Weird difficulty curves in videogames

[Daniel Cygnus]

Ocarina of Time. It's pretty easy for the longest time, and then...BAM! Water Temple! Hope you enjoyed the last of your sanity. That small key...that damn small key...WHERE IS IT?!

 

[Woodsey]

I had this problem with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. On the default difficulty setting, the game's just a touch shy of truly difficult, right up to the point when you hit Felucia. That's when the kid gloves come off, apparently, with enemies that can cut your lifebar by half with one combo, Rancors that can take you out with a sweep of the claw and swarms enemies that can't be killed until you take out the "chieftain" that leads them.

The biggest difficulty spike that I found was on Raxus Prime. On easy it's f*cking difficult.

 

[mortalsatsuma]

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

ok, you clearly didnt understand why i used a baby skag as an example. i used it as an example of a supposedly very weak enemy being given stupid strength at the begining of the game. borderlands is a difficult game to get started with, you just about think youve got yourself establised when all of a sudden the enemies have levelled up and your back to square one, getting your nuts chomped off by a (levelled up) skag

 

[Lord Beautiful]

I guess Mass effect, it may have been just me but when I began the game everything was easy, I was shoving assault rifles up geth noses like nobody's business, then, all of a sudden, when I got to the fight against the geth walker (on foot) on the mission where you have to find Liara, the game breaks out the rape cannons. You have to fight two new, difficult foes at once (the walker and the stalkers) and contend with several other geth, all right after an unskippable cutscene!

The entire game seemed to kinda be like this,cruising on easy street until the game periodically decides to pummel you into the ground.

I have to agree with you on this one. Though I love that game with a tremendous passion (in the most un-creepy way possible, I assure you), the difficulty spikes really toast my nards. It's also reassuring to know that I wasn't the only one insanely pissed at that scene in particular. Damn that Krogan, taking forever to kill.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Playing Prototype on easy and normal was enjoyable, hard mode?

It's like having no arms or legs whilst a bionic rapist is chasing you.

 

[bluefiresword]

Eve online. Simple killing pirates at first and then WHAM!! like 30 drones and your warpjammed. then spend about a week trying to buy all the equipment for your ship again and this time insure the ship. (or maybe that was just me)

 

[setphaserstostun]

I guess Mass effect, it may have been just me but when I began the game everything was easy, I was shoving assault rifles up geth noses like nobody's business, then, all of a sudden, when I got to the fight against the geth walker (on foot) on the mission where you have to find Liara, the game breaks out the rape cannons. You have to fight two new, difficult foes at once (the walker and the stalkers) and contend with several other geth, all right after an unskippable cutscene!

The entire game seemed to kinda be like this,cruising on easy street until the game periodically decides to pummel you into the ground.

That is the RPG thing kicking in. Story missions are like that because they mark major plot points in a way to tell you "this is important, player." Though i was surprised by that too.

 

[setphaserstostun]

Demon's Souls was an odd game. See, it took half my health at the beginning, and then told me I'd only get it back after killing the big monsters. WTF! Here's health, even though you've proved you don't need it.

 

[qubit]

Resident Evil 4, Chapter 3-1. All of it.

The game has been intense but not too challenging so far. Having gotten a fairly easy escort mission throughout the last part of Chapter 2 (I think it was Chapter 2-3) and the cabin fight which was awesome but not particularly difficult, you find yourself in midget Napoleon's castle.

First you have Ganados with massive cannons firing at you, and you have to snipe the monks manning the cannons, one of whom is directly covering the switch you need to press and is frakking HARD to hit without a sniper rifle of some sort (and even then he's positioned so that you basically HAVE to be in his line of fire before you can kill him). Then you have more Ganado monk rape while trying to get a key. And THEN you're introduced to the nightmare-fuel incarnate, blind Wolverine clone Garrador in a ridiculously difficult one-on-one fight.

Then, just when you think you've seen it all, there's the infamous "water hall" map. You start off being ambushed by fifteen or so Ganado at once with two bow-and-arrow snipers at choke points above you, who all have about a 90% chance of turning into the head-munching Plagas form and if you so much as kill one of them EVEN MORE show up, and you have to cross to the other side of the map with Ashley to press two switches at once, and THEN you have to go back up stairs with Ganados flanking you from all sides, and turn a crank to lower a bridge (either you do it and have to look out for more mooks, or have Ashley do it and protect her). But no, we're not done yet. THEN immediately after this you have a segment where Ashley is turning cranks on a catwalk and you provide sniper fire, while at the same time being ambushed by more Ganados on the ground. ONLY THEN are you free of the terrors of the water hall.

Oh, and the nearest save point is three maps away. Have fun!

The rest of the chapter is painful, but nowhere near as painful as this. The rest of the GAME, however, gets progressively harder, but never as sharp as 3-1's curve.

As much as I adore RE4 (perhaps a bit too much), this part never fails to piss me off. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to go and back redo this map with the Chicago Typewriter and just go Rambo on every. last. goddamn. mook.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I haven't even read all of the thread and I know all of your suggestions pale in comparison to Wallace and Gromit: Project Zoo. Most of the game is fairly light hearted and easy as you'd expect, and has a fairly smooth and shallow difficulty curve, just about right. But the last level (the diamond machine) is a fucking brick wall.

Compare the second last level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQOjrpDYmM&feature=PlayList&p=B1EAD583F03C905A&index=16
(apologies for the low quality and idiots narration)

To the final level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7QrdzKTxOQ&feature=PlayList&p=B1EAD583F03C905A&index=25

Yup, in that second clip you have to jump from one tiny platform to another while timed, and any missed jump results in certain death. Then you have to complete the fiddly shooting bit at the end. Be quick about it, or the cute baby polar bear burns to death. The guy in the videos getting seriously pissed off, and he's probably done it several times before.

 

[Halceon]

I gather that the difficulty in Mario Basketball goes like this:
easy - easy - easy - easy - SHITBRICKWALL

This made me laugh, because it ties in with what i was going to post.

Dwarf fortress. Installing the game is easy. Running it - no problem. Generating a world - piece of cake. Game start - SHITBRICKWALL.

 

[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

ok, you clearly didnt understand why i used a baby skag as an example. i used it as an example of a supposedly very weak enemy being given stupid strength at the begining of the game. borderlands is a difficult game to get started with, you just about think youve got yourself establised when all of a sudden the enemies have levelled up and your back to square one, getting your nuts chomped off by a (levelled up) skag

i did notice but still u need to be better the game it isnt very hard at all
the only time it actually is, is on play through 2

 

[Elesar]

Halo, as a series, always had the weirdest difficulty curve, but what made it weirder was that is was weird the same way in each game:
Game starts out really hard, peaks midway through, goes down from there, easiest level is the last.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Welcome, welcome. Leave your hat and coat at the reception, and a herald will announce your newly aqcuired membership by the large iguana to your left.

Well, the first thing that pops into my mind would be the last gig on Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

Everything was a cruise until Raining Blood by Slayer.

INdeed. the last set list is 10 times harder then anything else in that game.

 

[jimduckie]

killzone 2 had a strange curve that made me regret buying it , the fucking library drove me quackers

 

[RatRace123]

Dragon Age, if you don't play it in a very specific order, YOU DIE ALOT

 

[Paddin]

I had this problem with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. On the default difficulty setting, the game's just a touch shy of truly difficult, right up to the point when you hit Felucia. That's when the kid gloves come off, apparently, with enemies that can cut your lifebar by half with one combo, Rancors that can take you out with a sweep of the claw and swarms enemies that can't be killed until you take out the "chieftain" that leads them.

God, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is so damn cheap, youll be doing well until you walk into a room and 4 AT-STs will start shooting at you, knocking you to the floor with every shot, meaning that even if you dont die youll still lose the majority of your health

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

I think most people who've played it will disagree with me, but I think the first half of Secret of Mana is an endurance test to see how long you can go before screaming in rage. But once get halfway through, it becomes a total breeze. Even the final boss was easy.

 

[yasuraka.hakkyou]

Dragon Age, if you don't play it in a very specific order, YOU DIE ALOT

I'll admit the scripted Revenant fight at castle Redcliffe can be a ***** if it's just an unlock-several-classes character, and Witherfang can unleash the beastiality on you but other than that, just try the fight again a few times.