Games that overestimate the strength of its bad guys.

[Zeke17]

Another Skyrim example.

Spoiler: The Thieves Guild quest line

The leader Mercer Frey. Karliah acts as if you cannot possibly defeat him unless you join forces with the Daedra Nocturnal. He is no more difficult than the average Draugr Lord, except he occasionally goes invisible and tries to run from you.

There is no obvious reason as to why you need to sell your soul to a demon in order to beat him.

You can even climb up the ridge in the back of that cave and use unrelenting force to shout him off when he follows you. It's a one hit kill with no effort at all.

 

[vid87]

*Spoilers for Final Fantasy X* (...is it actually necessary at this point?)

I haven't beaten it in a while, but, assuming I'm remembering it right, was final form Yevon (the scarab beetle-looking thing)supposed to be some sort allegory or something? Like there's all this build-up for his evil greatness and he's just some weird cowardly bug that hides inside a juggernaut and heals himself instead of attacking. I didn't know anything going into the fight the first time, but I just cast reflect on him and he was screwed.

EDIT (after watching fight on Youtube): ...yep.

 

[UrinalDook]

The final boss in Assassins Creed 2. This guy has been the big baddy you have been chasing the whole game, he has the ancient mystical artifact that is supposed to make him unbeatabble. He doesn't even use it in the fight you have with him, you dont even use your own weapons and you spend 3 minutes punching this guy. A bit anticlimactic.

Really? I thought that bit was friggin' awesome! But maybe that's just because I knew who Rodrigo Borgia was going into the game. Based on what I already knew from history, punching the crap out of him was a great way to cap off the game.

yeah i didn't word my post EXACTLY right, I knew it wasn't a reaper, but it's still based on the same technology, was the point i was going for. and yes, thanix missiles...We have dismissed that claim

Yes, I suppose it is all a bit anti-climactic. You know what else bugged me at the time? Hackett talking about 'Hammer', 'Sword' and 'Shield'. I mean, it wasn't too difficult to work out what was going on, but I definitely feel the game missed out the scene where someone actually explains to you what the plan of attack is. Even if that plan ultimately amounted to 'Zerg rush the magic space lift'. Also, couldn't we have got the Blue Sun/Eclipse to that? Nobody would have missed them...

Also, as in a response to you, the arch demon can be a ***** and a half, especially if you don't crowd control correctly with your mage(s). (always have haste+ice weapons+other spells going at the same time) Those spells keep your party firing like machine guns at whatever they are attacking, and make sure to keep your mages a distance away from the main chunk of the battle, the arch demon does those stupid attacks that hurt anything in range. (Did you summon your "allies"? I forgot to do that the first time, it honestly does help keep busy some of the baddies)

In fairness, I have only got to the end of DA:O once. I suspect my party would have been Tank Warden, Tank Alistair, Wynne and Leliana. And I didn't exactly have Wynne specced very well for damage dealing or crowd control; she was my healer and pretty much nothing more. So that was probably my main issue. I should really go back and finish the game with my more evil, Morrigan-banging Blood Mage Warden with an evil goatee and badman Elvis do, I just got so bored when I got to Denerim that every time I come back, I've completely forgotten what I'm in the middle of. Also, I get less involved in a world I'm actively fucking up than virtuously saving. Yeah, I did use the cannon fodder troops too. But I vaguely recall that I might have squandered some of the better ones just trying to get to the tower.

Like I said, this was my first run and I'm not brilliant at older school RPG mechanics, particular getting crowd control specced properly. I'm currently replaying DA2 for some shits and giggles, only I've ramped up the difficulty to Nightmare. If I don't end up breaking my controller, maybe I'll give DA:O another spin.

 

[Strazdas]

A great many of strategy games where you get punded for 3 missions by people telling you that X person is so strnog and pwoerful and is going to destroy us all and whne you meet them in a mission they gloat how they are goign to crush me jut before the attack and then..... send 3 guys in that dont even leave scraches on my units shields.....
In fact most difficulty in strategy games come from clunky controls and not AI. There are exceptions, like in Rise of Nations the AI actually looked for places in your defend they can get aroudn and surround you and while yes you have to play 2 vs 6 (me and a friend) for it to be challenging, but heck the AI moves fast.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

The last 3 main bosses of Diablo 3, with Azmodan maybe excluded. The Butcher is IMO the hardest boss in the game, because it's at least somewhat tactical. All the other big boss fights are made difficult only by 1 or 2 special attacks that either instakill you or lead to you getting ganged on and killed. The only hard part in the last fight against Diablo is the shadow part, where you have to kill clones of yourself.

Mankar Camoran in Oblivion would have been disappointing had I known or cared who the hell he was. I think he was supposed to be the main "human" villain of the story, but the main quest of Oblivion was so awful the story just became a blurry haze after getting Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple. The final fight against him takes place in a hall about the size of an average Jarl's longhouse in Skyrim, an it's just him and two other guys whose names I forgot. It felt particularly baffling when one of them asked "Didn't expect to see me here?", like I was supposed to remember him (or her?).

 

[DSK-]

The Reapers in the Mass Effect trilogy. In ME1 they genuinely seem to be shreddy-soilingly terrible and scary, along with an awesomely scripted conversation with Sovereign.
In ME2 they sort of take a back seat, and in ME3 they gradually become push-overs (like some people have mentioned with the Cain's). It's a shame really :/

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Wilhelm in Borderlands 2. I mean, that guy supposedly crashed the whole cast of Borderlands 1, managed to take him out in about 10-20 seconds.

Well true but maybe that was intentional considering

Spoiler

The core you get from destroying him allows jack to hack sanctuary and remove the shield walls

Mass effect was pretty notorious for talking up the difficulties of the major bad guys before you fought and killed them in game no sweat.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Spoiler: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Tirnoch. She was built up as this invincible god-like creature with infinite power that would destroy the world if she ever got out. And then here comes the Fateless One, kicking her ass with ease. I was hoping for something more challenging, but even on Hard she was cake.

 

[AgedGrunt]

I agree with Mass Effect examples but I think the combat and design just made it too hard to be interactive, especially with Kai Leng. The writing for him didn't help; it's almost like Bioware didn't like the guy.

As long as there are games there will always be difficulty issues. The problem is balance.

I'm almost reluctant to ask this ... were you intentionally quoting the original MGS game there, or is that just me being an embarrassingly obsessive Liquid Snake fanboy?

Have some Internet points. And there was a good estimation of strength throughout the older games in the series. I still hated how he survives everything. "At this height, it will kill even you" ("but I walk away from it").

 

[DementedSheep]

And Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, and LaCroix? Hell, you kill him in a cutscene. Or let him just be blown up.

LaCroix always came across as a schemer not a fighter and a bit on the pathetic side (Malks even go so far as to call him "jester prince") so I wasn't that surprised that you don't actually fight him directly. They give you a traditional boss fight in the form of his muscle, Sheriff which was an OK boss fight.

Oh, to say nothing about Zhaitan. THAT was simply [/i]pathetic[/i], ArenaNet.

That however I agree with. It was always anti climatic but even more so now since they reduced the size of the mobs you have to fight prior to him getting hit with the laser and removed the snake things he summons. It's by far the easiest part of the entire dungeon. You just sit on a cannon and fire away while he dose next to nothing.

 

[TheGrueHunter]

Wilhelm in Borderlands 2. I mean, that guy supposedly crashed the whole cast of Borderlands 1, managed to take him out in about 10-20 seconds.

That's the point, he is supposed to be easy so when you kill him you are all like " OMG, I am God!" and you have hope that you can kill jack only to have all that hope ripped from you minutes later.

That was the idea behind it, but it was mishandled and ended up backfiring pretty badly. Essentially I put in the amount of effort equal to flicking an insect off of my arm and everyone treated me like a god for doing so. I was not left feeling that I was awesome, I was left feeling severely let down and thinking that all the other characters are pathetic and incompetent.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

How about the Didact in Halo 4? Now there was a villain who had a lot of potential that was just swept under the rug. He?s given this grand reveal that firmly establishes him as a massive threat going as far as to show how much greater he is than the Chief as he just handles him like a rag doll, removing any sense of empowerment the player might have had while embodying the character. Yes they made it clear that this was a bad ass and one hell of a villain, but then...bye bye Didact. See you in the final act for your QE. Seriously the rest of the game all this guy is, is a disembodied voice taunting you.

There is never really any real interaction between him and the Chief (you the player) that allow you to really grow any strong feelings towards him. Not one moment where you can really say hey I understand this character I don?t like him but I see where he is coming from or any moments that make you absolutely hate him.
He?s just the bad guy who kind of falls into the background.

Sure you are still subjected to and witness to some of his heinous actions against mankind but he?s never really there.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

*Spoilers for Final Fantasy X* (...is it actually necessary at this point?)

I haven't beaten it in a while, but, assuming I'm remembering it right, was final form Yevon (the scarab beetle-looking thing)supposed to be some sort allegory or something? Like there's all this build-up for his evil greatness and he's just some weird cowardly bug that hides inside a juggernaut and heals himself instead of attacking. I didn't know anything going into the fight the first time, but I just cast reflect on him and he was screwed.

EDIT (after watching fight on Youtube): ...yep.

Afaik he casts pretty strong stuff on your party, he Auto-Lifes you when you die. Always. So I don't see the point of putting Reflect on him. Any sort of healing he could be doing should not even come close to the damage you should be doing at that point (10k+ melee, 20k+ double cast spells)

 

[vid87]

*Spoilers for Final Fantasy X* (...is it actually necessary at this point?)

I haven't beaten it in a while, but, assuming I'm remembering it right, was final form Yevon (the scarab beetle-looking thing)supposed to be some sort allegory or something? Like there's all this build-up for his evil greatness and he's just some weird cowardly bug that hides inside a juggernaut and heals himself instead of attacking. I didn't know anything going into the fight the first time, but I just cast reflect on him and he was screwed.

EDIT (after watching fight on Youtube): ...yep.

Afaik he casts pretty strong stuff on your party, he Auto-Lifes you when you die. Always. So I don't see the point of putting Reflect on him. Any sort of healing he could be doing should not even come close to the damage you should be doing at that point (10k+ melee, 20k+ double cast spells)

Actually, I don't remember being able to do that much damage because I wasn't seriously level-grinding. Or maybe I was just being cautious because I was, embarrassing to say, taking him seriously at the time.

 

[spartandude]

How about the Didact in Halo 4? Now there was a villain who had a lot of potential that was just swept under the rug. He?s given this grand reveal that firmly establishes him as a massive threat going as far as to show how much greater he is than the Chief as he just handles him like a rag doll, removing any sense of empowerment the player might have had while embodying the character. Yes they made it clear that this was a bad ass and one hell of a villain, but then...bye bye Didact. See you in the final act for your QE. Seriously the rest of the game all this guy is, is a disembodied voice taunting you.

completely agree with you

"This is your genetic destiny chief"
"I know this hurts yous chief"
"Concentrate on the chief!"
.... oh wait wrong game. but did anyone else feel as though the didact was a Halofied (its a new official word by me) version of the Harbinger from mass effect 2 and not just in terms of voice (Keith Szarabajka) but also in terms of character almost
seriously take the Harbinger's lines from mass effect 2 and replace any time he says shepard with either chief or spartan and then any time he says reaper or collector say it with forerunner or promethean. and its a seamless transition between the 2 characters

 

[Chester Rabbit]

How about the Didact in Halo 4? Now there was a villain who had a lot of potential that was just swept under the rug. He?s given this grand reveal that firmly establishes him as a massive threat going as far as to show how much greater he is than the Chief as he just handles him like a rag doll, removing any sense of empowerment the player might have had while embodying the character. Yes they made it clear that this was a bad ass and one hell of a villain, but then...bye bye Didact. See you in the final act for your QE. Seriously the rest of the game all this guy is, is a disembodied voice taunting you.

completely agree with you

"This is your genetic destiny chief"
"I know this hurts yous chief"
"Concentrate on the chief!"
.... oh wait wrong game. but did anyone else feel as though the didact was a Halofied (its a new official word by me) version of the Harbinger from mass effect 2 and not just in terms of voice (Keith Szarabajka) but also in terms of character almost
seriously take the Harbinger's lines from mass effect 2 and replace any time he says shepard with either chief or spartan and then any time he says reaper or collector say it with forerunner or promethean. and its a seamless transition between the 2 characters

I said the exact same thing while playing and after I finished the game.
"Wow this guy sure is Harbingering it up in here"
"He kind of seemed a little like Harbinger to me with the constant taunting"
Then i find out oh it's because he IS HARBINGER!
Seriously they should have just had him take control of the Prometheans at times and say ?We are Didact!?