Biggest Difficulty Spike You Have Ever Experienced

[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.

 

[Naqel]

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.

 

[Kushan101]

Diablo 2 last boss of Act 2.. cant remember the name... Duriel.. i think... rapes me everytime firsttime so back to grinding gear with resistances x)

Duriel is a complete, and utter, bastard. Trying to fight him as a sorceress was a nightmare - everything up to that point wasn't bad. But when you then have a boss thrown at you that one hits your mercenary, runs nearly as fast as you do when he's been FROZEN and can kill you in two hits, you know its gonna be a frustrating time. Ended up just opening a town portal right before him, throwing a couple of ice spikes at him, him killing me and then going back to him again. And again. And again.

For a similar exercise in frustration: try beating Diablo as a summoner Necromancer - that poison nova attack of his will kill ALL your minions in one hit. Fun times.

 

[Rozalia1]

Interesting question...I'd say the most recent I can recall, which by that I mean the last few years would be Victoria 2 while playing as Japan.

Starts easy enough if you're any good as defeating China and grabbing Korea is easy enough...than you westernize and have rebels popping out the ass all the time. It constantly saps your ability to fight back and if they don't do you in than your rebelling armies will.
Having to stop slapping China about with your imperial armies to focus on a rebellion that apparently involves every living being in Japan isn't very fun.

 

[Charli]

Ironically enough, WoW had one in the recent raid. Siege of Orgrimmar.

My team was happily mowing down heroic bosses all the way up to this fucker.

(Using methods footage because they edit better than I could ever manage)


Fuck this fight. (But damn felt good when it fell)

 

[Fredvdp]

In Mass Effect, many of the sidemissions can be very hard if you do them early on. I tend to skip them until I completed a large portion of the main storyline.

 

[spartandude]

Matriarch

Fucking

Benezia

I second this, my first time playing Mass Effect she kicked my ass. the amount of times i went through that dialogue.... *shudders*

I would also suggest another game, all im going to say is "Look at all that juice!"

 

[cerebreturns]

Disgaea 2. The whole game has a bit of difficulty then you get to the last 5 battles, where the bosses jump 10 levels each time...in a tactics rpg.

 

[freedash22]

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.

When I found the demi-lich at the docks and kept using some kind of dimensional prison on my party disappearing them entirely in one hit. LOL!

 

[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.

 

[JettMaverick]

Ikaruga, no difficulty curve, but an entire vertical drop.

 

[Brownie80]

*Playing GTA: SA* This is really fun! *Gets to Wrong Side of the Tracks* YES BIG SMOKE I KNOW I HAD TO FOLLOW THE TRAIN FOR THE 94TH TIME ALREADY! So, yeah. That mission took me for-freaking-ever to beat.

 

[Qvar]

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.

OT: For me it would be... Magicka maybe. Those gd yetis AND the dwarves afterwards sucked the soul out of me.