Hardest games you ever played

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Megaman 9 is kicking my (_|_)

[Nate]

Final Fantasy Tactics was a fairly challenging game as well.

The fight against Wiegraf/Velius. ARGH.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Huh... the hardest ones I can think of are like Mario and Contra on the NES, lol. Never could beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 either.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Comix Zone. I loved that game, but it was really freakin' hard.

[Monkey J. Luffy]

Triggerheart Exelica, sure you have infinite retries, but staying alive is hard!

[KagayakiWashi]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Comix Zone!
Gyromite too! Mainly because my R.O.B. won't hold the gyros right!

[MasterDias]

The fight against Wiegraf/Velius. ARGH.

Heh. That was exactly what I was thinking of...

[ich1990]

Incidentally, I've just begun playing Fire Emblem (Sacred Stones). I'm not sure how difficult it is in the sense of losing... because I've never been willing to let a party member die. Characters are so fragile that it only takes a minor error (or a boss with a surprising secondary weapon) to get someone killed. But after a while I got used to enemy ranges and such and I haven't had to restart a level in a little while, so I think I've got the system down.

I have recently started playing Fire Emblem (Path of Radiance this time) as well. My thoughts about Sacred Stones are similar. I found it difficult at the beginning, but once you get a "feel" for the ranges of characters it becomes quite easy, even on the hard difficulty. One of the hardest parts for me was realizing that not every character has the same potential. After a while, the random leveling system overpowers some characters and underpowers others. About halfway through the game, a core team of overpowered characters developed, and I pretty much used only those for the rest of the game. Later, I leveled all the weak ones to their max using the tower of Valni, but they were still not worth using.

Path of Radiance is very similar so far. Virtually all of the tactics that worked well in Sacred Stones work well in PoR, so it has been very easy.

Which LotR game? Some of the action-rpg ones have actually been a bit rough.

I believe She is referring to LotR: The Return of the King for the gamecube. More specifically, she is probably having trouble with the cave troll. I consider that battle to be the most difficult portion of the entire game. It took me quite a few tries.

[uc pseudonym]

Sacred Stones is actually probably the easiest of the Fire Emblems that were released stateside. The designers were attempting to make it accessible to new fans of the series, I think.
But overall, if you keep an eye on enemy ranges each round, and memorize each unit's strengths and weaknesses(ex: never leave a pegasus knight in an archer's range) and take advantage of them, the games do become easier, although still a decent challenge.

That makes sense. So far the only thing that has made it difficult is figuring out how to keep from overextending one unit. I've barely used the towers or creature battles and my characters have been slaughtering enemy units. Even the one mission where you just need to survive for eleven rounds (Chapter 14?) was pretty easy]Final Fantasy Tactics was a fairly challenging game as well.[/quote]
The original as opposed to Advance, I assume? I'm playing the latter and not enjoying it terribly much; half my characters spend most of their time using passive techniques because it's more efficient than attacking.

[Monkey J. Luffy]

all fighting games... i stink at those...

[Slater]

Trying to beat any of the Metal Slug games without dying. In fact, to date, the only MS game I've beaten without losing a life is MS1. MS2/X is really easy up until the last level, but crossing that bridge (yeah, THAT bridge) without taking a hit is FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE...

Metal Slug 3 is too long for me to give a serious try at beating it without dying.

[MasterDias]

That makes sense. So far the only thing that has made it difficult is figuring out how to keep from overextending one unit. I've barely used the towers or creature battles and my characters have been slaughtering enemy units. Even the one mission where you just need to survive for eleven rounds (Chapter 14?) was pretty easy]
Yeah, for the most part, the towers/extra battles weren't that necessary in regards to just beating the game as there is plenty of XP to go around anyway.

One or two maps on Ephraim's route were pretty tricky actually. His route is generally harder than Eirika's. But, overall, the game wasn't that difficult.

That boss, though. High defense, high magic resistance, high speed. I'm not sure there's any way I could have beaten him without sacrificing a unit, unless I should have used some of my characters that are in an advanced class. So far I've been leaving everyone alone after they upgrade for theoretical later use.

Yeah, when you start seeing promoted enemies regularly is when you want to start using promoted units extensively. Otherwise, they will just be experience hogs. In one of my campaigns, I think I maxed out Ephraim awhile before he actually promoted, and then shoved him into the back so he wouldn't waste XP.

The original as opposed to Advance, I assume? I'm playing the latter and not enjoying it terribly much; half my characters spend most of their time using passive techniques because it's more efficient than attacking.

Yes. Advance has some neat classes, but they severely nerfed the difficulty down from the original and the "Laws" were more irritating than actually challenging. The original had a better plot too, even if the PS1 version had a sometimes nearly incoherent translation.

[Stephen]

The PS1 Tactics is still one of my fav games ever. I was so bummed when I heard how they changed stuff in the later Tactics games. (also bummed they were not on the PS2 or 3)

[TriezGamer]

... There's a remarkable number of games in this thread that I thought were pretty average in difficulty, and some outright easy...

But then again, I'm the kind of gamer who loves a challenge -- probably to a more extreme degree than most.

Unmodded games that I find hard:

Nearly Any Rogue-like -- Tome, Nethack, Dungeon Crawl, etc.
Any Touhou game on Lunatic difficulty


Modded games I find hard:

FFTv1.3

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that stand out for me.

[uc pseudonym]

One or two maps on Ephraim's route were pretty tricky actually. His route is generally harder than Eirika's. But, overall, the game wasn't that difficult.

I'm taking Eirika's route, if you didn't deduce that from minor details. I decided I liked her section of the plot better. Naturally, I have a save file at the break and I'll be going back for Ephraim's side of things once I finish.

Yeah, when you start seeing promoted enemies regularly is when you want to start using promoted units extensively. Otherwise, they will just be experience hogs. In one of my campaigns, I think I maxed out Ephraim awhile before he actually promoted, and then shoved him into the back so he wouldn't waste XP.

Knowing that might happen, I've been trying to balance XP evenly. Perhaps overly much so. Only a few of my characters have managed to get to level 20 (they're just too useful) and I've had enough items to upgrade them so far. We'll see how many more I get in the future.

[MasterDias]

I'm taking Eirika's route, if you didn't deduce that from minor details. I decided I liked her section of the plot better. Naturally, I have a save file at the break and I'll be going back for Ephraim's side of things once I finish.

Yeah, that's similar to what I did, I think. I did Eirika's originally, and then went back to do Ephraim's. Although, I don't think I ever actually finished the second game.
For the most part, it doesn't really matter in the long run, as you recruit the same units. Fire Emblems 6 and 7 had a few different situations that would net you 1 or 2 different units depending on which map you visited.

Knowing that might happen, I've been trying to balance XP evenly. Perhaps overly much so. Only a few of my characters have managed to get to level 20 (they're just too useful) and I've had enough items to upgrade them so far. We'll see how many more I get in the future.

It's a good idea to try to keep them around the same level generally, although 1 or 2 characters that are a few levels ahead of everyone else are not a bad idea to have. Initially, I try to have lower-strength characters like Pegasus Knights and Archers finish off seriously-damaged enemies as much as I can so they can get some level-ups. Staff-users tend to wind up way behind everyone else unless you heal as frequently as possible...even when it's only 1 or 2 HP...

[uc pseudonym]

This is getting to the point where we might want to consider making a Fire Emblem thread.

Yeah, that's similar to what I did, I think. I did Eirika's originally, and then went back to do Ephraim's. Although, I don't think I ever actually finished the second game.
For the most part, it doesn't really matter in the long run, as you recruit the same units. Fire Emblems 6 and 7 had a few different situations that would net you 1 or 2 different units depending on which map you visited.

Hm, I would have expected it to be more like 6 and 7. In any case, I'm mainly doing the route for the sake of the storyline. This is one of the reasons I prefer Fire Emblem to Tactics - I feel as though I get significant plot development on a regular basis. Admittedly this is just Advance, but I felt similar even in what I played of the original.

It's a good idea to try to keep them around the same level generally, although 1 or 2 characters that are a few levels ahead of everyone else are not a bad idea to have. Initially, I try to have lower-strength characters like Pegasus Knights and Archers finish off seriously-damaged enemies as much as I can so they can get some level-ups. Staff-users tend to wind up way behind everyone else unless you heal as frequently as possible...even when it's only 1 or 2 HP...

I do. I've been known to beat bosses with multiple characters just so they'll all be wounded so I can heal them all before seizing and ending the level. They're still a bit behind my heavy combat units (they also suck up money for weapons).

To make this on topic: what I don't like is when games have added difficulty in the form of things you couldn't possibly predict. That includes death traps on platformers, but happens in plenty of other genres. In Fire Emblem, there have been at least two missions where I could only recruit a unit or save a village by trying for them from the very first round. No amount of reacting to the situation could have accomplished it, so I had to restart and have that in mind from the very beginning. That's a bit frustrating.

[ich1990]

One thing that makes games extremely annoying, if not hard, is allowing players to permanently throw away plot critical items.

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, for instance, you need to keep special items to be able to complete later missions. The problem is that you have limited inventory space and the items have little apparent use. I got about 30 hours into a FFTA play through before I realized that I had thrown out an item that I needed to complete the game about 20 hours back.

For that reason alone I rank FFTA to be comparatively more difficult than other SRPG's that force you to hold on to important items.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Warlords Battlecry 2 (never got past the first few levels)
Neverwinter Nights (never got very far)
Medieval: Total War (never got past the 2nd level)
Thief 2: The Metal Age (finished)

[MasterDias]

This is getting to the point where we might want to consider making a Fire Emblem thread.

Noted

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, for instance, you need to keep special items to be able to complete later missions. The problem is that you have limited inventory space and the items have little apparent use. I got about 30 hours into a FFTA play through before I realized that I had thrown out an item that I needed to complete the game about 20 hours back.

For that reason alone I rank FFTA to be comparatively more difficult than other SRPG's that force you to hold on to important items.

Really? I confess I don't remember this one, although it has been quite a long time since I played the game. That's something else that I would consider more annoying than actually difficult.

[ich1990]

Really? I confess I don't remember this one, although it has been quite a long time since I played the game.

Some of the later dispatch missions require you to have a related "mission item".

That's something else that I would consider more annoying than actually difficult.

You would be surprised how difficult it is to finish a game that is now lying at your feet, smashed into three separate pieces.

Seriously though, it depends on your definition of difficulty. To me, a person who has limited gaming time, doesn't like the story, finds the game too easy (assassins with ultima masher, half mp, reflex, and sprint shoes are nigh invincible), and just wants to finish all 300 missions and see the ending, FFTA was very difficult to get through.

In contrast, I find a quantitatively more difficult game that requires a high amount of skill to be conquered and an engaging storyline to be qualitatively "easier" to complete.

[TriezGamer]

That's true -- different people will have drastically different ideas about difficulty. I find games that rely on rote memorization of a stage in order to be beatable to be annoying rather than difficult -- especially ones where you have to memorize the locations of hundreds of invisible obstacles (like a lot of Mario Bros. based mods).

[ST. Attidude]

The way some programmers are, you might think they're closet sadists. What are some of the hardest games you ever played? Here are some of mine. (NOte: the game must be enjoyable despite its difficulty)
Super Mario 3
Mega Man 2-4 and 6
Super Smash Bros Brawl's Subspace Emissary (even on Easy, it's challenging!)
Final Fantasy X (I didn't finish it, mostly because my PS2 stopped working properly. But even without that, I was still having trouble.

I especially agree with you on Mega Man 4 (I've yet to beat that) and Final Fantasy X (Did beat that...and it's def hard, but not the last battle )

Mega Man X4 was also very hard...

[Shiningmonk_e]

Megaman 9 is kicking my (_|_)

I know how you feel...Hardest game ever...

[Peanut]

*adding another game to my list despite the fact that I've barely played it for various reasons...still I've done my research...and heard stories...*

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl...several reasons why I've decided to add this game to my original list:

1. It's a survival horror game that forces you to use tactics you would expect to find in a game like Rainbow Six. This means that pistols trump knives (kind of...more on that later), shotguns trump pistols and Rifles trump shotguns. If you're vastly outnumbered (and you usually are) it is a better idea to run away instead of fight. Also you'll be forced to use lots of ammo and end up not picking up too much to replace it...

2. Bloodsuckers. A group of wonderful mutants which can cloak themselves increadibly well (there isn't that much of an outline around them to tell you where they are...) and like to set up nasty little ambushes for you. If you're lucky you'll catch their glowing eyes running towards you before they decide to say hello. They only uncloak for a second while they attack you and then recloak. Also its very hard to sneak up on them...possibly even impossible...

3. Almost every character in the game can die (including the guy you need to talk to too get the real ending of the game...) and there are random bandit/animal attacks on these people as well. There are also no free actions (meaning gameplay doesn't stop for you to go into your invetory or have a nice chat with someone) which when added with the above fact equals characters who can give you quests dying before you get to them. You can still finish the game however...you might not get one of the many endings...

With all this being said, from what I've read there is a sort of gamebreaker...your knife's alternative fire can kill anything in one hit. Of course...this is probably only useful in one on one situations...

[KagayakiWashi]

Street Fighter II. I can play most other fighting games pretty good, but Street Fighter II (and all it's incarnations) is just really hard for me.
Contra is also tough.

[The Liar XIII]

Splatter House 2 was insanely hard, unlike 2 and 3.
Jak II is hard for me, still hadn't beaten it.
And also, Clocktower is pretty hard as well.. You never expect what's going to happen next... That's why it's so hard.

[MangArtist]

I stopped playing Armored Core 4 from it being hard. T_T Not to mention the maps were REALLY small and the missions were really short too.

[FnlFntsyYuna]

Some of the Tomb Raider levels are hard to play and it seems like almost every time a new Tomb Raider game that comes out the buttons are all out of place, and you have to get use to the new set up >_<

other than that I can't say that I played any hard games. Maybe Age of Empires III or if your like really tired and your playing DDR: Dance Dance Revolution.

[Fantasy Dreamer]

The only one I can think of currently is the Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. That game was full of confusing puzzles (though not as hard as some) and it took me a good long while to beat it because of that. I did play it when I was younger though, so that might have had something to do with it.

But I love that game regardless.