Frustrating games you couldn't stop playing

The entire Dark Souls trilogy. Going through those games was one of the most frustrating experiences in my gaming life, and I'd do it again it a heartbeat. Well actually, I do it at least once a year, those are some of my favourite games of all time.

 

I generally stay away from 'difficult' games (like Dark Souls/Bloodborne) because I'd rather not have to bandage my head after banging it against the wall repeatedly for losing to a particular enemy. Other ones often come down to either RNG (Mario Party/Kart) or bad design (the NES and SNES Fire Emblem games), or requires a particular skill-set that is impossible for an old man like me to develop because I hadn't been playing them since I was 5 (Street Fighter, et al.). So the most difficult game I have ever enjoyed playing has a particular reason - two of them, in fact - for its difficulty, and it is a set of reasons that I could actually deal with.

Spoiler: I decided to put this bloody wall of text in here so y'all don't have to suffer through it.

MS Saga: A New Dawn is a JRPG for the PlayStation 2 that came out in 2006 (the same year that the Nintendo Wii came out), and despite its strange mix of late-PS1/early-PS2-era graphics (which has never been a huge issue for me) and heavily cliche'd story, it was a game that I really enjoy. The first reason is that it is a game based in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe, something that resonates with me far more than something like Dragon Ball Z ever could.

The second reason is the first lesson a player needs to learn about this game: Optimization. As you can expect, each character has a specific stat spread, and this cannot be changed. However, because these characters are pilots of giant robots, the player has to consider the stat spread of his or her available suits. Some of them specialize in melee combat (such as the GM, Gouf, and Gundam), others specialize in ranged combat (such as the Guncannon, GM Sniper, and Gelgoog), and yet others are balanced (such as GM Command, Dom, and Nu Gundam), so pairing a pilot with the right mobile suit gives the best combat results. The game gives an example by pitting your team, at one point, against a martial artist piloting a Guncannon that was given a special claw weapon and spiked pauldron for increased melee power. Unfortunately (for the opponent, NOT for your team), because the suit is a ranged unit rather than a melee unit, its power output was such that while the enemy is dangerous they are not boss-level of dangerous, and is rather easily beatable (unless you have yourself made this same mistake, in which case you're screwed). And this goes into your weapons layout, as well. A melee unit can get by with one or two guns, in case you happen to be fighting enemies that are dangerous to approach in melee combat, and typically need the limited space for their weapon, whether it be a sword (short-to-medium-length and uniform size), spear (long and usually narrow except with certain blade tips), or axe (short but usually wide, often in odd shapes due to various types of axe-style weapons); the one exception here are fist attacks, as there are certain arms that give high melee damage output but preclude the ability to equip a held weapon. A ranged unit, though, will typically want five to six guns of varying mounts (two guns, one shoulder-mounted cannon, and two arm-mounted guns or missile launchers, with some suits using a built-in head-mounted gun as well) and two types (bullet/explosive and beam/energy). The reason for both of these are character-inherent abilities. Characters have different abilities, both combat and support, and often only work with certain weapons or certain numbers of weapons. For instance, swords can be used with slashing and piercing abilities, but axes can usually only be used for slashing abilities and lances can only be used with piercing abilities; conversely, some ranged weapon abilities can only be used with arm-mounted weapons while certain weapons have too high an energy cost to use for other abilities (one skill simply has the character unleashing all of their ranged weapons in one attack for heavy damage). Apart from this, there are some palate-swap enemies that can block one weapon-type or another (the Shot Killer, specifically, are immune to all ranged damage, bullet or beam), so having a variety of weapons available gives the player the best chance of coming out of that particular encounter without having taken super-heavy damage.

The second lesson to learn about this game, an extension of the first, begins once you fight the second major boss (there are a number of minor bosses that you encounter on your journey). It is the Xamel, a gigantic mobile armor (read: a unique tank incapable of counterattacking) equipped with an even larger cannon that, with its party-hitting ability, can destroy your team in one hit. Your defense? A skill called "Chaff Field" (those of you knowledgeable about chaff grenades may know that it screws up targeting systems) that, for one turn of combat, nullifies all shell/explosive damage. "But, Shinigami," you may say, "how do I know when he's going to use that skill so that I know when to use Chaff Field and survive for one more turn?" Well, the answer is this: patterns. Each boss has a specific script that it follows, using specific skills depending on its energy level. Learn the pattern, conquer the boss. Yes, this takes a fair bit of trial-and-error if you don't look up a walkthrough (of which there is only one on GameFAQs, but is incredibly detailed), and gets more complicated as you get further in (the next boss after this has, in addition to its giant beam cannon, an uncounterable melee special that needs to be defended against). Of course, even this only solves one half of the issue; the bosses have greater HP as you get deeper into the story, far more than you can get even at the end of the game (for comparison, the final boss has 70,000 HP while only certain suits on your team can have 2,500 (the team average seems to be around 2,100-2,200, optimalized; at this second boss you're looking at 2,700 vs. your own 150-250), and this is where optimization comes in, not just with your payload but your team setup. See, the player is allowed only three units in combat in any one particular turn* and taking as little damage as possible in any particular battle, which typically means destroying the enemy in the first turn if possible (and if you're facing a boss, this isn't going to be possible); barring that, you're going to want to do as much damage as quickly as possible. Energy levels are vital for this, as group attacks and heavy-damage single-target attacks are only usable at certain energy levels, so when you're not attacking you're typically charging, buffing/debuffing (certain characters have skills for either or both) or healing, but that's alright because by doing out the math, even at this point you're doing more damage with one ability than just straight up attacking with that skill in 3-4 rounds (barring crits), especially if the enemy has a high defense (such as the aforementioned Xamel).

TL;DR - The game is difficult if you don't pay attention to what the game tries to teach you, and even when you do you're still going to be facing a challenging game. It's not the best Gundam game ever made (not even close), but it's better than its Metacritic score gives it credit for.

*(with up to three other party members in the 'rear guard', or rather, standby, because they literally do nothing unless they are on the field, and if your three frontline units get destroyed, it's Game Over even if you have units in the back that are still working; FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, EVEN BLOODY ****FNAF WORLD**** BRINGS THE BACKUP OUT IF THE FRONTLINE GETS KNOCKED OUT!!! Stupid Namco-Bandai...)

 

Monster Hunter Generations. Much as I love this game - and I do; I sank over 500 hours into it in the space of about three months last year - it has the potential to be the most insufferably infuriating title in existence. The problem with Monster Hunter is the same as a lot of MMOs: your enjoyment is entirely dependent on other people. Other people are why I tend to play single player games only, and why I NEVER play PvP. I'm not a horrible elitist (although those were a problem with the game too sometimes) as I know that everyone makes mistakes...but when a single player costs you the entire hunt by themselves, and then everyone else leaves the room? Yeah. When people disconnect when they die, or just leave at random? Yeah. Then you've got people who just don't know what they're doing...the number of HR players I saw with mismatch armour with multiple points in various skills but no actual skills active was painful. Wasting traps, taking all the supplies from the chest, begging for different quests when the room is CLEARLY marked as a specific quest, playing long enough to take their turn in a turns room and then leaving...god, MHGen is filled with some of the rudest and irritating people imaginable.

This WAS a minority experience, I will admit...I experienced this mostly whilst I was going up in rank - people refusing to play with you because of your HR, or do your Urgent Quest in a turns room after you've helped them with theirs, etc - and during Deviant monster hunts - because EVERYONE wants to do bloody Hellblade or Dreadking, and nobody will do Thunderlord unless it's a Hame run, and the rest might as well not exist - but when I had hours of bad rooms, or bad hunts...sometimes this game REALLY tried my patience, and I'd estimate at least 50 of those hours were spent trying to find someone to play with.

 

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I suck at LITERALLY EVERY GAME LIKE THAT without the help at the internet. It's kinda frustrating when you have to get past the guards, or go into the volcano, cuz I can never find what the heck I'm supposed to do. Could be the game. Could be me. Could be both. (Most likely the second one.) Also, CUPHEAD. No explanation needed.

 

Monster Hunter games, definitely. I get stuck at some missions sometimes, but for some reason it doesn't get boring. I just can't stop playing no matter how frustrating it is.

 

The sixth stratum in any of the Etrian Odyssey titles. It doesn't matter which one, though games #1 and #5 warrant particular mention.

For those of you who know what that means, you know exactly why I'm bringing it up.

For those of you who don't, the sixth stratum is always a post-game area (1st-5th are main game). It's designed essentially to kick your ass; it starts off hard and just gets harder from there. The intent is to give the players a real challenge and something to do, and it's definitely a challenge. It never comes off as prohibitively hard, though - despite being very difficult, it's clearly doable, and thus that is the incentive to keep going. You can do it. You might need some tweaking and perseverance, but you can definitely do it.

The sense of accomplishment you actually get from clearing the thing makes it all worth it. It's the feeling of "I took on everything you threw at me and I came out on top, and I feel great".

 

It was also Ocarina of Time for me. I would either die over and over again or I wouldn’t know what to do next. But even though it was frustrating, I still played through it, trying to get past whatever part (and occasionally using the internet as well).

I’m still playing it now, actually...

 

For me it´s the Portal series.
I got portal 1 and 2 when I was 12 years old and was completely overwhelmed with the puzzles.
But I wanted to solve them and so... I sat for several hours on a single puzzle

 

Yeah I have to agree with those who said the Monster Hunter series. I've only played 4U and Gen (haven't finished either), but they are...just...BRUTAL at times. But I don't care this time because the gameplay is sooooo addicting. Like, the main draw is you get to fight various giant monsters, and it really delivers.

4U was my first Monster Hunter game - I watched one of omegaevolution's streams of the game, I was I was immediately interested in the series. SO I played it...very rarely. I also never beat it, like I mentioned. But what always stuck with me in that first playthrough was just how frequently I would get my ass handed to me due to playing badly in general. Like, almost every mistake I made due to bad play, lack of knowledge, or even poor item management (I could literally consume all of my healing items in any given urgent quest, and I wouldn't even be done), the game would punish me.

Generations I played pretty much a year and a half after I completely fell out of playing 4U. And it was mostly the same deal - game would punish me for bad play, lack of knowledge, and poor item management. Still enjoyed getting my ass kicked though, because I somehow still triumph in the end and feel great doing it. 'Ceeeept I feel out of playing it much like I did 4U.

Stories I can't really count as difficult. Other than the beginning of post-game and some of the monsters exclusive to it, the game isn't THAT difficult. So yeah.

 

Super Meat Boy... I think we all know this game to some extent. The first couple of chapters are easy, but once you get to Chapter 4 - Hell, things really start to pick up. I've completed most of the game except for Dark Rapture, one Dark End level and most of Cotton Alley (Light and Dark). I played this a lot until I got Payday 2, a game I wanted to play for a while but had no money to get.

 

Geometry Dash and to an Lesser Extent, GTA Online
Geometry Dash is just something I like to play now and again, even though its so hard to keep up with whats happening on the screen
and GTA... well if you've ever played it you'll know what I mean

 

Mobas in got me so hooked and frustrated. Dota 2 in particular. I had a 11 lose streak a long time ago within the span of 3 days.

Then of course，there's Pokémon

 

Fire Emblem Birthrights. Ugh, so irritating. Mirrors Edge and Alien Isolation are some others.

 

Probrably the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Even tho im really bad at the game i still have a blast whenever i play it

 

Bloodborne... Forbidden Woods is a nightmare

 

Fire Emblem Fates on Classic Mode. Dear god, why did I start that? I couldn't leave any unit behind to die and I played the fucking levels so much times that I had them memorised at one point.