Weird difficulty curves in videogames

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Killing floor.

Beginner: I could do this with my eyes shut!
Normal: Wow, this is quite hard
Hard: That bloody thing just killed me in one hit!
Suicidal: Why won't anything die!

Nothin' steady about that.

 

[SmartIdiot]

Fallout 3... once you get past a certain level, Deathclaws just spring up everywhere

 

[bcponpcp27]

Mario Kart, you use a good handling kart and blow through the 150cc, then you use a big strong, hard to turn car and you can't even do Rainbow Road without falling 6 times a lap.

Fuck 150cc, the computer cheats. Seriously, It'll let you think your winning by the final stage, and then you get pummeled with 50 different items at every opportunity.

 

[The Atomic Irishman]

Eve, There is a learning curve like no other:
Brutal
More Brutal
Even more Brutal
Unforgiving
Requires virgin sacrifice
Arm
Leg
Firstborn

 

[hopeneverdies]

FFVIII pissed me off, because it levelled up enemies at the same rate as you, so you couldn't go back to the starter areas and just pwn shit

You know Square probably did that because they realized grinding=bad. Plus they sort of wanted you to use the junction system to increase stats.
And then for some reason the idea that grinding is not bad returned to later games.

For me, Advance Wars Days of Ruin had a really wonky curve.
TL;DR version: Basically up and down over and over again.

Spoiler: Detailed overview

Up through chapter 5 was extremely easy as it should be. Then the next three sort of up'd the ante. 9 was super easy. 10 was mildly difficult. 11-13 were easy. 14 was slightly harder than 10. 15 and 16 were easy. 17 got hard. 18 and 19 were also very easy. And then 20 was just plain evil. Completely random AI, enemy favoring terrain, super easy to stalemate. 21-23 were hard. 24 was more relaxed. And then 25 and 26 were pretty unfair. But still not as unfair as 20.

Fuck 150cc, the computer cheats. Seriously, It'll let you think your winning by the final stage, and then you get pummeled with 50 different items at every opportunity.

Double Dash mirror on Rainbow Road proved that not even the cheating computer can do that track well. And if you're doing co-op and you're backseat driver is a jerk, there will be a lot of colorful language.

 

[Anarien]

Psychonauts did this big time with The Meat Circus. The game is simple enough all the way through, then ramps up the difficulty 100000% all of a sudden.

 

[HappyPillz]

FF12. The first third of the game was quite reasonably difficult, but, thanks to the gambit system, the game just got easier and easier, until I found that I could beat the last boss without even being in the room. I'd go and get myself something to eat, come back, "Hey look, credits."

 

[Fappy]

Oblivion suffered from this problem horrifically.

 

[blue heartless]

Ico put you on hard mode and KEPT YOU THERE.

 

[Deleted]

Mario Kart, you use a good handling kart and blow through the 150cc, then you use a big strong, hard to turn car and you can't even do Rainbow Road without falling 6 times a lap.

Fuck 150cc, the computer cheats. Seriously, It'll let you think your winning by the final stage, and then you get pummeled with 50 different items at every opportunity.

Doesn't help that they go faster than their cart should allow if you're in the lead, its impossible to double lap them if they're using a slow car, they'll just catch up. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RubberBandAI]

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

I thought Halo 3 had a rather strange difficulty curve.

 

[ShrooM_DoughKiD]

Killer Instinct - SNES, get past the first opponent, all good, then you get your ass handed to you in the next round.

Legend Of Zelda; OoT - Water Temple, 'nuff said

 

[weker]

yer thats not the difficulty thats u seeing as it is called a baby skag and all

After playing Borderlands for a while, i noticed one thing which kept on happening to me, i would dominate enemies in some areas like an undefeatable gaming god, and then move to another area of the game and get flattened by an enemy which, in the previous area, i could kill by looking at it angrily.

although i do love borderlands dearly as a game, i thought the difficulty curve was odd and very inconsistent, jumping from easy to impossible instantly.

so, fellow escapists, i would like to invite you all to share your views on videogames, which in your opinion have wierd difficulty curves.

(p.s. please be nice, this is my very first post)

its called levelling too high for the area

well, its starts off fairly easy, then as soon as youve done a few beggining quests BAM your in "skag gully" or somewhere and before you can even move, youve had your balls ripped off by a baby skag.

there is a reason why there called a baby skag the only slight threat in skag gully is nine toes and the large skag boss other then that the area is easy and you need to be better at shooters if your have trob with that

 

[bawkbawkboo1]

No one has mentioned Dead Rising yet? wow.

 

[mr.aravaro]

fable 2 has pretty much no difficulty curve at all

 

[David Bray]

Welcome to posting.

I hate it when puzzle games' difficulties fluctuate. Let me evolve with the game like Portal, learning the tools of the trade.

However, in most games its not so much a problem as long as its not ridiculous. In horror it keeps my heart beating, but in Halo it can be really silly.

Walk down a street, a few jackles. Turn a corner: 20 troops waiting to piss on you. Round that corner: a grunt.
Ughh. Love the game but difficulty can take the mick on Legendary.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

Darksiders on Yahtzee's scale.

Hard - Hard - Hard - Games for your Mum.

Seriously, once you have your horse, the game becomes ridiculously easy.

 

[SnipErlite]

Mario Kart, you use a good handling kart and blow through the 150cc, then you use a big strong, hard to turn car and you can't even do Rainbow Road without falling 6 times a lap.

God I hate Rainbow Road

And I tentatively think of MW2 - some parts of levels through hordes at you, and later levels weren't so bad

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Jak 2 had some pretty sharp spikes, iirc.

 

[bawkbawkboo1]

Far Cry 2 had a difficulty curve akin to sprinting into a brick wall with armed gun-jeeps materializing out of goddamn NOWHERE while completing whatever milk-run job you have at the moment. I was playing on a pretty small monitor (19" 1680x1050) with a mediocre mouse and had a hard time completing it on normal difficulty.