Frustrating Moments in Games.

[Tawmis]

So I've been replaying a lot of old (console) games. I went through and got all the metals for Crash Mode in Burnout 2 and 3.
I played the X-Men games on SEGA.

And so I started playing Final Fantasy VII on my Playstation 1 Classic.

And I got to a part - where I was running in circles endlessly - and it was because of the perception of the game - with stairs and a door - the door is on the bottom floor but it looks like it's UPSTAIRS.

[Rath Darkblade]

Um, OK? *confused* I can't make out anything from these screenshots. It looks like an M. C. Escher drawing.

[Tawmis]

Um, OK? *confused* I can't make out anything from these screenshots. It looks like an M. C. Escher drawing.

Well, the images are clickable and come up to be about 2000x2000 or whatever.

So to make it more clear (this is probably clickable too) - it's blurry because it's a photo of my TV.

1. Red XIII - Tells you "it looks like it leads upstairs."
The red square is Cloud (the main character). Leads up made me think upstairs, next to where he is. (Cloud is standing on the stairs)
2. This is the door.
3. The stairs.
4. Me (Cloud) upstairs where I thought the door was.
5. Me noticing the BLOOD doesn't go upstairs - and that's the door.

After googling, I found that a lot of people did the same thing.

[BBP]

That section in Full Throttle where you have to beat peaple up to get their stuff.

[Tawmis]

That section in Full Throttle where you have to beat people up to get their stuff.

Is it the mechanics of beating people up or just the simple fact that you have to beat people up?

[BBP]

The mechanics aren't too good but the beating up doesn't help.


Ooh and the scythe fight in Sanatorium.

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes, that section in Full Throttle is not much fun. I don't mind the beating up (it's only pixels), but the mechanics are rough and don't help.

I got through it eventually though - and immediately created a savepoint so I didn't have to do it again!

Frustrating moments in games: the dodge-'em race in SQ1. The dodge-'em race in LSL3.

[Tawmis]

Frustrating moments in games: the dodge-'em race in SQ1. The dodge-'em race in LSL3.

Agreed. That became - pass a few, save. Rinse repeat.

I remember loving Final Fantasy VII when it came out... perhaps because I am older, I lack the patience.

There's a part where you need to catch a bird called a Chocabo (sp, I am sure) - in order to cross a desert, or fight a giant serpent with 30k health (when you and your two partners have like 600).

The problem is the damn Chocabo - appears during enemy fights - so, you need to use Chocabo lures to keep it there - and if anyone in your party hits it with an attack it leaves.

So you essentially have to attack ONE at a time, while also throwing out lures to keep it there - to make sure if one of your attacks kills a monster your next character simply auto targets the next which might be the Chocabo.

This also creates the problem of using MAGIC that hits ALL enemies (super useful normally).

I've since caught and moved on to the next part... looking forward to what will frustrate me next.

[Rath Darkblade]

Have you tried playing a game called The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth?

There's a frustrating few evenings. The game campaign starts off very fun, with the Fellowship going through Moria, the Fellowship at Amon Hen and trying to save Boromir etc. So far, so good. And I have to admit, the few "special" battles (e.g. siege of Helm's Deep, siege of Minas Tirith, siege of Isengard, Sam going through Cirith Ungol and meeting Shelob etc.) are pretty fun.

Apart from that? The rest of it consists of visiting various locations around Middle-Earth to win battles and gain resources, "power points" (to spend on various powers like giving Anduril to Aragorn, summon Rohirrim allies etc.). How do you win these battles? By constructing a base, training troops, and so on.

This wouldn't be so hard -- except ... -- when you have to clear the map of Mordor and/or Isengard forces. Why? Because Mordor and Isengard keeps zerg-rushing orcs against you. And Mordor orcs are FREE. Weak, but free.

So, imagine sitting there for nearly an hour and trying to find and knock down all those damn Mordor/Isengard bases, while being harassed by orc battalions, one after another, while the game yells at you "THE ENEMY IS HERE! SOUND THE ALARM!!!" or similar.

I mean, it's fun when the map is small. Even a medium-sized map is OK. But for a large-sized map, like Dagorlad (where Mordor has eight bases for you to find and knock down, while they themselves besiege you and try to knock you down)? Serious pain-in-the-you-know-what. I think just Dagorlad took me nearly an hour. And to make things worse, you can't beat the damn game without going through this map.

What makes it even more frustrating? Knocking down orcs is easiest if you use Rohirrim (or as I nickname them now, Rohan horsies). But Mordor in Dagorlad, and in other maps like it, also has access to Easterling spear-men. And what are spear-men good against? That's right -- my poor old beautiful Rohan horsies. So, instead, I have to get my Gondor boys to walk very slowly all over the map (slowly to avoid being ambushed by the damn orcs), clearing base after base after base.

In Dagorlad. Which is a huge map. And where Mordor has eight bases. All of which spam me with orcs.

Anyway, it's done now. That's the game's "Good" campaign, but I don't think I'll try the "Evil" one for a while. I wonder what game will frustrate me next?

[Rath Darkblade]

Uh-oh. Did I just kill this thread? Sorry if I did.

If my last post was "tl:dr", then the frustrating part is simple: playing a real-time strategy game, where the map is giant and the opponent's only strategy is to zerg-rush you.

A few games are guilty of this, including "LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth" and, of course, "Starcraft". (Or, sometimes, "Warcraft").

[BBP]

As a fan of CD-i I have a lot of CD-i games. Since CD-i was never designed to be a gaming console, it is destined to give you a frustrating time with just about every title. Whether it's the first two Zelda games where you get killed by bats all the time because the diagonal movement was poorly implemented (the cursor moves half as slow diagonally than straight), whether it's a simple game of Lingo, Zelda's Adventure or Battleship ruined by infinite loading time, a laughable AI or music not playing during the scenes...

But some things are just either hideously, or hilariously poorly, conceived.

It was CD-i's Alice In Wonderland, a children's adventure game that appears to be a fuller remake of the Commodore version, sports a console where you either move, or click on a verb on the console. Talking, flattering, scolding, teasing etc are potential reasons for dialogue, that increase further and further as you progress in the game, with a full 12 dialogue options . The play screen is basic game animation, but all characters have lovely stop-motion animations. And the cover's gorgeous.

So far, so good.

Unfortunately the voice acting of the Dutch version is utterly horrible - and unfortunately from what I hear from Youtube the English one's not much better. Of course you can click through the dialogue - and it doesn't last long before you totally smash this button just so you don't have to listen to the frog or the Mad Hatter or the March Hare or any of Lewis Carroll's buchered creations.

And then there's that point where I got stuck. With a full 20 characters and a full 40 screens and 12 dialogue options at my disposal I couldn't for the life of me figure out which one I had to pick - and one of the dialogue options was "Sing". At that point in the game there were 15 different songs available - Pop Goes The Weasel, Row Row Row Yer Boat, London Bridge Is Falling Down - in its poor Dutch translations, badly sung by the actress... the only way out was trying out every single of the 20 characters, every single of the 12 dialogue options and EVERY SINGLE OF THOSE F***ING POP GOES THE WEASEL SONGS on every single character that I had to give in. Cycle after cycle I failed. Which did I miss?

And then I needed a walkthrough.

But where do you go for a walkthrough of a game that was only issued in this form on a cult gaming system? No UHS, no Gamefaqs, nothing! Only the Commodore version - and that was the one without the singing.

But lo and behold, I found a defunct CD-I site that hosted all copies of the Dutch CD-i magazine. I opened the first PDF, read it through with much interest and hilarity, then went on to the next one... and found that walkthroughs were published.
In the fourth magazine they started on a walkthrough of Alice In Wonderland! It was to be published in three parts. First part - I read everything, nothing I missed...
In the fifth magazine, they continued with part 2... so far so good, part 3 to be published next month...

Sixth magazine - no Alice in Wonderland.
Seventh - no Alice. Eighh - same story. With increasing despair I open every single PDF until finally, ten issues later, the final issue of the magazine publishes the rest.

I had to sing Pop Goes The Weasel to that annoying frog character.

Worst adventure experience EVER.

[Rath Darkblade]

I'm so sorry, BBP. I shouldn't laugh but ... Oh dear. That sounds very frustrating. *hug*

You win! *hands over the "Worst Game Experience" trophy to BBP*

[Tawmis]

Uh-oh. Did I just kill this thread? Sorry if I did.

Hah! No - I've not dabbled back into FFVII in a few days - trying to catch up on my D&D notes. I am sure to revisit the thread soon.

[Rath Darkblade]

Fair enough.

To be fair, also, let's agree on this: should we mention "minor" frustrations with games, or not? By "minor" frustrations, I mean something like this:

I recently got a game on GOG called "Around the World in 80 Days" (based on the very famous book). in the game, you play Passepartout, the valet to the British gentleman Phileas Fogg, who sets out on his world tour.

Your mission is complicated because you have to find out routes (e.g. train, car, ship etc.) by gossiping with locals, and then choose where to go next. You can also trade in markets for various artefacts (which you can sell later for handsome profits somewhere else - the game gives you hints - and use the money to finance your journeys). You can also make money in other ways, have little "mini-adventures" if you explore the city you're in, and so on.

It's a very, very fun game. So what's the frustration? Well ... you can easily lose by not making enough money, not knowing where to go, and so on. Thus, when you finally make your way to New York and have to find a way back to London, it costs 5,000 Pounds ... and if you don't have this money, too bad. The first time through, I remember getting that far, but no further. One more trip and I'd have made it! But ... not enough money.

But I'm not complaining! It's a minor frustration in a game that's lots and lots of fun! I recommend it.

[Tawmis]

Fair enough.
To be fair, also, let's agree on this: should we mention "minor" frustrations with games, or not? By "minor" frustrations, I mean something like this:
I recently got a game on GOG called "Around the World in 80 Days" (based on the very famous book). in the game, you play Passepartout, the valet to the British gentleman Phileas Fogg, who sets out on his world tour.
Your mission is complicated because you have to find out routes (e.g. train, car, ship etc.) by gossiping with locals, and then choose where to go next. You can also trade in markets for various artefacts (which you can sell later for handsome profits somewhere else - the game gives you hints - and use the money to finance your journeys). You can also make money in other ways, have little "mini-adventures" if you explore the city you're in, and so on.
It's a very, very fun game. So what's the frustration? Well ... you can easily lose by not making enough money, not knowing where to go, and so on. Thus, when you finally make your way to New York and have to find a way back to London, it costs 5,000 Pounds ... and if you don't have this money, too bad. The first time through, I remember getting that far, but no further. One more trip and I'd have made it! But ... not enough money.
But I'm not complaining! It's a minor frustration in a game that's lots and lots of fun! I recommend it.

It does just say "Frustrating" - so whether major, minor, or even nuisance - I'd say it's welcome here (as the creator of this thread)