Levels or areas that you hate, in games that you love?

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

On 5/15/2021 at 10:52 AM, Foochie776 said:

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City “The driver”....

seriously screw this race, it’s so stupid. I hate it I hate it I hate it.

 

I think this was the only mission that was frustrating. Getting stuck with that shit car, I can't even remember how many times I attempted this mission.

[Sumez | 2,994]

7 hours ago, CasualCart said:

The final stage should be a culmination of the elements you encountered and the skills you built along the way, not something out of left-field.

Agree with this completely, and it's beautiful if a game can do it right. There are some amazing great examples of that out there (like Gimmick's "regular" last stage), but quite often the final stage of old-school arcade'y action games will prioritize turning up the difficulty level, and you end up with something like TMNT or CV1 on NES, where the dominant strategy is just memorizing a way through that minimizes any interaction with enemies.
It's a much more subtle mistake than what you are talking about, but also counteracts what you've learned the rest of the game. (not that CV1 is really a bad offender, I love the game all the same)

Honestly, when you talked about a game that changes gameplay for the final stage, the only example I could think of was exactly Kid Icarus. Bucky O'Hare changes stuff up for pretty much every individual stage, so it's a little hard to use it as an example.

[Nes Freak | 584]

im sure everyone can agree on this  before they knew how  but carnival nigh zone from sonic 3 and that blasted barrel lol.

[DefaultGen | 5,433]

4 minutes ago, Nes Freak said:

im sure everyone can agree on this  before they knew how  but carnival nigh zone from sonic 3 and that blasted barrel lol.

Oh you mean the end of the game.

[cj_robot | 546]

8 hours ago, Nes Freak said:

im sure everyone can agree on this  before they knew how  but carnival nigh zone from sonic 3 and that blasted barrel lol.

My goodness, I was so relieved when I found out I was not the only one who couldn't figure out how to get past that damn barrel.

[Nes Freak | 584]

1 hour ago, cj_robot said:

My goodness, I was so relieved when I found out I was not the only one who couldn't figure out how to get past that damn barrel.

indeed! it took me till the youtube days for me to finally know how to beat that level.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Nes Freak

[Tabonga | 2,337]

I really like the PS1 Echo Night. While ostensibly a horror adventure game it is actually a fairly slow paced puzzle game with the story being revealed in vignettes*.  

But then it shifts gears at the end where it becomes a timed race game to get to the exit before you get trapped in the spirit world of the ship.  Totally different genres!

*We had seen the movie Ghost Ship (2002) shortly before I played Echo Night and the game really reminded me of the movie (which I also really liked).

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Tabonga

[Tanooki | 4,952]

Forgot this topic a moment, I want to watch that movie now.  I vaguely remember it coming out but have never seen it and that looks just messed up enough to be good.  Of all the ideas hollywood has beat to death, that one doesn't come up much at all.

[Tabonga | 2,337]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Forgot this topic a moment, I want to watch that movie now.  I vaguely remember it coming out but have never seen it and that looks just messed up enough to be good.  Of all the ideas hollywood has beat to death, that one doesn't come up much at all.

As I said I liked it a lot*-  the script was more complex and interesting than the genre usually has.  The back story is slowly revealed by a series of vignettes that are revealed as the salvage crew moves through the ship. It also has a very memorable killing scene early in the movie and has a pretty clever twist ending.

*For what it is worth I am one of the few people I know who really liked Sucker Punch.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Tabonga

[Reed Rothchild | 9,584]

Eh, I own and enjoy Ghost Ship, but I wouldn't exactly call it some sort of cinematic iconoclast.

Then again I worship some truly derivative stuff, so what do I know.

[Gloves | 11,830]

Just now, Reed Rothchild said:

Eh, I own and enjoy Ghost Ship, but I wouldn't exactly call it some sort of cinematic iconoclast.

I bought the Collector's Edition Blu Ray recently for my wife who likes the movie and boy... it sure was made in 2002.

[Foochie776 | 1,061]

On 5/16/2021 at 11:53 PM, Robot_Ninjutsu said:

I think this was the only mission that was frustrating. Getting stuck with that shit car, I can't even remember how many times I attempted this mission.

I literally tried probably 50+ times before I used a cheat 

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

On 5/17/2021 at 12:41 PM, Nes Freak said:

indeed! it took me till the youtube days for me to finally know how to beat that level.

The only issue I recall was that (computer controlled) Tails would occasionally jump while on the barrel. The little shit would make me plug in the 2nd controller just to get him to stop.

[The Count | 531]

20 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Forgot this topic a moment, I want to watch that movie now.  I vaguely remember it coming out but have never seen it and that looks just messed up enough to be good.  Of all the ideas hollywood has beat to death, that one doesn't come up much at all.

Titties.

[ookii_risu | 206]

How about the Sunken City in Castlevania III? It is one of two stages that has the best music in the game (Aquarius), but it is completely skippable and has no bearing on anything. And I've found it to be one of the hardest levels in the game. Just pure torture.

[Tabonga | 2,337]

20 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Of all the ideas hollywood has beat to death, that one doesn't come up much at all.

This is one seriously strange film (maybe the strangest Hammer ever made) about a tramp steamer carrying illegal (and unstable) explosives that gets trapped in the Sargasso Sea - which has a bunch of old Spanish galleons with descendants of the conquistadores,  Did I mention the people walking on the water with balloons? (Like I said it is really strange.)

 

[twiztor | 855]

On 5/14/2021 at 2:21 PM, WhyNotZoidberg said:

Arcane Sanctuary in Diablo 2. It's just not interesting.

i love how Arcane Sanctuary looks and it's probably my favorite Act in the game. i wish it was bigger and more expansive!

On 5/16/2021 at 5:00 PM, CasualCart said:

Also - recycled boss-rushes before the final boss. I'd rather not...

agreed. boss rushes immediately kill my interest in a game. i can't believe game developers include them as bonus features or unlockables!

[Sumez | 2,994]

I'm a fan of boss rushes, at least if done correctly.

Like CasualCart said in the same post, the final stage should be a test of all your skills that have been built up throughout the game, and reconfirming your ability to survive against the game's bosses (rather than just making it through as a fluke) makes sense to me.

Of course, it depends on the nature of the bosses. If each of your boss fights are 30 minute epic setpieces that require waiting around for cycles and other stuff to happen, then yeah it's exhausting to do more than one per stage. But a set of simple fights you can Fuck Up Quickly™, like the traditional Mega Man robot masters is a fun romp to go through for me. If it helps, lowering their HP, simplifying their arena, removing some of their moveset or such is a fine way to make them fit better into a boss rush setting.

I'm not a big fan of stage bosses being demoted to regular enemies on later stages, but having them show up like once or twice again towards the end, just serves to test their mettle. If it's not fun to fight it again, it's because it's not a good boss fight.
You probably don't want to refight a boss you only just fought on the previous stage either, that's another common mistake.

But I do often hear people share their animosity towards boss rushes, even in Mega Man games! so I guess it's a divisive subject. If I ever manage to finish a game it'll probably have a boss rush, so I guess I should think long and hard about how to go about it to avoid alienating people.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Sumez

[Hammerfestus | 3,882]

Ice. 

[Brickman | 4,013]

1 minute ago, Hammerfestus said:

Ice. 

Haha I said the same thing. I can’t think off the top of my head an ice level I have enjoyed.

[themisfit138 | 523]

Any water level.