Biggest Difficulty Spike You Have Ever Experienced

[MysticSlayer]

In the first Advanced Wars, there is a major difficulty spike right at the final fight. Everything was enjoyably challenging up until that point. However, that final boss was an absolute pain due to how difficult he was compared to previous battles. I don't think I ever did manage to beat him.

You mean Stolos? Man that battle was a pain in the ass. I managed it by going full suicidal and taking out the cannons before any more damage could be dealt.

I'm referring to Sturm [http://advancewars.wikia.com/wiki/Sturm]. Apparently, there are two fights against him, but I'm positive I only made it to the first. The guy's overwhelming forces and CO Power makes him incredibly difficult to overcome. I don't even want to know what the second fight was like.

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

The last legendary man of war in AC4, I swear that thing flipped 270 DEGREES in the AIR, and crushed my fully upgraded brig, the 2 man of wars one was easy-unarmed hulls, and all you have to do was kill both almost at the same time. The last one whose name I forgot was flipping around like a speed boat, almost immune to my mortars which 1 hit kill frigates, more agile, and faster than you, tries to ram you like a brig, has cannon range that outrages your mortars, can dodge cannon shells and heavy shot which also one hit kills frigates, and 2 hit kills normal man of wars as well as being immune to those. So how do you kill it, you lose your dignity, go to a guide, find a video that says forward cannon it when it tries to rams you, and counter ram it with a 35 percent chance of doing it. Then you hope it jumps in the air so you can Dmg it's weaker lower hull which rarely happens, and if it does the ship has a better chance of air jumpi ram you, or you turn ship's back perpendicular to it's side, and fire barrel praying it won't be able to ram, or broadside you, than you repeat the above. It took me Atleast 10 tires to get it right, and 4 with the information from the video.

 

[Brownie80]

I never actually beat the final boss in Beyond Good and Evil.

All the stuff he throws at you is pretty easy... then he flips your controls, and I flipped my table.

He must have read Psycho Mantis' book: "Ticking Off the Player-It's Easy!" Oh did I mention Psycho Mantis, and how he reads your memory card, and dodges every single bullet unless you switch controller ports? And half the time it doesn't even work!

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Lol...it [Alice: Madness Returns] was hard on easy? I thought i was bashing my head against a brick wall on some sections because i hadn't played on easy to get all the upgrades before attempting the hard run. The game has gone up some more in my estimation

So, did you beat it? Did you use Keyboard and Mouse or Controller?

As noted in other posts: some games are just hard. This is more about a spike in difficulty.

I'm pretty lousy at this stuff, much as I love it. Another one that spiked for me: Crysis 3. I'm walking around taking out bad guys, picking up big weapons and blowing up stuff. Now I'm in some jungle, surrounded by snipers who, if I somehow kill them all, I still have to contend with turrets that pop out of the ground and appear indestructible. Man I need cheats!

Yeah i beat it though it took me longer than i expected. It was 2 of the enemy types that require different approaches to everything else and once i learned what i was doing i got past it...there was 1 particular section on the 3rd level i think that had me retry about 100 times...even caused me problems when i went back looking for snouts. After that though it wasn't till the final boss that there were any problems...and the boss wasn't that hard except for the achievement that goes with it.

I always play with a controller on 3rd person games...mouse and keyboard suck

 

[Batou667]

That one part of Carnival Night Zone in Sonic 3 where you have to move the bouncy cylinder up and down to get past the wall. I was playing the game just fine until then, and I think it took me a year to figure that stupid part out. At least, it felt like a year. It was probably a year, though.

Daaaamn, same here. That bit inspired some serious rage in me, and looking back on it, I don't see how "you MUST use this gameplay mechanic that thus far hasn't been used or explained" ever got past playtesting. I think I eventually got past it by playing as Super Sonic and hammering it down with the Bubble Shield, and even then there was a 50% chance of glitching into the wall (dilemma time! Hard reset and restart from the beginning of the level, or wait 10 minutes for the time to run out!).

The most ridiculously uncalled-for difficulty spike I can think of is the first fight with Murai in Ninja Gaiden. An absolute exercise in frustration. Just about any boss in the DOA series as well. What the hell is it with Team Ninja and cheap bosses?

 

[Brown Cap]

Honestly, I am going with Slender: The Arrival
I blew right through the first two levels, but as soon as I made it to the mining shaft, I can't escape that little prick, masky (or whatever you call her).
Game's really difficult.

 

[Liquidprid3]

I agree with the Sonic 3 one. Took me forever to figure out how to do that as a kid. I don't even remember how to do it. I think it stumped me for years, actually. So frustrating. I might have actually used the Internet, as this was in the early 2000's. Still, that's some bad level design.

 

[Chemical Alia]

That one part of Carnival Night Zone in Sonic 3 where you have to move the bouncy cylinder up and down to get past the wall. I was playing the game just fine until then, and I think it took me a year to figure that stupid part out. At least, it felt like a year. It was probably a year, though.

Daaaamn, same here. That bit inspired some serious rage in me, and looking back on it, I don't see how "you MUST use this gameplay mechanic that thus far hasn't been used or explained" ever got past playtesting. I think I eventually got past it by playing as Super Sonic and hammering it down with the Bubble Shield, and even then there was a 50% chance of glitching into the wall (dilemma time! Hard reset and restart from the beginning of the level, or wait 10 minutes for the time to run out!).

Haha, this validates my experience. I blamed myself for years, it was a dark time. I think I originally got past it the same way as you, and then one day like, 18 years later, I discovered the up and down arrow thing and how that made it super easy. That was the day that Sonic betrayed my trust and died in my heart.

 

[Brownie80]

Honestly, I am going with Slender: The Arrival
I blew right through the first two levels, but as soon as I made it to the mining shaft, I can't escape that little prick, masky (or whatever you call her).
Game's really difficult.

You seem like it doesn't scare you that much. I applaud you. I'd never think there's be a difficulty spike in that game.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Unreal Tournament (both 2k4 and 3) always had one hell of a difficulty spike during the last campaign match now that I remember, its basically a 1 vs 1 match but to actually make it special or whatever the developers decided to boost the bot's damage and accuracy through the roof, resulting in a fight where you can nearly get one shot killed the moment you get spotted. This is especially jarring since straight up until then - if you were on a difficulty level that matched your skill - the bots never gave you any trouble at all.

This. Four player co-op versus one bot in the final match, the score ended at 19 to 20 in our favour. That bot can literally predict your every movement.

 

[Blitsie]

Unreal Tournament (both 2k4 and 3) always had one hell of a difficulty spike during the last campaign match now that I remember, its basically a 1 vs 1 match but to actually make it special or whatever the developers decided to boost the bot's damage and accuracy through the roof, resulting in a fight where you can nearly get one shot killed the moment you get spotted. This is especially jarring since straight up until then - if you were on a difficulty level that matched your skill - the bots never gave you any trouble at all.

This. Four player co-op versus one bot in the final match, the score ended at 19 to 20 in our favour. That bot can literally predict your every movement.

Its the worst when it grabs the minigun, what's supposed to be a rather weak weapon that's focused on peppering the opponent with bullets over a short period of time to take him down turns into an uber spam cannon of death, where even one bullet (ignoring the other 15 coming my way) brought down most of my armor and half of my health. I died inside when he grabbed double damage with that gun once.

I ended up using very cheesy tactics to win, in 2k4 the map had specific spots for the bot to get stuck in (or accidentally plummet to his death) so I spammed that glitch in my favor. With UT3 I just flat out cheated, even with the "loaded" code it still gave me hell.

 

[Pink Gregory]

My personal difficulty spike has to be in Resonance of Fate. Oh, all done with the tutorial? Here's the first mission.

YOU DIED.

YOU DIED.

YOU DIED.

Oh you finally wisened up and killed the leader of the enemy group. Good job. Oh hey it's the first boss. Thirteen fuckin' hours of trying and I still haven't beated that jerk.

It was never the bosses that mulched me. Even the first boss and that damned Tesla Tortoise thing only took me a few tries after seeming like unscalable edifices; but those red tile encounters...

Just come across one in which one of the 5 identical enemies can empty your scratch damage in pretty much one attack, with very little cover except a stack of boxes in the middle. Just emblematic of one's own hubris when you're aware that they're optional encounters...

 

[joest01]

lol, Resonance of Fate never hides its intentions to crush your soul

I saw Valkyria Chronicles mentioned and the desert stage. But the wrong one. The big tank didnt give me that much trouble. It was the big open desert where the fog sets in after a few moves that got me. Until of course I figured out Alicia can run around the map

Also stage 1-2 in Wild Arms XF. With the overleveled enemy. The only way to survive was spamming replicas for him to attack.

A bit fresh on my mind is Monsoon in MGR:R. That game also doesn't pretend to not be hard, but Monsoon really ups the ante.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

The final boss in Sonic 2 still gives me grief. I've been playing the Mega Drive Sonics since I was a kid and can breeze through them without dying with the exception of the Sonic 2 boss. The main issue is that you have no rings and therefore it's a one hit kill so you have to play pretty defensively, and he takes a while to go down.

How about Fallout 2? As soon as you leave Arroyo (the first area) you have the chance of running into random encounters with enemies who totally outclass you.

 

[Yoshi4102]

In the first Advanced Wars, there is a major difficulty spike right at the final fight. Everything was enjoyably challenging up until that point. However, that final boss was an absolute pain due to how difficult he was compared to previous battles. I don't think I ever did manage to beat him.

YES!!! Holy crap, dude. I was also unaware that you could influence the different commanders (or whatever they're called haven't played in a long time) so I got the crappiest ones with the worst specials and failed every time I played. I never did beat it, not because I rage quit, just took a break from playing and never came back. I need to go at it again.

On a slightly un-related note, I'm sad that the game took a turn from the cartoony look and feel to a more serious tone. Lost a bit of its charm.

 

[Brownie80]

I just got back from playing Saint's Row 2. There's this one mission.

Spoiler

Bad Trip: You just escaped from a car but you are drugged and your vision is shaking like crazy. You get a call from Shaundi saying the Sons of Samedi are attacking the hideout. So I go save we, and when I go back outside: INSTASPIKE! You have to kill 60 baddies. 60! And since it's full of cars that explode you'll be reviving them A LOT. And if you or your homies die during this sequence? You have to start over and kill 60 of them ALL OVER AGAIN WITH YOUR VISION IMPAIREDNESS BACK!

 

[scorptatious]

Currently playing Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne for the first time. Fun game, but damn it can be brutal.

I know what you're thinking right?

"Matador?"

Yup. Before hand, I've heard horror stories about this guy. So when playing this game, I took the neccesary precautions and learned some buffs and debuffs.

I didn't expect to fight him so early on though.

Still, after taking advantage of Dark Might and using healing items I was able to barely overcome Matador on my second try. At the time I thought, "OK, I think I got this!"

And then Dante appears...

Revolution

Critical

Revolution.

Game Over.

...

:[

 

[Ayame Murasaki]

All my fights with Nyx (the last Persona 3 boss) go the exact same way.

Blow through the first thirteen phases with no trouble at all. (Yes, you did read that right. This boss has THIRTEEN phases to go through before things get serious.)

Heal and buff when Nyx becomes invincible for several turns thanks to her Moonlit Gown move.

Whittle down her HP when Moonlit Gown lifts, until she's down to a sliver of health.

...This is where things get FUN, because Nyx has another little trick up her sleeve--a move called Night Queen, which she uses to charm one of my characters.

The charmed character promptly uses Diarahan on Nyx. If you don't know what Diarahan does, it's a spell that restores the target's HP to full.

...Cue much swearing and controller-throwing. >[

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When I played Shadow of the Empire a million years ago, I remember getting to the scrap yard...planet and being unable to progress any further. IG-88 was an impenetrable wall of difficulty for me back then but I may have better luck if I were to try again today.

Every SNES Star Wars game. It's all over the damn place. You practically have to play the whole thing with codes to get anywhere. Also, Jak and Daxter into Jak 2. Let's add guns and cars that handle like crap, while removing any checkpoints.

I was only able to beat the first one but based on what I've played of the other two...and with my experience of the first one, there's no denying how crazy those games were. They were a ton of fun but they were brutally unforgiving.

Anyone remember the Futurama game?
For whatever reason the second level is one of the hardest in the game. It doesn't help that it comes right after the calming, more exploration based first level.

I've never played that one but The Simpson's game. It's moderately challenging but, specifically the end-game (last level or three) which is particularly difficult. It wouldn't have been as terrible if not for the waves-upon-waves of deadly Zoidbergs God kept throwing at you...spoilers by the way.

 

[Glongpre]

Hmmm Diablo 2 against Duriel is always a challenge. Especially with summoners. Then there is another spike at Diablo because of resistances.

I don't know if that is the biggest, but that is all I can think of right now.