Frustrating games
06-21-02 | 12:09 PM
#76
DVD Talk Special Edition
Originally posted by dfbennett
Just thought of another one. Last Battle for the Genesis. The only way I was able to get past the first or second level was by using a game genie.
Just thought of another one. Last Battle for the Genesis. The only way I was able to get past the first or second level was by using a game genie.
Two others I remember:
Crash Bandicoot - trying to collect all the gems or whatever they were (perfect on every level). It seemed like the longer you play the worse you got. The worst was when you finally thought you got it and miss the last jump and have to start over.
Gaeires (genesis) - There was this one part I could never get past. You have limited continues and stuff, so I play 20 minutes to get to this one point and die. Never did get past it.
06-21-02 | 12:55 PM
#77
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Originally posted by Breakfast with Girls
That's true for the most part, but buy their classic pack, with their original set of adventure games, like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken. Maybe you couldn't die very easily, but you could definitely get to a point where you couldn't finish the game (for instance, where all your characters are captured).
That's true for the most part, but buy their classic pack, with their original set of adventure games, like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken. Maybe you couldn't die very easily, but you could definitely get to a point where you couldn't finish the game (for instance, where all your characters are captured).
06-21-02 | 03:31 PM
#78
DVD Talk Limited Edition
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From: Austin, Texas
Originally posted by Breakfast with Girls
That's true for the most part, but buy their classic pack, with their original set of adventure games, like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken. Maybe you couldn't die very easily, but you could definitely get to a point where you couldn't finish the game (for instance, where all your characters are captured). They were more difficult than their later adventures, and there were always people chasing you. I remember playing Maniac Mansion as a kid and being really paranoid about getting caught.
That's true for the most part, but buy their classic pack, with their original set of adventure games, like Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken. Maybe you couldn't die very easily, but you could definitely get to a point where you couldn't finish the game (for instance, where all your characters are captured). They were more difficult than their later adventures, and there were always people chasing you. I remember playing Maniac Mansion as a kid and being really paranoid about getting caught.
I remember reading in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis that they tried really hard to keep you from killing yourself or ending up stuck. Not that you couldn't do it, Indy was a "dangerous guy", but you had to be pretty bone-headed to do so. I thought this was greatly preferable to similar games where you were dying every fifteen or twenty minutes and were severely punished for not doing things in the right way or right order.
I still remember a game (castaway?) I played as a youth on the C-64 that was the most punitive game I've ever played. You wake up on an island, and you have no idea who you are. You struggle to get off the island, then struggle to find out who you really are and why you were on the island. At the climax of the game, you have to present an item that you were supposed to pick up on the island. By this time, you can't go back to the island, you've got hundreds of hours invested in the game, and on top of that, the item was hidden, so it wasn't obvious that you needed it or that it was even there to begin with. I almost broke my C-64 over that one. And no, I never finished it.
Some good quotes from the Ghosts and Goblins article:
Ghosts'n Goblins is a classic Capcom platformer that is invariably described as "ghoulishly difficult" by game reviewers.
Yes, after you finally manage to guide Arthur past legions of undead creatures, hopping skeletons, blue and red devils, hulking Cyclopses, flying dragons, and huge swooping demons -- without taking more than one hit -- you get to fight Satan in his throne room. Once you beat him, Arthur and Prin Prin are reunited at long last, right? Wrong. A message informs you that what you've just beaten is an illusion devised by Satan, and you must go all the way back to the graveyard and fight your way through the game a second time. To make things worse, the difficulty -- which was no cakewalk the first time around -- has been ratcheted up.
...the unapologetic challenge of GnG is rather like a gauntlet thrown down by Capcom at the feet of gamers everywhere....
Yes, after you finally manage to guide Arthur past legions of undead creatures, hopping skeletons, blue and red devils, hulking Cyclopses, flying dragons, and huge swooping demons -- without taking more than one hit -- you get to fight Satan in his throne room. Once you beat him, Arthur and Prin Prin are reunited at long last, right? Wrong. A message informs you that what you've just beaten is an illusion devised by Satan, and you must go all the way back to the graveyard and fight your way through the game a second time. To make things worse, the difficulty -- which was no cakewalk the first time around -- has been ratcheted up.
...the unapologetic challenge of GnG is rather like a gauntlet thrown down by Capcom at the feet of gamers everywhere....
06-21-02 | 07:13 PM
#79
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by Mezzanine
You do know that there's a way to escape from the dungeon in Maniac Mansion, right?
You do know that there's a way to escape from the dungeon in Maniac Mansion, right?
Even now I don't remember what it was exactly.In Zak, you had to have someone rescue you. Meaning you couldn't have the items needed to rescue you in the possession of the character needing rescued. So you could, legitimately, be stuck in that game.
06-21-02 | 07:18 PM
#80
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by einTier
I did play some of the earlier games, like Maniac Mansion (hey, they had character they modeled after Tori Amos, I had to play) and Day of the Tentacle. However, the ones that stick in my mind are the Indiana Jones adventures, Sam and Max hit the Road, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and the Monkey Island series. Maybe I just enjoyed them more, and that's why I tend to think of those games over admittedly classic LucasArts games like MM.
I did play some of the earlier games, like Maniac Mansion (hey, they had character they modeled after Tori Amos, I had to play) and Day of the Tentacle. However, the ones that stick in my mind are the Indiana Jones adventures, Sam and Max hit the Road, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and the Monkey Island series. Maybe I just enjoyed them more, and that's why I tend to think of those games over admittedly classic LucasArts games like MM.
I remember reading in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis that they tried really hard to keep you from killing yourself or ending up stuck. Not that you couldn't do it, Indy was a "dangerous guy", but you had to be pretty bone-headed to do so. I thought this was greatly preferable to similar games where you were dying every fifteen or twenty minutes and were severely punished for not doing things in the right way or right order.
In fact, I loved the gag in The Secret of Monkey Island where Guybrush is thrown into the water. The first time I played that I was panicking, trying to grab something to get out of the water. Then I a) remembered he could hold his breath for 10 minutes, and b) picked up the rock he was tied to and sauntered out of the water. I thought that was a pretty good gag.
I still remember a game (castaway?) I played as a youth on the C-64 that was the most punitive game I've ever played. You wake up on an island, and you have no idea who you are. You struggle to get off the island, then struggle to find out who you really are and why you were on the island. At the climax of the game, you have to present an item that you were supposed to pick up on the island. By this time, you can't go back to the island, you've got hundreds of hours invested in the game, and on top of that, the item was hidden, so it wasn't obvious that you needed it or that it was even there to begin with. I almost broke my C-64 over that one. And no, I never finished it.
Nice
06-21-02 | 09:18 PM
#81
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From: Cumming, GA (Yes, it really exists.)
Anybody ever play Stunt Flyer? You flew a plane, trying to do aerodynamic stunts, barrel rolls, Immelmans, and the like.
The game was published by Sierra Online, and the head honcho, (Ken Williams, I think) had this great idea that if you screwed up and crashed the plane, he wanted you to feel like you really lost something. They programmed it so that everytime you crashed the plane, the computer crashed.
Arrgh!!!
The game was published by Sierra Online, and the head honcho, (Ken Williams, I think) had this great idea that if you screwed up and crashed the plane, he wanted you to feel like you really lost something. They programmed it so that everytime you crashed the plane, the computer crashed.
Arrgh!!!
