Getting stuck in video games

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Imbalance

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Edited By Imbalance

I need to knock some games off of my list
 
So seeing as how you're reading this, you probably like video games. After all, you are on a site about video games. You've probably played them, too. You have also - most likely - gotten stuck in them. Why do we get stuck in video games? Isn't it the designer's job to make sure we know where we're supposed to go? "Well, yes," you say, "but you can also get stuck at parts that are too hard, and that's not always the designer's fault." Okay, I suppose. What if you're too stubborn to change the difficulty level?  
 
There are different circumstances under which one can get "stuck" in a game. Yes, it happens less frequently nowadays, but we all come to a grinding halt sometimes. 
 

Confusion

(Yes, FAQs make this very scarce, but in this scenario we can either be back when they weren't readily available, or without an internet connection, playing a portable game) 
 
 "Where am I supposed to go?" "What am I supposed to do here?"  
 
If you've ever asked either of these questions while playing a video game, and you haven't made any progress at all for a few hours, congratulations. You're stuck. Maybe it's late at night, and you're not thinking as clearly as you should be. That's fine, I suppose. Go to bed, wake up, and if you beat it the next day - great. The cases I'm specifically talking about here, though, are the more extreme ones. Stuck in a certain part for days, weeks, or even months. If you've ever experienced this, you know that it's horrible. 
 
The best example of this happening to me has to be in Paper Mario. I love the game to death, but as a kid there was one part I could never get past. 
  
Ignore the commentary, and skip to 4:17 in the video to see the puzzle.  
 
Did you see it? A series of torches indicates which door you should take through the series of next rooms, whether it be on the top or bottom floor. For whatever reason, I COULD NEVER BEAT THIS AS A KID. I swear I did it right! It never worked. Never. I was stuck on this room for months. I bought the strategy guide. That helped! I followed the pattern... nope! Nada. Nothing. Zilch. 
 
When I finally got past this room, I cried tears of joy.  
 
There is another, more recent example, but it's a bit embarrassing. You see, I'm stuck in Metroid Prime 3. There's a morph ball tunnel that I can't seem to navigate correctly. A shame, because I love the Prime series, and I really want some closure. FAQs do nothing to ease my pain. Oh well. It stays on the list.

Difficulty

You know the drill on this one. This is the more common form of getting stuck in a video game. This is the throw-your-controller-at-the-wall situation. This is where you can't beat an enemy. This is where you can't make that last jump. This is where you miss the note in the middle of the solo. 
 
This is when a game is just too hard. 
 
Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Devil May Cry. All great series, all hard as hell. 
 
Do I even need to explain it? You've tried everything. You've tried using a different weapon. You've tried killing different enemies first. You've tried timing your jumps better. At the cost of your own pride, you'v even tried lowering the difficulty level. But nothing seems to work. 
 
If you can beat it, the payoff is incredible. The suffering, however, is the worst part.  
 
_____________________
Gonna take a chance and post this in the General Discussion section. So discuss!

Do you have a game you can't (or couldn't) beat? Don't know where to go next? Tried everything, to no avail?
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Imbalance

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#1  Edited By Imbalance

I need to knock some games off of my list
 
So seeing as how you're reading this, you probably like video games. After all, you are on a site about video games. You've probably played them, too. You have also - most likely - gotten stuck in them. Why do we get stuck in video games? Isn't it the designer's job to make sure we know where we're supposed to go? "Well, yes," you say, "but you can also get stuck at parts that are too hard, and that's not always the designer's fault." Okay, I suppose. What if you're too stubborn to change the difficulty level?  
 
There are different circumstances under which one can get "stuck" in a game. Yes, it happens less frequently nowadays, but we all come to a grinding halt sometimes. 
 

Confusion

(Yes, FAQs make this very scarce, but in this scenario we can either be back when they weren't readily available, or without an internet connection, playing a portable game) 
 
 "Where am I supposed to go?" "What am I supposed to do here?"  
 
If you've ever asked either of these questions while playing a video game, and you haven't made any progress at all for a few hours, congratulations. You're stuck. Maybe it's late at night, and you're not thinking as clearly as you should be. That's fine, I suppose. Go to bed, wake up, and if you beat it the next day - great. The cases I'm specifically talking about here, though, are the more extreme ones. Stuck in a certain part for days, weeks, or even months. If you've ever experienced this, you know that it's horrible. 
 
The best example of this happening to me has to be in Paper Mario. I love the game to death, but as a kid there was one part I could never get past. 
  
Ignore the commentary, and skip to 4:17 in the video to see the puzzle.  
 
Did you see it? A series of torches indicates which door you should take through the series of next rooms, whether it be on the top or bottom floor. For whatever reason, I COULD NEVER BEAT THIS AS A KID. I swear I did it right! It never worked. Never. I was stuck on this room for months. I bought the strategy guide. That helped! I followed the pattern... nope! Nada. Nothing. Zilch. 
 
When I finally got past this room, I cried tears of joy.  
 
There is another, more recent example, but it's a bit embarrassing. You see, I'm stuck in Metroid Prime 3. There's a morph ball tunnel that I can't seem to navigate correctly. A shame, because I love the Prime series, and I really want some closure. FAQs do nothing to ease my pain. Oh well. It stays on the list.

Difficulty

You know the drill on this one. This is the more common form of getting stuck in a video game. This is the throw-your-controller-at-the-wall situation. This is where you can't beat an enemy. This is where you can't make that last jump. This is where you miss the note in the middle of the solo. 
 
This is when a game is just too hard. 
 
Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Devil May Cry. All great series, all hard as hell. 
 
Do I even need to explain it? You've tried everything. You've tried using a different weapon. You've tried killing different enemies first. You've tried timing your jumps better. At the cost of your own pride, you'v even tried lowering the difficulty level. But nothing seems to work. 
 
If you can beat it, the payoff is incredible. The suffering, however, is the worst part.  
 
_____________________
Gonna take a chance and post this in the General Discussion section. So discuss!

Do you have a game you can't (or couldn't) beat? Don't know where to go next? Tried everything, to no avail?
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Valkyr

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#2  Edited By Valkyr

I started Darksiders in the hardest difficulty a few months ago, I couldn't kill the dude that comes from behind when you are walking through a bridge, I tried like 50 times but I always fucked with the pattern and it was becoming even harder due to the frustration, I always play my games on hard and I was lazy to keep trying or start over on normal, I feel bad because everyone says it's a great game

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just_nonplussed

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#3  Edited By just_nonplussed

good list.
 
i tend to not continue playing a game if i get stuck and it's really annoying me. most times it's not worth the stress ( but demon's souls, you're worth it). the thing i hate the most is the getting lost part, like the mario level that confuses you, similar to the lost woods in ocarina of time or snowfly forest in vagrant story. i used to put all my effort into trying to get past whatever obstacle i was struggling with, but these days i stick to games that are made well, or games that aren't tedious. for instance, i just couldn't get through twilight princess because of that damned map. couldn't finish okami either. but it doesn't really bother me anymore.

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TheGodPoet

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#4  Edited By TheGodPoet

From your list I've beaten Persona 4, Dragon Age Origins, Far Cry 2, COD: WaW, Kingdom Hearts 1, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Final Fantasy XII. Now to get on topic...... 
 
I have never beaten Devil May Cry 3: Dantes Awakening. I have the special edition and I would play on normal and there was this one boss I could never get past. It was actually 2 bosses and they both had swords. I could always beat one but then the other would get the others sword and just take a big shit on me. I don't know how many times I tried to beat it but never could. I actually wanna try again.  
 
    It was these 2 I could never beat Agni and Ruda.......fuck those two. 
 
There's also Final Fantasy XIII. It wasn't so much it was hard but more draining. It was like I kept forcing myself to play the game and it was draining me til I refused to keep playing it. 

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Grumbel

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#5  Edited By Grumbel

The most annoying part of getting stuck is when it happens on the last boss, three instances where that happened to me:
 
Viewtiful Joe (GC): Before the last boss you have to fight through all the previous bosses in a row, just to much stuff at once and not fun at all, I just gave up on it.
Advance Wars (GBA): Last boss has some commet special attack or whatever, that always wipes out half your units, never could get past it, what made this worse is that I could stay alive in that level for a long long while, just never get the upper hand, so playing that level was extremely tedious and just a waste on time. I again just gave up on it.
Final Fantasy Tactics (GBA): The last boss has some heavy attack that can kill you in one or two hits, without a healer, you are basically lost. I didn't have a healer in my party, as I never needed one before, and didn't care enough to level one up. Again I just gave up.
 
What makes all those cases so annoying is that the games themselves weren't really all that hard, its just the very end where the developers turned the games difficulty up so much that it just wasn't fun any more.

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#6  Edited By martindn

Depends on the game really, if its an rpg like persona and your choices/questions affect the game i would most probably look it up, but any other, if the game gets hard, makes it more fun right ? :D Afterall if its too easy you get bored and finish it faster.
 
 Post by Grumbel 
 
Yep that is the WORST, thats happened to me a few times, like in suikoden V, or  FFX on braskas final aeon, oh man i hated that boss as a kid, of course it was my first run through and i was terrible at it then, i only trained 3 chars instead of all and i got my ass wupped (Now that i remember it i had a hard time on pretty much every boss when i first got it haha.)