The hardest part in any video game?

[Cognitive Gear]

Well, it's taken me awhile to think about what the hardest part in any game I've played is... and I think that I'd have to go with the bosses in Xenosaga: Episode 1. It's actually part of what made me fall in love with it. I have become exhausted of the modern JRPG's tendency to try to pass off cheap gimmick moves as difficulty.

When I say "Cheap gimmick moves" I'm talking about single abilities/magic/attacks that give the player no chance of winning unless they have some sort of foreknowledge of it. I'm talking about things like

[spoiler=FFX] Yunalesca. Giving her an attack that kills your entire party unless you either have specific abilities equipped or decided that keeping a negative status effect was a good thing is absolutely ridiculous. Especially considering how easy that boss is otherwise. [/spoiler]

[Solid Ronin]

I've never had such moments cause I'm just that good. |:| P

[Raiden no Kishi]

'Cept for that bad habit of spouting blatant falsehoods. ^_~

.rai//

[uc pseudonym]

The hardest part of any video game? I'd have to say that falling off the screen in the original Mario and not dying is pretty hard. Haven't seen it done, as a matter of fact.

Alright... seriously. I think three moments stand out as particularly difficult:

1) Battletoads: the Gargantua level where you have to beat the rats to the bomb at the bottom. Unless I missed some trick, you have to be essentially perfect to beat the last one to the bottom. I don't want to know how much time I spent on that level.

2) FFX: I've never done it, but getting a 0:00 in the chocobo racing game has got to be one of the most difficult things of all time. Not to mention that the balloon placement (which basically makes or breaks you, even if you run perfectly) is randomized.

3) Battletoads: the last level as a whole. Each individual part has some minor difficulties and there are a variety of cheap shots that can take out your lives. Combine that with a boss that basically only instant-kills, and it's a serious challenge to make it through on the meager number of lives the game provides.

One thing that was hard solely for the frustration factor was in Super Mario RPG. The level where you're in the clouds, trying to climb up to Nimbus Kingdom, there's a part where you have to jump downscreen and grab onto a beanstalk down there to climb up to a secret area.

Heh. I'd forgotten about that. The entire time I was in that area I kept thinking, "Yeah, how's that 3/4 view working out for ya?"

Oh my gosh, yes. Mario RPG. That game had some seriously hard parts. The...Axem Rangers? Man. It took me forever to kill those things. XD Still, I enjoyed the challenges of that game, in spite of how ridiculously hard it was sometimes. XD If only they'd remake it for a different system...

I take it roleplaying games aren't your primary genre?

Mario RPG was a game I found immensely enjoyable, despite the relatively easy difficulty level. It's one of the few games I've ever replayed. More games need timed hits - they really make combat feel more involved. Culix was the only boss that slowed me down, simply because getting five attacks every round requires you to waste time healing. Of course, it might have helped if I hadn't insisted on fighting him early for the experience.

Actually, there is one very difficult thing for that game: getting the award for doing a Jump attack 100 times in a row. I haven't even tried to get that one.

[Mi-Ru-Me]

I tell you what the final boss on Guilty Gear is really hard I mean I fought that guy like 50 times with sol badguy and still couldnt beat him
the final guy on tekkan 5 hosed me in the face with most character except for maybe three that I am really good with like gunjack

and maybe the entire game of Zone of the Enders 2nd runner on normal or higher difficulty. My thumb died a little with that game.

[GrubbTheFragger]

Oh i forgot that DMC3 as a whole goes on the list. That game was friggen hard.

[Tidus20]

Does that stand for Devil May Cry? If it does, I've gotten pretty good reviews about that game from my friend Reggie.

[Radical Dreamer]

I take it roleplaying games aren't your primary genre?

Mario RPG was a game I found immensely enjoyable, despite the relatively easy difficulty level. It's one of the few games I've ever replayed. More games need timed hits - they really make combat feel more involved. Culix was the only boss that slowed me down, simply because getting five attacks every round requires you to waste time healing. Of course, it might have helped if I hadn't insisted on fighting him early for the experience.

Actually, there is one very difficult thing for that game: getting the award for doing a Jump attack 100 times in a row. I haven't even tried to get that one.

Oh, no no, I love RPGs, and I love Mario RPG. But, I was only in...what, fourth or fifth grade the first time I played it, and I only had access to the ROM with a keyboard, so things were a bit more difficult back then (considering the fact that it took me a long time to defeat the Dragon Tank in Chrono Trigger...yeah. XD). I'm sure I could progress in that game much more easily now, but frankly, I was far better at Zelda when I was younger. XD I just sort of have those memories of it being pretty hard at the time I was playing it.

And yes, the 100 Jump Attack Challenge is nigh-impossible. XD I never did get it...

[Stephen]

UC, that part in FFX was nuts. Lightbringer was there when I did it. I was really angry by the time I was done. I don't know that I have ever done anything so annoying in a game before...

[Solid Ronin]

No one mentioned Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II.

Honestly, nothing in Ninja Gaiden (On Normal) really stood out to being extreamly hard, I think people made too much outta the diffuculty.

Although, When I fought greater fiend Alma on hard she torn me up! But what shocked me is that I was about to beat on Very Hard, if not Master Ninja, with only meduim resistence.
(I did this on mission Mode in Ninja Gaiden Black)

[Nate]

No one mentioned Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II.

Because Sephiroth in KH II was a freaking pansy.

[Trackball]

There was a puzzle in the original Breath of Fire that involved a chocobo-like bird and an enemy fortress. Solving it was required to advance the story.

It took me OVER A YEAR to do that.

[Doubleshadow]

Now this is a funny thread to see. My super geek friends and I were discussing this exact topic in physical chem. last week.

Our exact conversation was about how annoying it is to sit through long cut scenes in RPG's when you're about to fight a tough bad guy. My most frustrating moment was the cut scene in FFX at the top of Mount Gagazet right before you fight Seymour. I saw that scene a lot. In fact, I think I still have it memorized. I had to run laps on the slopes to build up my stats enough to live through it, and then what happens after you think you have beat him and are in the clear? "It comes!"
My friends said KH was also bad for that. To quote my friend:

"You have to sit through a five minute cut scene where Rikku explains what Kingdom Hearts is right before he hangs your butt again!"

[uc pseudonym]

UC, that part in FFX was nuts. Lightbringer was there when I did it. I was really angry by the time I was done. I don't know that I have ever done anything so annoying in a game before...

I admire your persistence. Sometimes things are so difficult that when you finally complete them its almost anticlimactic. The rats level in Battletoads was definitely that way for me. There was a moment of incredible elation, then I was more or less just irked.

Because Sephiroth in KH II was a freaking pansy.

Right. He was fun, though.

Our exact conversation was about how annoying it is to sit through long cut scenes in RPG's when you're about to fight a tough bad guy. My most frustrating moment was the cut scene in FFX at the top of Mount Gagazet right before you fight Seymour. I saw that scene a lot. In fact, I think I still have it memorized. I had to run laps on the slopes to build up my stats enough to live through it, and then what happens after you think you have beat him and are in the clear?

More roleplaying games need the ability to skip cutscenes, at least the second time. This is always my motivation for trying especially hard to win. Let the characters have their friendship, saving the world, etc.

[Nate]

Speaking of which, though I never got to the higher up ones, a lot of the fights in the Monster Arena in FFX were insanely difficult.

Wily's final form in Mega Man 7 was also really hard.

But by far, the hardest part of any video game was beating Borgan in Lunar 2...not the Playstation version. The Sega CD version.

[GrubbTheFragger]

No one mentioned Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II.

Honestly, nothing in Ninja Gaiden (On Normal) really stood out to being extreamly hard, I think people made too much outta the diffuculty.

Although, When I fought greater fiend Alma on hard she torn me up! But what shocked me is that I was about to beat on Very Hard, if not Master Ninja, with only meduim resistence.
(I did this on mission Mode in Ninja Gaiden Black)

Dude .......You are Awesome. I got totally torn up in Ninja Gaiden on Hard normal once i mastered to controlls fully was pretty easy.

[Mi-Ru-Me]

on mega amn 8 theres this hover board section that you need to pass to get to the last area and its incredably hard because its a slide jump type thing and at one point the jumps become insanly long with far spaced really small ilands to jump on I scored the game cuz my friend just gave it to me because that part **** him off so bad. Ive only done it once with some well timed special moves that allow you to float when you use it but I just barly made it.

Xenosaga two the hardest part of that game was to get interested in it after the dissipointment of how sucky it is compared to the first xenosaga then relizing that you need to beet it to play the 3rd one.

and KH 1 Sepheroth is way harder then KH2's but this is only after you get all the nice abilities from master's form the double jump dodge basically changes the tides, also helps with the poaster setting since it makes your glide twice as fast.

But one really hard place is the special dungionat the end of .Hack//quarintine when your trying to save the rabbit chick Its so increadably hard I still havnt made it to the bottom, to the last floor but not the bottom.

[Myoti]

For the time being, the final two levels on Elite Beat Agents are driving me nuts (especially "Jumping Jack Flash"). And I'm still just on the 'Breezin' difficulty (waits for MSP to come mock him... >_> ).

Mario RPG was a game I found immensely enjoyable, despite the relatively easy difficulty level. It's one of the few games I've ever replayed. More games need timed hits - they really make combat feel more involved.

Like, say, Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario? XD

Though yes, seriously, we do need more that take advantage of timed-hits.

[Tidus20]

I admire your persistence. Sometimes things are so difficult that when you finally complete them its almost anticlimactic. The rats level in Battletoads was definitely that way for me. There was a moment of incredible elation, then I was more or less just irked.

What is Battletoads?

[uc pseudonym]

Battletoads is an original Nintendo game with a level of difficulty that is generally ranked near the top. Gamers without much talent usually don't make it past the third level. Making it more difficult is that there are 16 levels and you have only about 12 lives to make it through them all (3 lives per continue, 4 continues, if I recall). There is no saving and it is very easy to die.

Like, say, Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario? XD

Well, I liked those too. But how about games that don't have "Mario" somewhere in the title? Or, more importantly, some hardcore rpgs as opposed to ones that are relatively tongue in cheek. Legend of the Seven Stars was a fairly serious rpg (made by Square and all) but not as comprehensive as some.

[Silent Hunter]

grrr. the red gigas on Skies of Arcadia ... i'm borrowing it from a friend and . geez. the battle takes SOOO long and you gotta fight it and the traiter lady right after each other.. I can't stand how long the battle takes. each turn (it's an RPG) takes forever to complete and i hate long waits in video games

[Bobtheduck]

Well, I liked those too. But how about games that don't have "Mario" somewhere in the title? Or, more importantly, some hardcore rpgs as opposed to ones that are relatively tongue in cheek. Legend of the Seven Stars was a fairly serious rpg (made by Square and all) but not as comprehensive as some.

Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy 6... Both of those games involved timed attacks, though not as a central feature, which I guess is what you really wanted...

[ShiroiHikari]

Hardest part of a video game, huh?

How about Guitar Hero II...Free Bird...on Expert. It's mind-boggling.

I tell you what the final boss on Guilty Gear is really hard I mean I fought that guy like 50 times with sol badguy and still couldnt beat him
the final guy on tekkan 5 hosed me in the face with most character except for maybe three that I am really good with like gunjack

Which Guilty Gear game? Guilty Gear X2? If so, then I know exactly what you're talking about. I've spent many an hour trying to beat I-no. Although there was this one time I executed Johnny's insta-kill against her two rounds in a row. That was freaking awesome and I doubt I'd ever be able to do that again...

As for Jinpachi in Tekken 5...he can be a real pain in the butt. Some characters can dodge his attacks if you have just the right timing, but...it's hard. Something that worked for me is coming down on him hard and fast with powerful attacks and not letting up. But that may or may not work all the time...

[uc pseudonym]

Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy 6... Both of those games involved timed attacks, though not as a central feature, which I guess is what you really wanted...

That's true, FF8 had the trigger command. I found it a bit too easy to get down, though, so it was more about remembering than actual timing. But for FF6, you've puzzled me. Did I beat the game without ever using some aspect of it?