Unexpectedly hard games

[PinkPanzer]

I remember donkey Kong country 2 being quite hard near the end, and especially some of the levels flying as the parrot with all the thorns all over the place!

[J T]

Aww, he's a cute, fat little wizard. How hard could it be?

Oh.

[Erik_Twice]

I know I'll probably get a 'really?' out of it, but Ikaruga. I never played the game that inspired it, nor the DC release either. I went into that one blind on the gamecube and didn't think it would be that bad because you could switch the shield polarity to absorb hits instead of blow up. Yeah...not so much, it's mean, even on easy.

Radiant Silvergun is signficantly harder than Ikaruga and far more reliant on scoring. You can beat Ikaruga with a bad score, but if you don't score in RS you simply won't do enough damage to kill the later bosses.

I really think there's a lot of people that hear all the praise Ikaruga gets and tries it out without really being ready for it because it was a game created for people who already understand the genre.

[Tanooki]

Maybe so about Ikaruga. I've seen Radiant Silvergun in play, a lot of it, just never owned it or dug into it is all. The truth is I don't do well and avoid bullethell games, they piss me off to where I break shit. I like the pre-hell shooters where they were more challenging and strategic and fast twitch action from the 80s and 90s. I was surprised to see last year this game was released on Android, solidly at $10. If that ever hits a sale I'll probably snap it up.

That comment about DKC on Wii, dead on with the control. I had it on there, suspected it would be trouble so I bought it cheap used. Nearly flipped over that one because that f'ing waggle thrown in there, and it wasn't the only time waggle was forced into a platformer (SMB Wii) making things worse than they should be. It was their equal of fouling up Zelda on DS forcing stylus only play which didn't flow well.

[Erik_Twice]

It's funny, because I think bullet hell games are far more relaxed than the twitchy, Toaplan games of the 90s.

We'll have to agree to disagree Tanooki

[horseyhorsey]

Super meat boy. I spent half an hour trying to do the second hurdle on one stage the other night, got cold sweats and rage quit. I am destined never to get beyond 68% dark world.

[ExedExes]

It's funny, because I think bullet hell games are far more relaxed than the twitchy, Toaplan games of the 90s.

We'll have to agree to disagree Tanooki

What, you find bullet hell better than entire ship hitboxes and crappy checkpoints that are in nearly every Toaplan shmup?

Yeah, well if it weren't for Shmup of The Month I'd find the older games better.

+1 reference to Solomon's Key too. The fun is in the difficulty!

[Soldier Blue]

Dark Souls

Really?

Yes, really. There's no question it is one of the most frustratingly difficult games I have ever played, and I would say even unexpectedly so.

I don't like how the game gives you a false sense of security and then BOOM all of your built up soul points are gone because of some cheap death and you are sent to the last bonfire. I hate that level up system so much. Two particular stages that I hated were Sens Fortress and Anor Londo. In those two stages I can't tell you how many countless countless times I died. It made me come to the crushing realization that, "Hey, this isn't fun anymore and isn't what I look for in a game."

After I cleared Anor Londo I vowed I never want to play this game again. Yes the game has some gorgeous scenery, but to me, it's not worth it.

[J T]

^
I think his point was that Dark Souls is expectedly hard, not unexpectedly hard.

[Soldier Blue]

Hmm I guess, but my point is it's even harder than you think it will be!