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Games that start off promising then gate your progress later on, killing off the flow of the game.

Kokoloko85

Member
Forgot this (still salty after all these years since I did it legit):
saikQmO.png

Omg I hated this
 

Roberts

Member
Re-Core. I couldn't ever finish the game because to access the final FINAL boss you have to waste ages collecting random trash. Sad because if they didn't had to rush the game out, would have been really good. I enjoyed it until the end anyway, then I simply watched the real ending on Youtube.

I wad about to mention this. I think it is an underrated gem and because I played the game thoroughly, I didn’t have to spend too much time to unlock the last area, but, yeah, it is the weak spot of this otjetwise excellent game.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
So you can mainline Valhalla without forced grind?
Yes, valhalla doesn't have real side missions, progression is based on which region you need to ally, so it will present you the regions in order of the story; enemies also never become damage sponges regardless of how many levels they are above you, and advanced assassinations mean you can kill anyone in stealth regardless of level differences. You're also not dependent on gear, because they got rid of the loot system, so you can just wear the starter gear for the entire game and upgrade it when needed.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Star Ocean 3 you get to the end of some generic lava dungeon and discover there’s a boulder blocking your path. Begin some bullshit backtracking to one of the earliest dungeons to get some “destruction ring” that can blow up the boulder.

Oh yay, every dungeon has some treasure chests just out of reach behind piles of debris. Now you can backtrack to all the earlier dungeons and blow up the junk to get the treasures while fighting enemies way below your level.

Oh but that’s not enough. It’s a minigame in itself. You only get so many charges when you enter a dungeon and you have to wisely choose which piles of debris you blow up in order to get all the treasures.

Man fuck that stupid game and fuck tri-Ace. Biggest hacks in the history of gaming.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
First Resident Evil... It didn't last long though, I just had to try saving the game one time and realize I could not because of antiquated artificial length mechanic called "difficulty" (plain old Capcom). Too many remakes and that one keeps as antiquated as when it came out.

Seems like the game is short though, as long as I can get rid of it I'm open to play the next ones and get into the franchise, I'm ok with no checkpoints but kidnapping my progress in form of "ink" is just fake difficulty
 

Kev Kev

Member
Don’t we all get satisfaction by opening doors and areas that made us toughen up and grind or come up with solutions?
it depends what kind of gamer you are. some want to "do all the things", while others just want to experience an adventure. sounds like you are more of the former, while i am more of the latter.

did you enjoy breath of the wild? its my favorite game of all time, and although there was plenty to do, the game was more designed around exploring the land and creating your own path in the world. every time i fired that game up i felt like iw as going on a new adventure. and i never felt like i needed to do all the things, i just did whatever sounded fun along the way.

120 hours later and it was hands down my favorite game of all time, just bc of the experience, not becaudse i felt accomplished or like i had over come a challenge, in fact, the game is rather easy if i recall correctly.

i dunno, i just think its a situation of different ideas of what having fun in a video game is.
 

Knightime_X

Member
But but but ... git gud. :messenger_neutral:
Wait, Let me conveniently forgot about grinding for the black knight Halbert for days....

BOTW starts off promising, gate by boredom later on.
::run::

Serious answer, all gacha game really.
Instead of making me spent money I just quit instead.
That's the very gate TC is talking about.
The flow of the game comes to a hard stop and you have to spend 3 hours on a wall boss.
ont0hqE.jpg


Some people are into that, and that's perfectly fine.
But in most cases, it's arcade padding to make an otherwise short game feel longer.
 
You’re all a bunch of sissies. Isn’t this videogame design-101? Don’t we all get satisfaction by opening doors and areas that made us toughen up and grind or come up with solutions? We need all games to be a digestible roller-coaster situation with no spikes and diversions?

I get it that some end-games can go on for too long but that satisfaction of finally finishing them is quite the thing.


They’re end games for a reason. Not everyone will finish them. It’s an endurance test. Just drop the game and move to something else.
This is exactly the kind of thinking that killed Rare's collect-a-thon genre for a good 20 years and phased MMORPGs out of mainstream popularity after their initial rise. No, "endgame" should not be long just for the sake of being long. You should not need to risk missing your job or important dated in fear of "being behind" on a video game. And rewarding people solely for time investment is not only a toxic game design that incentivizes rewarding cheap dopamine rushes for getting addicted instead of curating actual skilled players, but also one easily subverted by bot farms.

If I play a game for 10 hours straight and make no apparent progress, something is horribly wrong.
 

Generic

Member
I'm currently playing Bloodstained. After 5 hours I managed to kill the final boss but I got the bad ending. Apparently I have to play for another 5 hours to get the good ending. And at this point the game became repetitive.
 
Classic JRPGs (Dragon Quest did this at least up to snd including DQ8) and Rare’s collectathon games are the prime examples of this.
Also Ghosts ‘n Goblins, replaying all the levels would be somewhat OK but being forced to have a specific (and mightily impractical) weapon is ass.
At least from 4 onward, you didn't have to grind much if you used your skills well.
 

Ryūtō

Member
I feel like the original ni no Kuni has this. Or at least that's happened to me.
After a couple.of hours my character does almost no damage. I thought maybe there is a mechanic I didn't get or something. Ended up dropping the game after all my fights were running away all the time to get cheap shot from time to time. Also the timing for crits is almost non existent.
Yeah your offensive options don't really open up until you get your second party member which I'd like to say is at least 4-5 hours in. And even then the going is still tough even until you get your 3rd.

Early game is a killer, but it get significantly more enjoyable once you have your full party trust me.
 

GC_DALBEN

Member
Gears 5 (great start, and then it goes downhill)
Horizon 1 (i was so bored after a while, i LOVED the game, but after a few hours i was bored)
 

Ryūtō

Member
Felt a little like this in Persona 5 with the stats. There was nothing really interesting in upping your charm or knowledge. Maxed everything before starting NG+ but now I feel I have to just wait for certain days to do things in the compendium that could have been available from the start. Why couldn't I keep my eternal lockpick too.
Royal was the first ever Persona game I played and while I enjoyed it I grew fatigued about halfway through. There were multiple points where I was like "it'll be ending soon, right?" only for it to go multiple more hours.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
So you can mainline Valhalla without forced grind?
Yes. Be aware though that while you cannot meet the level requirements for the last area without grind, you CAN finish it not having the needed level. But the difficulty spike is quite sever iirc as you die very fast.
 

Shmunter

Member
Yes. Be aware though that while you cannot meet the level requirements for the last area without grind, you CAN finish it not having the needed level. But the difficulty spike is quite sever iirc as you die very fast.
That doesn’t sound all that different from origins. You can go into any situation you want, it’s just that being too far under level makes it extremely challenging. Enemies are sponges and you are a butterfly in the wind.
 
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JimmyRustler

Gold Member
That doesn’t sound all that different from origins. You can go into any situation you want, it’s just that being too far under level makes it extremely challenging. Enemies are sponges and you are a butterfly in the wind.
I actually don’t recall having a similar situation in Origins. From what I remember it was more than sufficient in Origins to just also do the side quests to keep up with the level requirements. In Valhalla you actually have to grind to get to level 50.
 
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Shmunter

Member
I actually don’t recall having a similar situation in Origins. From what I remember it was more than sufficient in Origins to just also do the side quests to keep up with the level requirements. In Valhalla you actually have to grind to get to level 50.
Grinding <> Side quests essential to level up?
 
Ni No Kuni.

I believe it was after the major plot twist. Suddenly you needed to grind a lot to progress. Did finish the game, but it really ruined the game for me.

FF XIII.

The way they designed the game was retarded.
First half of the game was linear a la FFX and then halfway you reach Gran Pulse (or whatever it was called) and the world opens up (afaik).
Ruined the pace of the game.
Terrible decision, which made me quit the game right then and there.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
That doesn’t sound all that different from origins. You can go into any situation you want, it’s just that being too far under level makes it extremely challenging. Enemies are sponges and you are a butterfly in the wind.
It's very different from Origins actually, yes Valhalla becomes more difficult with level differences, but it never turns into this nonsense:


Also since update 1.5 you can completely customise the difficulty to your liking, so even in the unlikely event you hit a wall, you can just adjust it on the fly:
wFXlWnB.jpg


For reference, this is what the game locks it to when doing the "mastery challenges", and it really isn't that much harder:
gSDXqAq.jpg
 

tygertrip

Member
I didn't compare movies to games. I made a mockery of your attitude.

Perhaps you should consider that you might be out of touch with modern games (and movies) and that's why you can't see the forest for the trees. I would also imagine that you actually don't play
Nvm
 
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Royal was the first ever Persona game I played and while I enjoyed it I grew fatigued about halfway through. There were multiple points where I was like "it'll be ending soon, right?" only for it to go multiple more hours.
Yup. Loved the story, the characters, the atmosphere and the mechanics but goddam… tak about a drag at the end. A real shame because I’d love to revisit it.
 
Huge Soulsborne here. For me it's the total opposite. Demon's Souls can have major difficulty spikes. It all depends on what weapons you use and which order you do the levels.
The bolded is exactly why I've picked Demon's Souls. I think what separates it from some of the other harder souls games is the ability to select levels. In Sekiro, you might have had an optional area or two to try out, but you were funneled down a specific path for most of the game and you had brick wall moments where you had to beat a certain boss or you simply would not progress at all. The same funneling happens in Elden Ring even though the first 2/3 of the game presents itself as open. Eventually you will have no choice but to head north, find enemies that kill you in 3-5 hits, and fight a giant.

Demon's Souls was the closest a souls game ever came to feeling like a Mega Man game(including having tons of enemies and bosses who could be easily defeated once you discovered their gimmick), and again it did not overstay it's welcome like some of the other Souls entries. I could only hope for a part 2.
 
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Nankatsu

Member
Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Even though the game turns out great, that one part where the difficulty spikes as hell and makes you grind can easily make many people quit the game.
 
Rdr2, AC Odissey, Origins, BOTW

First three, code: BORING

It's not necessary to last 8194882828 hours to make a fucking good game, damn, I loved those games but man, completing them was a terrible chore

Botw? Started great until the weapon breakage mechanic kicked in, ruined the whole experience for me


Also: Kakarot


Difficulty curve is bullshit
 
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SmokedMeat

Gamer™
God of War 2018. Except the gameplay wasn’t good in the beginning, at all.

Oh, so you want to explore? Here’s a grunt two levels above you that can kill you by breathing on you. Better open more chests, (which is 60% of the game) so you can play RPG lite.
 
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Griffon

Member
Halo.

You have fun fighting the covenant, and then the flood takes over the rest of the game.
What a miserable experience...
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Xenoblade Chronicles X:

“You’ve single-handedly made first contact with like 4 alien species, identified the primary threat to humanity, established New LA’s Miranium mining operation, and on the side you funded several arms manufacturers that are crucial to our defense. I guess you’ve finally earned the right to pilot a skell…. all you need to do now is do 10 fucking fetch quests, one for each of the 10 factions of New LA, then you can apply for your skell license. I know there’s a literal doomsday clock ticking down above our heads, but rules are rules!”

[5 hours later]

“Oh wow you actually did all that? Fine, here’s the cheapest piece of shit skell we could find. It’s so fragile, you’ll go broke paying for the repair costs and you’re better off fighting on foot. Good luck saving humanity!”
 
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