Most Difficult Game You've Ever Played

Gaige

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Exactly what it says on the tin. :hmph:

My most difficult game ever is a tie between two games made by the same company. A company that admits they get off on the anguish their games' difficulty creates in their customers.

First, and a few of you will probably have heard of this, is Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. The premise is very simple at first glance, with your team, a human and up to three demons, facing off enemies in a turn based RPG where commands are carried out the moment you input them.

However, the press turn system makes this anything but simple.

Basically, there is a small symbol for every member of your team. This is a press turn. So if you have four demons, you have four press turns. Getting a critical hit or striking an enemy's weak point only uses up half a press turn. A blocked or missed attack will take two, and a reflected or absorbed attack drains the remains of your press turns.

Late game enemies have party hitting elemental attacks and physical attacks that are likely to strike a weak point, and so basically, enemies can have up to ten turns. Not to mention there are enemy exclusive abilities that can give the enemy up to FIVE extra turns. This game is so difficult it's possible (and quite easy) to die in the tutorial battle.

Next is Devil Survivor, a mix of grid based strategy and turn based RPG, in which your characters and the enemy on the field move around. Upon an enemy character and an allied character meeting, the screen transitions to something more like this.

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Now upon entering this screen, you'll see three demons, and basically everyone will input their attacks before the actual battle carries out. Similar to Nocturne, attacking weaknesses and getting critical hits nets you "Extra Turn" symbols, which you can see above/below some characters.

Unfortunately, the computer is something of a cheating bastard in this, giving the computer extra turns from the very start of the battle, and random damage attacks seem to favor the computer. As well as that, if you're frozen or shocked by ice and electric attacks respectively, not only are you unable to act, but the enemy is guaranteed to get a critical hit every time it attacks you, netting it extra turns. :rage:

Not only that, but with enemy specific abilities that give it extra turns, allow it to attack you from a longer range, rendering you unable to strike back, and attack everyone on the field without initiating a direct battle, this game can be infuriating at its worst.

While this is mainly a rant thread, Imma counterbalance by asking you guys for your most difficult games. :mokken: Shoot.
 
Ghosts and Goblins on the arcade (?) I can't remember what console it came from. But it's almost difficult to get passed the first level, actually not many people have gotten passed the first level. Not only that but when you think that you have completed the game, you find out that it was only a illusion and then you have to do it ALL OVER AGAIN. And the ending, some words with 'congratulates' spelt wrong. Wow, worth the effort >> noooot. :amg:
 
Nocturne and Devil Survivor were very tough. ATLUS in general has a habit of putting out really, really challenging games.

My answer to this question is also an ATLUS title: Demon's Souls.

That game is so hard I recall spending most of my time screaming angrily at the screen instead of just sitting back and enjoying it. That game is incredibly demanding, and you're really fighting for your life.

...Oh, how ATLUS loves to punish its fanbase with incredibly difficult games.
 
I had the (dis)pleasure of playing Battle Toads on the NES. That game was insanely hard, from what I remember. That level where you're on that hover jet-ski thing, its not even fair.

Another fairly tough game, also for the NES, was Ninja Gaiden. I've made it to the final boss many times, but it's pretty infuriating. And if you die, you go back like 7 stages or some bullshit. :hmph: This basically takes the steam out of your sails and you give up.
 
Hardcore Ops.

I'm sure if I actually gave a flying crap I could be better at it, but me + starting back at the beginning of the level and having to watch some crap that's longer than 2 seconds = broken controllers.

The Disgaea games also irritate me quite a bit since I like to run and gun the story and enjoy the game after completing it. It's difficult to just run stage through stage without bothering to level up in these games.

I also recall Shadow Kanji and Shadow Yukiko from Persona 4 to be infuriating bosses. Had Kanji at like 1% of his health and didn't know Persona 4 is another one of those games where it's game over if the main character becomes unconscious.

It's really annoying.
 
I don't really know which game was more difficult for me, so I'll name a couple.

Super Ghost's N Goblins

I was soooo young when I tried this, but it was strangely fun. I died a bunch of times, and after a couple hours I quit. Then about 12 years later, I found it and tried again. It still is tooooo difficult!!! A couple hits and your dead, and need good weapons, but hard to get some without actually getting hit.

Persona series

I name the series because I only really beat the 4th one. The only one I haven't tried was the one that wasn't released in the US. I made it to the last dungeon in the first Persona (yes the original PS, not the PSP), I of course didn't understand most of it, but it was fun. Persona 2 Eternal Punishment remains one of my favorites, and I really want to beat it. The fighting is much better than the first, and I love most of the characters in the game. I would try beat Persona 3, but I died way far in the game (I believe it was on a bridge), and couldn't backtrack because I stupidly saved once.
 
Contra Fates said:
That game is so hard I recall spending most of my time screaming angrily at the screen instead of just sitting back and enjoying it. That game is incredibly demanding, and you're really fighting for your life.
This. Demon's Souls isn't just difficult, it's mind-numbingly unfair. You're extremely slow and fragile, enemies hit ridiculously hard - one or two hits from a normal enemy is enough to kill you, and a lot kill you in one hit - and it has absolutely nothing resembling a learning curve. It's been several years since I actually sold a game because it was too hard for me. Demon's Souls was murder. And to think, you actually unlock harder difficulties once you finish it. What. The. HELL.
 
I would say the most difficult game i have ever played was The Legend of Dragoon for PS1.

The reason i found it difficult was the fact that it took forever for all the characters in my party to level up.

The other difficult game i remember playing was freaking Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I remember it being a bitch to find all of the various arrow variety's and all the other weapons you needed to actually face & defeat Gannondorf.

Peace!
 
I had the (dis)pleasure of playing Battle Toads on the NES. That game was insanely hard, from what I remember. That level where you're on that hover jet-ski thing, its not even fair.


Battletoads........brings back soooo many horrid memories. That game was freaking evil.
 
I would say the most difficult game i have ever played was The Legend of Dragoon for PS1.

The reason i found it difficult was the fact that it took forever for all the characters in my party to level up.

The other difficult game i remember playing was freaking Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I remember it being a bitch to find all of the various arrow variety's and all the other weapons you needed to actually face & defeat Gannondorf.

Peace!


I loved the Legend of Dragoon, and it was a difficult game. I had to level up a bunch much later in the game. Ocarina of Time is an Epic game, and I also struggled with it (especially that damn Water Temple)



Silent Hill

I've only beaten one, and that was the second one. Most of the riddles get me confused, and gameplay is difficult
 
Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse. This was a curse to play, especially when it came to the jumping. There were areas in the game where you had to be able to jump a certain height, and if your timing or positioning was off by even a hair, you'd either plummet to your death (because Belmonts can't swim), or you'd spend hours just trying to figure out how to get past said area so you can continue on with the game.

Castlevania 1 & 3 for the NES. Also mind-numbingly difficult in the later stages.If anything, I believe a gamer's version of Hell would be filled with Medusa Heads and bats >.<

Rygar for the NES. You have NO idea where you need to go or what you need to do in that game. Enemies are particularly plentiful at jump points, and the frequency of respawns do not help matters any.
 
Well, the first time I played The Legend of Dragoon it was a little difficult. But for me, the most difficult game I have ever played is Ninja Gaiden Black. ~_~
 
All of mine are Nintendo Hard games. I've never had much difficulty with games after 16 bit.

Ninja Gaiden for the NES. Never got far into this game.

Battletoads. My friend and I tried to beat it 2 player, neither of us ever getting past the third level 1 player, and we failed miserably.

Kid Icarus. Ah I could never get off the first stage of this game! And the egg plant wizard can go jump off a cliff.

 
Golden Axe for the SEGA. A simple hack and slash game with merciless enemies and sometimes horrible surprises that kept me from ever beating it. I was 11 of course, but it was hard at the time.

I'll also give a shout out to the Donkey Kong games, especially the latest. The mine cart levels are quite challenging.
 
The Ninja Gaiden series on the original NES.:cry:

Excalibur-king
MOD EDIT: Can you please put a little more content into your post? This is a spam post in a post count section. Maybe tell us why it was so challenging? Thank you.
 
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Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse. This was a curse to play, especially when it came to the jumping. There were areas in the game where you had to be able to jump a certain height, and if your timing or positioning was off by even a hair, you'd either plummet to your death (because Belmonts can't swim), or you'd spend hours just trying to figure out how to get past said area so you can continue on with the game.

Wasnt it called simons quest?

Anyway yep i agree with that. The jumping platforms when yer crossing the river is ridiculous. And the bit where you have to wait for the tornado to take you onto the next part of the game. But to call the tornado you have to equip the red jewel then kneel facing the wall and wait for about 5 seconds. How anyone is supposed to figure that out without ANY clues is..well its impossible. Also the fact that everytime simon gets hit he jumps backwards ruins you. Youl be trying to make stupid jump platforms, then get hit by something and fall into water.
Its a horrible horrible game
 
Yes it is called Simon's Quest

That is a difficult game, I can't figure out which way to go most of the time, but the soundtrack makes up for most of that.

Ninja Gaiden series

The old ones I love to play, but I die too damn much. I can't remember how many hits it takes to kill you, but I know its not very much. Also wall jumping was not my specialty, I died a bunch trying to master it
 
Silver Surfer for the NES. Dear lord was this game unforgiving. Touch the ceiling, die. Touch the floor, die. Touch a wall, die. I'm sure everyone saw the AVGN rant on this crummy excuse for a game.

Another one isn't really a game but the Dead Money DLC for Fallout 3: New Vegas. Now, it's hard to decipher video game difficulty nowadays because almost every game offers a Save feature you can use anywhere at almost any time. So you can just save before a difficult part and just try over and over.

Dead Money may not seem like a good call for most difficult but here's my case. If you've played it, you will understand. I have not died as many times in Fallout 3 then I have in this DLC. You run with an explosive collar on your neck that blows up when you are around PA speakers. You have to use the limited weapon roster that is provided. Avoid areas with Toxic Gas that sometimes you have to go through. All while trying to defend yourself against foes.

But the main irritation is the exploding collars. In certain rooms there are PA speakers that screw with your collar and makes it beep. After a few seconds it will explode and kill you unless you destroy the speaker(s). What makes it so difficult is that the speakers are so hard to find. You end up just running into a room looking everywhere for it and just die and reload. Nothing but trial and error and it is annoying as hell. Imagine if Fallout didn't have the Save feature it had. And doing this on Hardcore Mode, forget about it.
 
Ninja Gaiden (NES)

I got to the last area, before the final boss. I could never make it past this jump. Once I got the hang of the game itself though, it wasn't horrible.

Castlevania (NES)

Same as above.

Super Meat Boy (PC)

This game, is like Mario. Except on crack. The learning curve is that of a NES game. There are 6 worlds. Cotton Alley being a bonus world. It's very difficult, i can only beat 8 levels on cotton alley. The game itself....difficult yes. But as you progress, the levels tend to flatten out in difficulty due to your experiencing.

You will guaranteed die ATLEAST 1000 times by the time you beat Dr. Fetus.
 
I'm gonna revisit this thread to say that Strength and Fortune incarnations of Arcana from P3P are complete dicks. Mainly Fortune though.

God that fight pisses me off so much. The entire fucking battle revolves around remembering where the wheel is going to stop. I can appreciate a real challenge that requires dedication to overcome being in extra content, but fucking christ. Spending 2 hours to kill a boss (including game overs) is ridiculous.

thank fuck for CW Cheat :elmo:
 
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