, but ravenholm is a great section if you can work up the nerve for it. I've enjoyed some phasmophobia, so I do like a little scare, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt.
Blighttown in Dark Souls.
Cliched but true, everyone has a bone to pick with Blighttown -- and frankly it's for a good reason. Poison areas are bad in general for all games (prove me wrong), but Blighttown has the double whammy of slowed down movement speed, terrible fps, and those little mosquito swarm things to piss you off. Plus it's just ugly.
That's why the master key will forever and always be what I choose for the starting gift
NVM. Forget my reply from a couple of hours ago. The end of AC:Black Flag.
I grew up in a family that used to get drank and sing old songs around my grandparents' old chrome table set. When AC:BF came out, I already knew about half of the shanties - I'd chase those damned papers down with the hope of scoring one that I knew. My wife and son thought I was mad.
The scene at the very end caught me flat-footed. I'd missed the song they'd omitted from the rest of the game, and when Anne Bonny started singing it, I remembered that the last time I sang it was when we put my dad in the ground. Then the camera cut to Edward's vision of his passed-on friends sitting around the table... and I broke. As a grown man I sobbed over a damned video game controller.
Spoilers for Dark Souls ahead:
The second half of Dark Souls is just tedious. Whenever you hear praise for the game (which isn't too hard to miss), people will usually be talking about the earlier parts of the game; the tutorial and introduction to Firelink, finding the first few shortcuts, the gargoyle reveal, etc. I agree with the idea that the O&S fight is just about the peak of the game and that quality quickly drops off. Once you get The Lordvessel and can warp to some bonfires, it's clear that the developers realized they don't have to make the world so interconnected anymore. In the early game, you might be heading to the Taurus Demon and decide to drop by Havel for his ring, then grab the Grass Crest shield, then at that point you might as well keep heading up to the Undead Parish for items there and hit the shortcut. By the endgame it's more just "I guess I'll do Lost Izalith now" and it's just pushing forward through boring and buggy bosses. At least the ending is cinematic with putting all the Lord Souls forward and walking through the light-hall with this angelic music introducing you to The Kiln of the First Flame. It doesn't matter how many times I've played it, I'll always walk through the Kiln like it's the first time I've seen it.
Oof, totally agree. The first half of dark souls is perfect. What a ride. Then the devs ran out of time. And it shows. Tomb of the Giants is some DS2 DLC level padding by way of an absurd amount of enemies packed into a small space, and dark areas requiring you to free up a hand if you didn't get the sunlight maggot. Hate that area. I would play through DS2 10 times before I replayed 1. I have, too.
You can definitely tell that the Demon Ruins are not finished. There's so much empty space that isn't used. It's just a single straight path from point A to point B. I love the first Dark Souls, but there is a noticeable lack of polish the exact moment you pick up the Lordvessel.
The Director's Cut of Deus Ex: Human Revolution integrates the DLC into the main story. By itself, it's a several hour DLC with lots of backtracking due to taking place in a multi-level prison. Placed with the main story, it's a pace-killer that throws you into a mini-adventure instead of nearing the main story's conclusion and puts you back to level 1 and takes away all your equipment. Fitting? Yes. A pain to deal with on replays? Also yes.
It was a pain on the first playthrough as well, I was excited to be getting to the end of the game and was instead thrown into a very long side quest, it almost made me quit playing and just watch an ending on youtube.
One notorious “That part” that I would agree with is the Fallout 4 - Far Harbor’s computer puzzles. It wasn’t a good sign when I saw mods allowing you to skip it entirely on The Nexus, and I can’t say as I would ever go through it again. That said, the DLC is otherwise amazing and I would advise anyone to push through should they encounter this part and want to quit.
As to OP’s entry, the good Pontiff put an end to my SL1 no summon run. I tried a good 20 times and just couldn’t get it done. It’s doable, but the guy is a monster.
Dude took me out like 30 times before I got him back. I just can't go through that again
I was going to say Fallout 4 also, but
spoiler for main story
going through the memory sequence in Kellogg’s brain.I’m pretty impatient when it comes to skipping dialogue and cutscenes. Having to slog through and wait for the scenes to end kills me every time. Plus, IIRC that quest is crucial for loading some of the game scripts, so you can’t even skip it without risking the save.
You only have to wait for the scene with X6-88 to finish before you can leave. All the other ones you can skip.
Cozy gamers here may have played Unpacking, a quiet little game where you watch someone's life unfold as you put away their stuff each time they move to a new house. I loved it the first time through but when I started over I realized I'd have to put away all those little chicks again. The person starts with a decorative chicken that comes with a couple (?) of chicks, and each time we change living arrangements there's another chick or two to find room for. The thought of cramming more and more chicks onto a shelf was too much, and I quit.
My strat is to embrace chaos and scatter the chicks throughout the room/house.
The chicks didn't bother me, but oh man there was one level where I could not find a space to hang a certificate, and that was somehow some of the best storytelling I've ever seen...
Slightly unconventional answer, but it's what came to mind: When I was young and brand new to video games, my dad had an Xbox. There were a handful of games I got to play on it, but I mostly stuck to Jet Set Radio Future. It's a super fun game, and I loved just riding around, collecting cans, and tagging walls. The issue, however--"that part," for me--was that at the end of each stage, there was a confrontation with the cops. They would skate around, and you'd have to skate around them, tagging them to knock them out as they tried to catch you. This was the first time I had to do anything like combat in a game, and it was all too much for me. For quite a while, I made my dad do those sections. Good times.
That part of JSRF for me was the Fortified Residential Zone. It's also the place I visited least due to how badly-designed the zone was.
The Magus fight in Chrono Trigger. The music is perfect and it's the first time the game really challenges you.
The Yunalesca fight in FFX, where Auron finally lets himself get real. Goosebumps and an insanely difficult fight.
Not as relatable now that I'm 30, but there's a certain scene with the main character's brother at the end of Megaman Battle Network 3 that drew tears from my eyes when I was younger, followed by the best final boss fight in the series (imo)
I gave up at Yunalesca when I played FFX the first time. I replayed it when I was older, and it went much better… maybe I wasn’t the sharpest kid. I remember dreading it the whole time, it was a great conquer my demons moment.
For me, massive beginning/tutorial sections. These massive sections, and by massive I mean 30-40 minutes to an hour worth of playtime, usually have nothing to do (plotwise) with the main playthrough and is just tedious for both the player and the speedrunners.
Notable offenders: Tears of the Kingdom, Cyberpunk 2077. Both the Great Sky Island and the heist section make me want to uninstall.
Final Fantasy X - Seymour at the top of Mount Gagazet.
How many controllers have been thrown into the suns choronsphere because of that boss fight I wonder?
Dunno if it's due to nerfs made in the HD re-release but I had no problem beating Seymour Flux when I played through it recently. Evrae gave me my only death (so far) in the run.
I remember Seymour Flux being a bastard when I played through the game as a kid.
I think once you've played the game once, it takes away his sudden impact. You know he's coming so you stock up and you grind a little more.
Lady Yunalesca. Screw whichever dev thought it was a good idea to have a mandatory boss with 3 phases and over 100k hp be able to cast instant death on the whole party.
Ha. The last phase of the battle has that insto-death piece.
Absolute fury.
For me it's any and all of the temples and their needless backtracking and time wasters. The desert kinda sucks too but at least it's over fast enough.
Personally love Sanubia desert. Especially Home with the twist in the story.
I'm currently replaying Persona 5 Royal and I'm really dreading the 4th palace boss again. If you've played Royal, you know the boss, with the robots? Yeah, I had to turn it to Merciless to beat it the first time...
For anyone who hasn't played Persona 5 Royal, Merciless is the highest difficulty, but there's a short dps check in that battle and the highest difficulty boosts your dps and the enemy's dps, but since this enemy's moves are pretty scripted, increasing his dps doesn't actually make it much harder, so this boss fight is actually easiest on the hardest difficulty.
Yeah I also had to turn it to merciless as I was playing on hard. My god that big robot with the burger attack is almost impossible on hard difficulty lol
Final Fantasy (the NES original), I hate the Ice Cave so much. So many ways to just die that seemingly can't be prevented.
And to a lesser extent that one floor in the Sky Castle that is a repeating maze. One wrong turn and it goes forever.
I was having trouble thinking of something until I read your comment.
I’ve always hated the magnetic cave in Final Fantasy IV. Dread it every time I have to do it.
Probably the first Hornet fight in Hollow Knight. I'm not a pro platformer or master metroidvania player to begin with anyway—so maybe it wouldn't have made any difference—but that fight was early on so I didn't have any charms or abilities or anything to help me.
The second fight sucked too, but I think I eventually rolled her using some cheesy charm combo.
The weird thing is that the first Hornet fight is basically the opposite of what OP asked for, at least for me. I took literal years to get past it the first time but now that I've passed it once and played the rest of the game I can breeze through it easily and honestly kinda love it. Beating Hornet that first time was SO awful though.
Mantis Lords was what sold me on the rest of the game though. That fight is a joy.
Man, that first Hornet boss fight was rough, even playing it right after beating Elden Ring. It was probably the boss I got most frustrated with in that game. I'm used to having an i frames dodge in hard games, even at level 1, so having a serious boss without one right at the start is a kick in the teeth.
Speaking of, I got to Greenpath three times before I finally kept playing and fell in love with the rest of the game. It's so meandering.
The golf shrine in botw.
I can never play the first Pokémon Ranger again because of Salamence.
If you don't know how the game works, you capture Pokémon by drawing loops around them so many times without lifting your stylus. The stronger the Pokémon, the more loops you need to draw. In the first game, if they so much as touch the loop, the loop breaks and you have to start over. Normally, it's not that bad, especially with Assist Pokémon that can do stuff like paralyze the Pokémon so you can draw loops, or make each loop count as two loops.
But with Salamence, you have no assist Pokémon except your partner Plusle/Minun, which Salamence is immune to. And it can freaking fly. And it also has an attack that sends out shockwaves that will break any loop and lower your health. And it needs 21 loops. The only way to get through it is pure skill.
I spent months stuck on that one part, made worse by the fact I'd stop playing for a while due to frustration and thus got rusty. I've seen people talk about struggling with other late-game Pokémon, but I honestly didn't even remember any of them. Salamence was my roadblock and why I can never, ever replay it. Beating it required me entering a hyper-focused zen-like state that I don't know I can ever achieve again.
This was Golden Sun for me as a kid because of an extremely long dialogue sequence that just drags after the tutorial. Emulated it's not so bad, but on original hardware it takes forever to get through.
I've played through Dark Souls so many times that I'm not a fan of going through the Undead Burg. It's great level design, but since it's at the very start the character customization is limited, so it plays the same way basically every time. In general the first couple of hours of every RPG are not fun for me if I've played them before—except for Underrail. Underrail is king at replayability.
Doing the Heist in Cyberpunk 2077. It's a pretty upsetting time already, but it also takes about 40 minutes to go through until you can just play the game normally again.
For me it would be the library level in halo 1, god in heaven what a tedious and annoying level. And even more annoying are the flood carrying rocket launches that seemingly appear out of nowhere.
TLoU, the giraffe scene. Or the first part. Or the last part. Or the rest of the game.
I can't imagine picking it up again now that I'm a father.
'That part' of TLoU is unmistakably the basement level where you have to turn the generator on. When I replayed the game on PC recently, I actually got really anxious when I realised I was to play that section. I had to put the controller down for a bit and psych myself up for it!
I absolutely loved TLoU, both parts, but it's really hard to convince myself to play it again because it's almost too depressing.
Dark Souls II - The Gutter, Black Gulch, and Shrine of Amana.
I will sit and think, "Hey, that game is actually way better than people say," and then remember these three areas and be like, "...But a replay can wait."
Funny you mention Pontiff in DS3, I find him difficult but not impossible. The Twin Princes though, jesus wept! They've killed me hundreds of times in my playthroughs, I try not to summon too often in Dark Souls and I have never solo'd The Two Princes. I hate that I've heard "This spot marks our grave. But you may rest here too...if you like." so many times that it's permanently burned into my memory, amazing boss theme though, one of the best in the series.
Those guys are a runner up for me, lol. They didn't take me as long as Pontiff, but they definitely were not easy
Final Fantasy 8. I had the Ragnarok airship and was exploring the map for like 3 hours. There is some really low percentage chance that a random encounter will be a Cactuar. Yeah... he hit me with 1000 Needles and instant killed my party. I remember running to the kitchen crying and telling my mom I just lost 3 hours of grinding.
edit: just checked the release date... I would've had to be at least 16 then (the "crying" might be a bit of an exaggeration but it was a pretty emotional moment!)
The first and last (not counting the final portal map since there's nothing to it) maps of Interloper in the original Half-Life. Unlike a lot of people, I'm actually kinda fond of HL1's Xen in general - it's obviously rushed, yes, and it's a lackluster finale to the rest of the game, but there's such a striking sense of isolation to it for me that makes it really interesting. Interloper in particular is actually quite nice as a basis for something better, I think - there's a lot of world-building and interesting things that could be done with the little Vort "village" on the second map, or the factory after that.
...But then there's the first and last maps, with their focus on precise platforming while making you deal with an infinite supply of flying Alien Controllers. It's really not good. The first map in particular - everyone talks about how On A Rail is confusing and labyrinthine, but it's constructed and signposted so much better than Interloper's first map is. I don't even know how many years it took me to realize there was a whole bloody cave area in that map, because the entrance is completely hidden from view and there's all the little pitfall catapult things scattered around. I genuinely thought for ages that the intended solution was to use one of those to land on one of the floating platforms.
On the other hand, the last map's straightforward enough (I think it could probably have done with some more side areas to explore, in fact) - but having to deal with the Vorts scattered around, ready to snipe you from across the chasm, and the endless stream of Controllers dealing chip damage (at a time where you're likely running low on suit armour), while riding the spinning platforms that give you almost no time to aim... I wouldn't say that the rest of Half-Life is perfect - II think it's got its fair share of places that just haven't aged well from a design perspective - but those two maps of Interloper are pretty unquestionably the nadir of the game, IMO.
Sewers from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is a classic example of this, but you can skip this with the unofficial patch now.
Everyone also hates mage's tower fade sequence from Dragon Age: Origins, but there's a mod to skip this too. What there is no mod for is a Redcliffe defense, an infinitely more annoying, if short, wave survival battle in a tactical party based RPG. Although I'm of the opinion DA:O is full of those unnecessary "go through linear corridor levels and fight enemies in sequential order" levels and if you cut away half of those the game would've been two times better.
Red Dead Redemption 2's prologue is just too long. It was cool the first time, but I will never ever replay this game in my life.
Jak 2 for the Playstation 2 was notoriously difficult, but no part made me want to hurl the disc like a Frisbee more than when you need to guide Daxter while he rides a fucking missile across the quay in Haven City. I had to rememorize that route as the slightest error blew you up.
I haven't played Escape from Monkey Island in an age because of the clunky monkey fights. That sounds funny but really since it was the series jump to 3d it already was a pain, then the way the fights work just feels like a slog. I loved the previous game's insult sword fights, and they kinda have that in Escape, but it is limited to arm wrestling and the big bad boss uses the Monkey Kombat, which was hard to wrap my head around. With insult sword fighting the puzzle was finding the response that matches the insult to counter it, but with Monkey Kombat it is strings of Oop, Ack, Eek and Chee, which are harder to intuitively keep track of. I ended up having to write out each combo and counter. Oh and they are randomized every time you play, so your old notes are probably worthless.
For me it's the early game for every building sim. In uni I logged hundreds of hours in Oxygen Not Included. Now whenever I try to start a new file with hopes of creating a cool, complex base designs, I just get bogged down by the painstakingly slow start of the game. I have the same problem with Factorio and Satisfactory too. Using mods to cheat / override the progression tree would probably help, but I find that kills a lot of the fun of the game too.
Probably the section in the Circle Tower mission in Dragon Age Origins where you have to enter the Fade to find your companions. Wow, once was definitely enough for me. Thank goodness there are mods to skip it.
Ditto for the memories section of Fallout 4's DLC set in that synth haven in Maine. What on Earth were they thinking with that one, I'll never know.
I came here specifically looking for someone to mention this part of DAO and the fact that we all universally agreed to mod it out!
Farum Azula in Elden Ring. First of all, you can fall down pretty much everywhere, secondly there are annoying enemies like Banished Knights, Beastmen and Dragons. Then there is also the "bird section", where you have to run through a bunch of very aggressive, hard to hit and hard-hitting birds, while a dragon tries to strike you with lightning.
And Lastly the bosses. I'll say it straight up, the best boss of that area is Placidusax, the Dragonlord. The other bosses are the Godskin Duo, the arguably worst boss in the game and Maliketh, one of the Bosses I struggle the most with.
Godskin Duo is bad because it isn't your classic duo fight, where you kill both and are done, no you have to kill both multiple times until the Bossbar is empty. Even that would be fine, if it were actually fun Bosses to fight. But they aren't. You have the Godskin fat- I mean Noble who feels like he has more range with his Sword, than I have with a Bow and who also has an annoying Rolling attack in the second phase, where you can either lock on and run in a circle, causing him to roll around you or hide behind a pillar and pray to Marika that he gets stuck o it, because otherwise, there is a high chance that you are dead. And then there is the Godskin Apostle. He is a generally fine boss, but in combination with the Noble he is just a pain in the ass. But at least he doesn't have a rolling attack. Thank Marika for Sleep Pots, they make the fight a bit less annoying.
As For Maliketh, ehre is is mostly my Skill issue. His phase one attack are hard for me to dodge and if i make it to phase two, where i have a bit of an easier time dodging, i might not have that much healing left. At the beginning he will rush towards you and the outer egdes of the arena are a cliff, that if you fall down you die, so if you want to buff up in the arena, because you don't want to kill the draconic tree sentinel infront of the arena, there is a good chance that he'll either push you off or that you roll off trying to dodge his attacks. Your best course of action is to run in go from there. Killing the Draconic tree sentinel in front of the arena is an option too and it would let you buff outside (if you need that). Plus it prevents it from attacking you when you are in the arena, because for some reason it can do that. And if you want to use spirit summons, i wouldn't recommend doing that right as you enter, because, as i said he will likely rush you (except for the first time you fight him).
I have beaten this game 3 times.
Maliketh filtered me. I was chuggin along just fine up until that point. Haven't played since then. I think that was a year ago. ;_;
The Destiny 2 dungeon, “Ghosts of the deep.” I have been trying to solo it for over a week, and intermittent server/connectivity issues keep messing up my runs. I know how to do it so I keep trying, but I keep getting error codes and it’s driving me insane!
The Asteroid Defense Cannons in the original Dead Space. They have always been the part that I just hate about what is otherwise one of my favorite games of all time. It controls awkwardly on a gamepad and has always felt weirdly out of place yet oddly appropriate for the setting.
You should try the remake! They improved so much of the game and completely reworked the astroids. The remake is the WAY to remake a game and it's so good!
I played the Remake back in Feb when it first came out. I nearly jumped out of my chair with joy when I got to the ADS cannons! The flamethrower going from one of the worst weapons in the original to one of the best in the Remake is the greatest glow up ever.
Probably a pretty popular one - the Wrong Side of the Tracks mission in San Andreas. Outside of the most recent remake, I needed the cheat to free aim on my bike myself to not take 600 tries at this cz Smoke's aim is worse than a Stormtrooper's.
Spider-Man 2 for the PS2, any fight with Doc Oc. The entire rest of the game is one of the highlights of my childhood, but the phrase "Fight me. Stand and fight me." is branded onto my soul
Planet Mercury in the original Descent always pleased me.
Dead Space II - I thought the time stopping ability was stupid, so I didn't put any experience points into it. Then I get to that one immortal boss or whatever where you have to stop time to open a door before it kills you. I never finished that game, and I never think of picking it up again because of that. Such bullshit.
Okami - There's these blocks or whatever that you have to headbutt in certain places in a certain order, well, there's this one block near the end of the game where you have to headbutt in I think it was 9 places. I don't think me or my friends ever got past that.
For me it's the inevitable "Oh no, your character lost all his gear, now you'd better escape from here while on drugs and moving slowly!!" sequence that seems obligatory in narrative-focused FPS games. I'm sure it's meant to feel badass but it just seems like a completely cheap way to add artificial challenge by taking away everything I've been patiently working for.
The FarCry games are particularly bad for pulling stunts like that.
(I'll give Deus Ex a slightly reluctant pass, though, because it's actually done for the crucial plot point, and at least you keep all the skills you've built up so you still seem to have some agency)
Dante's Inferno on the PS3.
Loved that game, but you can't ignore that the devs got lazier as you progress. Once you're near the end it's recycled enemies and dull environments.
All this I could forgive, but Malebolge. It sounds so cool in the original epic, but here it's a collection of 'challenge' tasks. Kill x enemies with this weapon and such. It is painfully dull to get through. And the worst one was needing to stay off the ground. You had to delay a specific execution animation just enough to fill time. Took forever!
For me it was the final boss of Descent II.
First, it was one of those bosses that has always turned me off of a game. The kind of boss where you have to hit it like 50 times with the strongest weapon in the game (and like 1000x with weaker ones) but if they even glance in your direction you inta-die even with all the upgrades/best armor.
Secondly, after spending a week+ trying to beat it (mind you, I had a flight stick with HOTAS making it MUCH easier) when I finally beat it the words "To be continued....." appeared on the screen so I had just spent a multiple months of my life playing a fsking AD.
The other one was one of the Gran Tourismo games where you needed to earn different class licenses. I spent over a month on this same course trying to go through a slalom of cones, stop in a desginated area and then reverse slalom back to the starting point in like 45 seconds. After over 8 weeks I couldn't do it in under 46 seconds. Before that I had been so into the Gran Tourismo games that I had a pretty decent steering wheel/pedal set for my Playstation. Maybe it was because this was right after a similar experiance in X-Wing or X-Wing vs TIE Fighter but I ended up rage quitting the not only the Tourismo series but all driving games/sims until Forza Horizons on the XBox 360.
I think it's got to be the Shrine of Amana in DS2. I've replayed DS2 many, many times and there's a number of tough/annoying sections in that game but that's the one that makes me groan audibly whenever I know it's time to do it. The Demon of Song is a pretty easy fight--the level itself is the true boss. Particularly the painful slog of that last stretch to the boss room.