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Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: November 29th, 2019, 6:33 pm
by ThePixelatedGenocide
velcrozombie wrote:That was an entertaining read


Thank you!

velcrozombie wrote:
but I did beat the game after getting it for Christmas without any cheats. I would have been 12, so maybe this applies more to the 8-year-old kids who probably did rage-quit. I do remember beating up Scar for over an hour and wondering why he wasn't dying, then either turning off my Genesis in frustration or getting sloppy and letting him kill me - I later did the same thing at a cousin's house for 45 minutes before I finally tossed him off the cliff. Today it would have been a quick-time event but I doubt it would have been as satisfying that way.



*Shudders.* Don't even joke about it. I'm surprised Kingdom Hearts didn't go there.

So, this is probably where I should probably come clean: I had to look up the cheats. But "I kept at it and then slogged through the rest of the game, because games were expensive back then, and even a mediocre game was vastly superior to none at all." felt like the wrong kind of an anti-climax. (Though the stampede scene was a great argument for owning a Super Nintendo.)

Worse, I'd feel obligated to try to explain why I enjoy games like Ghouls N' Ghosts and Rhondo of Blood, which seem more like sadomasochism done right, but not Virgin Interactive's approach to game design, where exploration is used to simply pad out the game with more chores, and the combat engine comes across like a happy play date that devolves into a life or death slap fight between two declawed kittens. I don't know how in-depth about game design you're willing to go, but...compare the original scene, for how hard some of those swipes could be hitting when either lion lands a direct hit. Their bodies move. They roar in pain. You can feel their power. Who wouldn't want to control that kind of power?

It's the secret to every successful beat-em up or one on one fighter, or even pro wrestling and comic books. The selling of the move is more important than the move itself.

And that lack of selling was a part of a larger problem with most Western design in general, around the time. As far as the psychology of the games go, there was only a general sense of challenging and/or frustrating the player, and little thought to the smaller rewards along the way, beyond the usual collectables and an ending. To me, the second stage of the Lion King, which exists only to frustrate and kill players during a moment when they probably should be feeling a bit overconfident, summed up everything wrong with that school of thought.

But kudos to you for those ironman matches, even if that's not the way the game's meant to be played- I'm kind of in awe of anyone who can fight a boss for over an hour and still return for round 2.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: November 29th, 2019, 9:41 pm
by C64_Critic
Half Life, the original game. What was a fantastic, immersive FPS with nail-biting action sequences suddenly reduces itself to a ridiculous platform jumper for no reason at the end of the game. As you try to get to the world of Xen (the endgame location), you suddenly have to jump from asteroid to asteroid, then onto platforms circling around spires, all in low gravity and with tricky hard-to-nail jumps and it's just a complete turn off.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 3:36 am
by CaptainCruch
Dead Space 1 --> zero-gravity sections, bwah.
Sonic 1 --> Labyrinth Zone
Zelda: Ocarina of Time --> Water Temple Dungeon

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 5:12 pm
by strat
Battlekid (NES homebrew) - This game is old enough that it can be discussed canonically with commercial NES games. At some point in the game you get an upgrade that removes the underwater breath timer. And to make it necessary, there's a long, pointless section of going through a narrow passage where nothing happens just so you'll drown before obtaining it.

Metroid Prime Trilogy - All three games have an easter egg hunt at the end that imposes a lot of bracktracking (it's less aggravating in MP1, though).

Earthworm Jim - The submarine riding with the tank controls in Down the Tubes/Tube Race sucks

Megaman X5 - This is almost a trainwreck as it is, but the attempt at Quickman Redux in the first part of the final stage breaks my tolerance level. I've only played through this whole game once.

I don't have anything against the Water Temple (except the bad interface for switching out the Iron Boots) or sneaking into Forsaken Fortress, but I don't like how OOT drags you through mandatory fetch quests just for that first trip onto Death Mountain. It would've been nice if there was a way to skip having to obtain Zelda's Letter (sneaking into the castle itself is fine, though).

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 5:21 pm
by Robotrek
MSR1701 wrote:
Robotrek wrote:Every vehicular stage in Crash 3.

I concur. The animal rides were ok, though.


This nonsense actually prevented me from finishing the game on the N. Sane trilogy. I forgot how much I hated the vehicle stages. It's 50/50 platforming/vehicles. I didn't mind it in wrath of cortex because at least that game embraced the vehicle stages as a majority so it was consistent. But bouncing back and forth is idiotic.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 6:51 pm
by VideoGameCritic
If memory serves there was one particular minecart stage in Donkey Kong Country where you needed to make several perfectly timed jumps with zero room for error.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 7:14 pm
by Stalvern
strat wrote:Earthworm Jim - The submarine riding with the tank controls in Down the Tubes/Tube Race sucks

git gud

Genuinely one of my favorite parts of the game.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 7:15 pm
by DrLitch
VideoGameCritic wrote:If memory serves there was one particular minecart stage in Donkey Kong Country where you needed to make several perfectly timed jumps with zero room for error.


This and Crash Bandicoot where you had to jump the bridge to nowhere....

Now we know why DKC and Crash Bandicoot give away so many free 1UP's, you need them.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 11:03 pm
by VideoGameCritic
OMG the Bridge to Nowhere! I remember it well!
I think I got past it after about 100 tries.

Re: Games with sections that almost ruin it

Posted: December 5th, 2019, 2:11 am
by Retrology
The damn barrel from Carnival Night Zone Act 2 in Sonic 3. You know damn well what I’m talking about.

Breath of the Wild is the best game I’ve ever played but the motion control shrines are extremely frustrating in handheld mode.