Current Events > What's the worst difficulty spike you've witnessed in a video game?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Remember Wanted: Weapons of Fate? The game that continues the story from that movie based on that comic?

The game is very easy because of how stupid the A.I. is and how overpowered you are. But when you get to one of those stationary turret sections, you can be killed in a matter of seconds and it all comes down to a test of patience and some trial-and-error for memorizing when and where each asshole pops up.
Then after that, it goes right back to killing piss poor, easy mooks.
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It's far from the worst, but levels 20-40 or so in Skyrim will wipe the floor with you if you don't keep your skill leveling tightly focused, which is pretty much the opposite of what the game encourages you to do.
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i was really surprised by the difficulty of the final bosses in Strange Journey Redux. that was some old school RPG shit right there.
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Nocturne
DQXI in Draconian
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Off the top of my head, Dragon Quest VIII. It was fine for me until the Dhoulmagus boss fight.

Ikaruga, jumping from level 1 to 2 was a huge steep
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basically , spikes happened when your level was too low in rpg games, especially jrpg

Battletoads.

Starts out easy, and becomes soul crushingly hats, and doesn't let up until the final boss.
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

You can take a lot of hits in stage 1 as a Compy, but, like one hit and your dead if you're a T-Rex or human in the last stages.
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I remember getting donkey Kong land for game boy and the 2nd level was absurdly difficult, like probably the hardest level in the first half of the game. One of the final levels was much easier.

The spike from isle 1 to isle 2 in cuphead hit me fairly hard too.
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The dream sequences in Max Payne (the PS2 verison), off the top of my head.
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Cave Story, even though the spike was enjoyable
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That one part in FFT.

It probably isnt that bad, except the inability to leave without a save before the sequence starts. That makes it one of the worst.
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FFXIII-2

Breezed through most of the game. Got near the end and was suddenly struggling mightily. Couldn't beat the final boss at all. Turns out I wasn't properly upgrading my monsters; the end is fairly easy with good monsters but next to impossible otherwise.
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That boss rush in Viewtiful Joe lead to me cussing a lot. I was insanely satisfied when I finished it, though.

Rainbow Six (1998) for PC during the mission Operation Ghost Dance.
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300% Marie

destrian522 posted...

That one part in FFT.

It probably isnt that bad, except the inability to leave without a save before the sequence starts. That makes it one of the worst.

this is pretty high up there due to the save softlock potential

ff3 is a pretty easy game overall, then you have to go through the crystal tower, which is the longest dungeon in the game, followed immediately by another dungeon, a total of 6 bosses, all with no healing or saving
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Any 3rd opponent in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

the last 2 bosses in SJR are ridiculous. I needed to grind for at least 2 hours and fuse game breaking demons to barely win
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Final boss in God of War.
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Tekken 7 final boss fight

Call of Duty Black Ops during the rail shooter segment

Catherine after the 3-4th level

Max Payne 3 after the stadium level
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Nioh,

Some of those bosses are too fucking tough.
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Returning_CEmen posted...

Nioh,

Some of those bosses are too fucking tough.

git gud.
just kiddin :p. that one girl boss towards the beginning i think was the first major spike that got me.
love that game tho
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Hat in time compared to the DLC. Holy fucking shit
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Garioshi posted...

The dream sequences in Max Payne (the PS2 verison), off the top of my head.

what specifically about the ps2 version?
realizing you can beat those blood trail parts with a yump or two was a godsend
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jblrulez posted...

Off the top of my head, Dragon Quest VIII. It was fine for me until the Dhoulmagus boss fight.

That but also those extra dragon fights, barely beat the first one and used all my good items.
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Going from Very Hard to Ultimate in PSO for the first time. Getting to the Caves and then actually treating Lily's as legitimate threats.
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Dragonquest 8 till you get to dhoulmagous and suddenly bosses have new move sets and can attack twice per turn. Also that bird was pretty stupid.
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Ninja Gaiden 2 just got to a point where I couldn't even progress anymore.
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YukihoHagiwara posted...

Garioshi posted...

The dream sequences in Max Payne (the PS2 verison), off the top of my head.

what specifically about the ps2 version?
realizing you can beat those blood trail parts with a yump or two was a godsend

It runs at a sub-20, sometimes sub-10 frame rate on top of it already being in slow motion, that stupid fucking scream still exists, and it takes up to half a minute for the game to reload after you die.
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Super Mario Land 2 on Game Boy. You could breeze through the overworld in an hour. When you got to Wario's Castle it was like a whole new game.
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Metal gear rising

SaithSayer posted...

That boss rush in Viewtiful Joe lead to me cussing a lot. I was insanely satisfied when I finished it, though.

Ah I remember this. This was the only game I've ever given up on as a teen I usually always finish my games but viewtiful Joe made me give up.
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This is probably just because it's relatively fresh in my head, but the most recent WoW expansion. They introduced mob scaling which means enemies scale to both your level and how strong your gear is. When you first start leveling in the new area, it's easy. When you hit max level, the mobs are designed to scale around you having endgame gear, but you're obviously still in leveling gear. So until you get that gear, enemies are absurdly strong compared to what it was like when you were leveling.
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LimboTraveller posted...

basically , spikes happened when your level was too low in rpg games, especially jrpg

Not always the case. In SMT, you can get wiped in one turn regardless how high your level is. See: Any final boss.

FightingGames posted...

the last 2 bosses in SJR are ridiculous. I needed to grind for at least 2 hours and fuse game breaking demons to barely win

Was the final boss you fought Mem Aleph or have they changed it? I beat the original and whew, boy, that was a fucking vicious fight.
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Ninja Gaiden Black

Use the joystick to move forward.

Press A to jump.

Kill all 20 enemies to advance.
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Shadow Kanji from P4.

Those damn robo-scorpions from FNV's OWB DLC. Specifically the ones you fought as you're about to fight the boss.

Supply Lines from GTA:SA on versions where you still have the fuel meter.
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Driver tutorial was the hardest part of the game
I wonder how many people just gave up there lol
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Am I remembering wrong or did the difficulty in RE4 make a leap when you first reach the castle (and maybe even right before that)?

Maybe I was just more scared in the new setting lol.
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The spike from levels 3 thru 5 and then reaching level 6-1 in Ninja Gaiden NES is off the fucking charts. No other modern game has matched that sort of fuckery imo
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Kingdom under fire: Circle of Doom
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While I've never gotten that far in the game, I've read that 7th Saga goes from very difficult to insane near the end game.

And while not difficult per se, Albert Odyssey for Saturn's final dungeon stands out. All the previous dungeons in the game are pretty small, but then you get to The Huge Ass City of Fargasta and it's an 8 Floor dungeon split up by multiple teleporters and elevators, so it feels like 20 floors full of dead ends and such.
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Steamwood in Brave Fencer Musashi - twice.

destrian522 posted...

That one part in FFT.

Only one?

Battletoads

Easy. Then you get to Turbo Tunnel....
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known2FAIL posted...

Battletoads

Easy. Then you get to Turbo Tunnel....

I retract my statement.
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Fire emblem awakening, the great tree on lunatic. First time running into falcon knights, and they have 30 speed with silver Lance's. Cool. Expect a wipe if you didn't plan.

Noticeable spikes are all the open maps after this one, like the valmese gates chapter and the one where chrom and Robin gotta fight alone against the sorcerer.

gotta go with cavestory

granted, it's a hidden postgame(?) optional final dungeon so it makes sense that it's hard but considering basically none of the game beforehand is very difficult it's kind of crazy
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The final boss in Octopath Traveler

Like what the literal fuck
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EzeDoesIt posted...

Am I remembering wrong or did the difficulty in RE4 make a leap when you first reach the castle (and maybe even right before that)?

Maybe I was just more scared in the new setting lol.

I did die quite a lot in the first area of the castle, but I think it was just me being unfamiliar with the new mechanics and afraid to try new things.
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