Biggest Difficulty Spike You Have Ever Experienced

[barbzilla]

Afro Samurai. Specifically, the Kuma boss fight.

Every boss had a trick or two you needed to learn to beat it. Kuma had a couple. First, he blocked/dodged all attacks most of the time unless he was in the middle of an animation. He had a pretty strong moveset that his AI would often abuse for cheap hits; you could avoid the cheapest using a focus backflip, a maneuver you literally never ever had any need for anywhere else. But the worst part was that you couldn't use the same move combo more than once, or he'd start blocking/dodging the latter hits or autocountering you in the middle of your attacks. Use the same set of moves even twice in a row, and not only would he take no damage but he'd probably autocounter you for massive damage. Fortunately there were hundreds of combos to choose from and you could reuse the same one a few times... but there wasn't a lot of difference between any of the combos, so there was no real reason to not spam the same attacks over and over in any other fight.

It took me literally three days to recognize that this was why he was so hard to beat. It's not immediately obvious, because he goes through multiple "forms" over the course of the fight and he takes a long time to kill. I thought he just really liked blocking attacks near the end of the fight.

Also, another fight I had trouble with was the first Metal Gear Rising boss, since it expects you to know how to parry (the only method of blocking in the game). I wasn't used to the Japanese convention of special attacks and maneuvers being performed through a combination of thumbstick input and button presses (you see this in fighting games like the classic QCF input for Ryu's fireball), and MGR never made how to parry clear. In MGR, you had to be standing still, and then press forward and attack simultaneously during an enemies attack animation to execute a parry. You couldn't parry if an enemy wasn't attacking you, and couldn't parry if the thumbstick wasn't in a neutral position to start (e.g. you were moving). With expert timing you'd do a more powerful version that stuns the enemy and automatically counterattacked, and this became a potent skill throughout the game. But since there's no other method of blocking attacks, and the boss has attacks that effectively long on to you, you needed to at least know how to parry quite well by the first boss.

Last one: The first Dark Souls boss

I challenged my cousin to beat it and it took her 7 hours over two days. Nuff said.

By first Dark Souls boss, do you mean the one in the Asylum, or the two Gargoyles on the bell tower?

I feel your pain with parrying in MGR, I have pretty bad ADHD and it affects my reflexes to the point that I tend to be more predictive than reactive, and I have always had trouble with parry systems or counter systems. To top that off, I'll add in the fight with the jacked up Samurai on the Train that is unbeatable (literally), only I didn't know that and I am a serial save scrubber. I typically would just load a save when I was doing too poorly in an attempt to get better, well it took me the better part of 30 minutes before I realized that I was supposed to lose.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

Dark Souls is the example that comes to mind. Not through any fault of its own, actually; I wasn't paying adequate attention to my surroundings and headed straight to the cemetery. Cue several dozen failed attempts to fight my way through the skeletons. Dark Souls's reputation being what it is, I just assumed the difficulty curve was genuinely that steep after the Undead Asylum and kept at it until I became adept at beating the skeletons with an underleveled character and very unsuitable weapons - only after which point I noticed the actual path up to the Undead Parish. Bell Gargoyles and Stray Demon aside, though, the rest of the game was a cakewalk compared to learning combat from enemies specifically designed to communicate to new players to come back later. God bless Dark Souls for allowing me the freedom to have that experience.

 

[Zaydin]

Oh, I forgot a rather drastic spike! Azetlor the Collector, the boss of the Public Library in Ghostbusters the Video Game, especially on Professional (Meaning Hard)difficulty. On normal, he's a challenge, but not too bad. On Professional, though? The guy is a nightmare; he moves fast despite his size and hits hard, has some of the most health out of any boss in the game, and he can spawn book bat minions to harrass you. I died to him more times than I did the final boss on Professional!

 

[ghostrider9876]

Little King's Story. What was a rather clever and somewhat challenging Pikmin-like game suddenly introduces a boss that's a pinball machine, meaning you have to bang him against the targets repeatedly to take off his health bar, then hit him juuuuuuuust right and hope you're lucky enough to have him crash into the dead center of the very top of the machine--twice--to beat him. Oh, and your 'flippers' are your soldiers, who take damage every time the ball/boss hits them. And if he falls to the bottom, he lands in a pile of food and starts eating, undoing a large chunk of any progress you've made hitting him into targets.

I actually beat that, though, and then I found the boss that's at the top of a long obstacle course up a mountain. And no matter how much you've upgraded your units, you can never upgrade your King's health--meaning three hits from anything on the obstacle course and you're dead. That's where I gave up because I was having zero fun.

Basically the boss fights after the first few were massive difficulty spikes from the rest of the game. I actually never used the word "f**k" until I was trying to beat that game. True story.

For a different example, going back and trying to beat StarTropics without using any codes. I remembered that game being so easy when I was a kid...then I remembered I had used a Game Genie. My god, trying to beat that without cheating was insane. I did it though!

 

[McMullen]

They are more or less constant in Skyrim. On the way to High Hrothgar via the White River, I did pretty well at stealthily taking out the bandits on the bridge with the towers. Stopped by Fort Amol a little later, and things got weird; I one-hit kill one of the mages with my first shot, then another comes running out the gate. He doesn't know where I am but still dodges the first arrow I fire at him, barely notices getting hit by the second, spots me, and fires a single ice spike that insta-kills me. I had 150 health... wish my ice spikes could do 150 damage. When I retried it, the same mage died in one shot.

There are too many more examples to count in this game. I think the game decides every now and then that you've lived too long and arbitrarily raises the level of the enemies to several times yours, even when you try to take the ceaseless training of the draugr into account.

 

[greatcheezer2021]

big difficulty spike, the one real significant one i can really think of is Diablo 2, act 2 boss Duriel.

i was playing single player, on /players 6. meaning i was playing on 6x difficulty. of course this was normal mode, because i had first started. think of 6x as Goku training in 60-100x times gravity. all enemies have 6x health and damage, have a much greater chance of dropping items/good/great items, and give 6x more experience as long as you manage not to die. anyway, i clear all the false tombs, get some valuables and lesser items i feel will prepare me for the long fight ahead i have fought countless times before.

i was not prepared for this fight. a lvl 25 barbarian trying to go toe-to-toe with duriel on 6x does not happen, unless you have 6 hirelings and 6 party members backing you up online. but online is for godless jackals who enjoy playing bots and lag. i ended up fighting him on 2x and defeating him later. only, my barbarian is not optimized for the 6x life. my current paladin fares much better on 6x nightmare Act IV.


tho i never reached hell difficulty on single player, my friend did on 1x. i watched his sorceress die countless times to unique boss carvers, with immunities and abilities i'd never imagined.

 

[nevarran]

Ninja Gaiden 3(I think), the levels were a walk in the park, the bosses were very difficult. The contrast was mind blowing.

 

[Laughing Man]

Right here and right now it has to be Borderlands 2. Specifically the jump from True Vault Hunter mode to Ultimate Vault Hunter mode. The enemies seem to scale directly compared to your level, e.g I skipped a level 55 mission at the start of the new play through and came back to it at level 61 expecting it to be a bit easier because the enemies would still be around level 55 or so, nope they had scaled so ended up being level 60 - 62.

To give even more context the difficulty curve also ramps considerably depending on the shield you use I use The Alkaline Bee so I get a dmg bonus against enemies as long as the shield is fully charged. This makes the enemies just about manageable but the second you lose that shield the enemies become massive bullet sponges. You then take in to account that my weapon of choice The Corrosive Sandhawk (it fires a spread of around ten bullets per shot that come out and then fly to towards the enemy like a bird) devastating in burst fire mode if everything hits but the bullet travel delay means that enemies can dodge combined with the fact that the enemies, once at range, rarely miss, know exactly were you are even behind cover and they only need five or six direct hits (one burst fire) to put you on your ass.

The issue is that you need a combination of factors to put even basic enemies down.

A combo attack, slag + another weapon.
A weapon that combines multiple hits in a single shot i.e: a weapon that fires several rounds per trigger shot, or a weapon that has a secondary attack like the Torque weapons which impact and then explode giving two hits per round
Stacked addons or skills, i.e skills and equipment that give significant added weapon effects. In my case The Bee for bonus amp damage and Determined Tactician Relic which gives bonuses to my character skill tree specifically weapon / gun damage. Shield valve and recharge rate and a reduced action skill recharge.

Even with all this and a pair of attack turrets with shields and slag addon effect some of the bad guys are still a challenge.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Homeworld 2

- The mission where you find the movers for the first time. Oh look a new ship type, oh it's a only a corvette, frigates advance!...Frigate destroyed! well shit that didn't work, ok fight fire with fire, go corvettes! corvette squadron destroyed...balls! Mothership under attack...uh oh.

- Balcora gate, so protect the power supply form the Vagar trying to blow it up, no problem...after the last mission I've got a full fleet and two very shiny Battlecruisers itching for some action. lets see send a probe here to keep an eye on the objective and send some scouts over here to see what's waiting ahead...6 Vagar Battlecruisers and 8 destroyers, oh...this isn't going to end well...incoming strike craft, Mothership is under attack...i hate you game! why you so unfair!

I know the game is set up so that it looks at your fleet at the end of the previous mission and then deploys a bigger fleet that's balanced so that it's a good counter to yours on the next mission but seriously 6 Battlecruisers is way unfair, and theirs a time limit too!

 

[Blitsie]

I beat God Hand yesterday, so I switched to Hard difficulty. I'm still trying to beat the first two enemies you encounter.

Oh lawd those enemies that turn into demons the moment you defeat them are the worst, you can be completely owning everything in sight with your eyes closed only to have one pop out and completely curbstomp you without even trying.

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.

 

[sageoftruth]

I beat God Hand yesterday, so I switched to Hard difficulty. I'm still trying to beat the first two enemies you encounter.

Oh lawd those enemies that turn into demons the moment you defeat them are the worst, you can be completely owning everything in sight with your eyes closed only to have one pop out and completely curbstomp you without even trying.

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.

The demons are actually pretty fun once you learn how to handle them. The trick is to not chase them. Let them come to you. They seem to always pause long enough for you to land the first blow whenever they flash step right up in front of you, and their long range attacks are easy to dodge. Also, that cool counter attack you use when they teleport behind you is much easier to do when you're simply waiting from them to make the first move.

The spiky ones can still be a pain, though since you can't duck their close range attack. I often resort to the god hand/ roulette wheel when dealing with them.

 

[sageoftruth]

big difficulty spike, the one real significant one i can really think of is Diablo 2, act 2 boss Duriel.

i was playing single player, on /players 6. meaning i was playing on 6x difficulty. of course this was normal mode, because i had first started. think of 6x as Goku training in 60-100x times gravity. all enemies have 6x health and damage, have a much greater chance of dropping items/good/great items, and give 6x more experience as long as you manage not to die. anyway, i clear all the false tombs, get some valuables and lesser items i feel will prepare me for the long fight ahead i have fought countless times before.

i was not prepared for this fight. a lvl 25 barbarian trying to go toe-to-toe with duriel on 6x does not happen, unless you have 6 hirelings and 6 party members backing you up online. but online is for godless jackals who enjoy playing bots and lag. i ended up fighting him on 2x and defeating him later. only, my barbarian is not optimized for the 6x life. my current paladin fares much better on 6x nightmare Act IV.


tho i never reached hell difficulty on single player, my friend did on 1x. i watched his sorceress die countless times to unique boss carvers, with immunities and abilities i'd never imagined.

It's a good thing you weren't using a less tank-able class like Amazon or Sorceress. Unless you have an immunity to freezing, he makes mincemeat out of all long-range character builds.

 

[sageoftruth]

Shadow Yukiko really game me a run for my money back when I was playing Persona 4. I rarely to refer to these as difficulty spikes in many RPGs, since I don't consider required grinding to be difficulty, but in this case it actually was more about wisely using the elemental strengths of your personas and as well as using stat up and stat down spells to make it so you can heal faster than she deals damage. Even after I'd picked up on that, it was still a hard fight.

 

[Brownie80]

Ninja Gaiden 3(I think), the levels were a walk in the park, the bosses were very difficult. The contrast was mind blowing.

Try saying that to RoosterTeeth. The trouble started at the very beginning:

Spoiler: WARNING: STONG LANGUAGE

watch?v=335mX-RGosE

 

[Stg]

Rogue Legacy new game+ has a pretty difficult curve. All the enemies turn into their deadlier big brother forms, often with double the size, double the health, double the bullet spewing. New Game++ is even worse when all the fodder turns into about the equivalent of a miniboss.

The easiest parts become the bossfights. The main strategy usually devolves into avoiding all the trash and sprinting towards the end.

The game gives you Grace Runes for a reason...

 

[NerAnima]

Dark Souls, Anor Londo. I had ascended my Flame, and the Great Combustion Pyromancy, I discovered, tore through the Silver Knights and Elite Giants with ease. I was thinking that I had finally hit my stride...

And then THEY showed up. Ornstein and Smough.

I have no idea how many times I died to that insane duo, they slaughtered me and sent me packing every time. Even with the aid of the wondrous Solaire, those two would serve me up on a silver platter every time. The worst was getting to Super-Ornstein, because I knew that this would not end well.

I eventually killed SO, but only because of aid from multiple Phantoms.
I have yet to beat them on my own.

Another I'd like to mention is Metroid Fusion, although it was probably because of the fear for one of them.
The first instance for me was Nightmare, I was able to deal with those swimming Space Pirates, no problem. The ugly fish? Please. Then I came across Nightmare, and it was a pretty bad dream. Missiles made useless in the beginning, then he just got worse as it went on.

Then of course came the part where I was running for my life from SA-X, where I must have died at least four times in the first area, and countless other times along the way. It wasn't even a boss, I was just trying to escape.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Fate/Unlimited Codes has the most bizarre Normal difficulty this side of the original US release of DMC3. On normal, most fights are a cakewalk, even up to the ninth of ten total stages per character. And then the tenth battle, the final boss and your character's second storyline fight, doesn't so much spike the difficulty as uppercut it into the stratosphere. Playing as Shirou, it took me a freakin' hour and a half and a God Hand-like amount of continues to beat Kotomine; it was like an SNK final boss, but with the cheap CPU-only malarky replaced with simple smart playing.

Speaking of God Hand...Mr.s Gold and Silver on Hard Mode. I was expecting that fight to be difficult, but it wasn't even a fight the first 70 times, just a curbstomp.

 

[freedash22]

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
Total Air War

The greatest ballbusting experiences of my gaming life and I am proud of it!

 

[SushiJaguar]

Dark Souls has just this second pissed me off with a difficulty spike, causing me to quit the game and check out The Escapist. I got to Blighttown, and was happily plodding along killing weird looking mosquitoes and giant guys with clubs, when suddenly I notice I'm being shot at by a bunch of zombies with blowdarts, and despite blocking the darts I've been poisoned.

"No worries!" I think, "The game just gave me a giant stockpile of poison curing moss a couple of areas ago."

"Nope!" Interrupts Dark Souls "This isn't poison, this is toxin, which is obviously completely different."

Me: "..."

Dark Souls: "By the way, you're dead."

Me: "..."

Spider Shield, Shadow Garb, 10+ Blooming Moss Clumps. You'll be fine.

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.

 

[Keith Fraser]

Where

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn

Where did you find the difficulty spike to be here? The first time I played it I didn't level up enough and couldn't make it through Irenicus' minions in Suldanesselar. I'd screwed up so much stuff that I just went back and started a new character.