I love Super Mario RPG but when you get to the Moleville part of the map, it feels like the game hits a stalling grind. Like it is to me, the dragging part of the game. Because you got to deal with the annoying enemies and bosses there. I don’t like dealing with Booster. I don’t like Booster’s Tower.
Moleville is just okay but I don’t like reaching this part of the game. At least things pick up afterwards.
Deepnest.
(context: Deepnest is from Hollow Knight)
I love Deepnest, honestly. It seems like a horrifying confusing maze in your first playthrough but once you’re done with it you realize it’s not as big or scary as it seems. I could do without the last part of you escaping, but it really isn’t that bad. Unless you’re scared of insects, then it’s really bad.
Oh great question.
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Mass Effect 1: Unexplored Worlds. Gets boring so fast but you have to do it.
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Mass Effect 2: Horizon. Mostly forced mission which is important story wise but it’s just a slog.
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Mass Effect 3: Javik.
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Halo: The Library
Halo: The Library
Thankfully, Mission Select lets you skip levels you don’t like. Personally, The Library is in my top three, but I get why people hate it.
The level is basically a reverse escort mission; a tough-as-nails autoscroller with few checkpoints and a lore dump for background noise. I used to hate it.
At some point though, I started to love the challenge of playing it on Legendary. Once I got over “the hump” of difficulty, I found the constant onslaught of armed flood, combined with limited weaponry, led to some of the most heart-pounding shooter action on the Xbox, especially if you decide to aggro the sentinels too.
Assault on the Control Room comes close, kinda, but it relies heavily on vehicle sections. I prefer the close-range ground-based scenarios The Library offers.
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Almost always, the intro/tutorial mission. Especially in some RPGs the whole “the game doesn’t get good until 30 hours in” is unacceptable.
Chapter 1 of RDR2.
This is why dark souls is one of my favorite franchises. Most of them have you fighting stuff in minutes. If you wanna do the zweihander, you’re basically set in 30 minutes.
Elden Ring suffers a bit by being so big, there’s a lot more chores to do to get started.
Elden Ring replays are soooooo much better with mods. Not only are there mods to make Torrent like 2x faster, some mods just lets you skip the tedium of running around the map collecting golden seeds or rebalances the DLC so it doesn’t use scadutree fragments.
Shoutout to The Convergence mod which adds a whole load of content and quality-of-life.
I was told that with FFXIV. "No, no, you need the first two expansions and dump money in and spend hours grinding before it gets good.’
No thanks.
but you don’t, theres a free trial that gives you all but the last 2 expansions, hundreds of hours of free play time doing whatever you want
what is “grinding” in a game where nothing is required?
you cannot “grind” ff14 there is nothing to grind
and if you are doing something like achievement farming it is willingly and not a forced grind
You need to grind through the hundred+ fetch quests to progress the main storyline to unlock anything.
Everyone who plays knows those quests suck.
Valheim: I dislike the Mistlands quite a bit. The swamp is kind of a slowdown but it becomes workable once you get established, but the Mistlands I always dread because its a combination of funky mechanics that all merge together poorly. You got poor visibility in a game about exploring (and its critical to find dungeons/giant bones here), lots of lakes/pools in a game without real swimming combat mechanics, annoying enemies likes ticks and the bomber things, and they made the terrain extremely jagged and steep.
Its not the worst thing ever but if I start a new game/server, I’ll usually stop around the Mistlands.
Unmodded, the Mistlands are SO frustrating! I do find that even a mod that makes swimming suck less can be a real game-changer. The actual zone is beautiful though.
I second the Mistlands being the least enjoyable part of Valheim.
On top of the things already mentioned the terrain has a lit of elevation changes which makes fighting on a slope more of an issue and it can be easy to fall off a cliff before you make the slow falling cloak.
I’ve played Valheim a lot - its one of my favorites. IMO the game kinda “jumps the shark” when you hit the Mistlands. The first few biomes are great and exciting, the meadows are serene home-building paradise, the black forest gets you into some danger, the ocean feels like a real venture into the unknown, the swamps are the spooky scary outing, the plains are the first really tougher enemies, the mountains are a good progression in gear and beautiful… a lot of fun and great homesteading, you get into farming, all of that.
Then the mistlands are mostly annoying. You have to leave your existing base, just walking is a pain, you can’t see shit, and the resource gathering, equipment, and overall vibe get a bit abstract and fantasy-oriented. Though on the first run, the atmosphere of the mist was kinda cool, and I also thought those wandering Overlord things were a cool aspect, it loses its luster on a repeat play through in a way the others don’t.
After that all the biomes seem more and more like another place to get a new round of ever more fantastical resources and kill the next boss. I still enjoy them, but I really love starting a new server with some friends and starting a new world for those first biomes.
Factorio is awesome, but all of my planning falls apart around the time I unlock red circuits
The whole Meat Circus last chapter of the first Psychonauts game drove me mental, but especially this part:
Yeah, such a delightful and whimsical game, and then Bam! From software gets contracted to do the end. Even with the invincibility code it’s nightmarish because of the platforming and weird checkpoints.
Really good prompt!
I think boss fights are the weakest part of “Path of Exile”, they are boring in the sense that you beat them eventually, you often can’t use your regular full arsenal and the worse ones leave you very little room and have annoying graphical effects. Particularly the lord of the oceans or whatever. But also kitava.
I really just want to go back to running through levels.
I get they are maybe supposed to be a change in pacing, but especially when you need to “learn the fight”, it basically stops the momentum. Or, of course, your build is already active and they give the resistance of a wet paper towel.
Let’s not talk about PoE2, where they specifically focused on the boss fights. As a treat, or something.
License challenges on any Gran Turismo.
I used to get to the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3 and start a new run. Not because of difficulty, but because young me was scared shitless.
Skyrim - intro, but I just use alternate start these days to skip it
Hitman WoA - Colorado
Elden Ring - Godskin Duo, Fire Giant
Dark Souls - most of the game after O&S
Dark Souls III - Irithyll Dungeon
Sekiro - Chained Ogre, Blazing Bull
RE 4 original: The freaking industrial facility with the wrecking ball. So hard to keep track of where the enemies are, and easy to get mobbed. I like it less than the water room. (It’s fine on NG+ with upgraded weapons.)
Also the flying bug cave. There’s always ONE MORE you didn’t see and by the time you hear it he’s jumped on you and knocked you down.
RE 4 Remake: Del Lago. It just feels way too twitchy and with too tight tolerances. It’s always a crap shoot, even if I’m blasting through the rest of it like a maniac.
I love Don’t Starve [Together], but I hate fighting bosses.
Fallout 4 the pre war opening and DIMA’s memories in Far Harbour. Unlike others i don’t dread Kellog’s memories i find it goes by quickly if you just run through without listening.
Dimas memories is one of the most annoying, tedious things I’ve ever experienced in a game I liked. That and the RC airplane in GTA San Andreas.
Ninja Gaiden 2
Chapter 3 is absolute dogshit, full of unfun Van Gelf encounters and topped by Gigadeath - one of the he worst bosses in gaming. When he doesn’t kill you with his bullshit his glitchy ass falls out of the combat arena 25% of the time. And a successful fight with him has you slowly plink him down with a longbow. In a Character Action Game.
Close second is Chapter 9. The jungle is a hellhole of unfun fights and bullshit, including water segments, jellyfish-landmines, awful worm enemies, boring pillbug enemies and another boss fight from the absolute bottom of the barrel in the tunnel worm.
Those two really are mental blocks whenever I think of a replay.
Speaking of Ninja Gaiden, the fucking ghost fish from the first one.
The ghost fish are terrible, there are some locations in particular that are a bit evil, but there are actually a few 100% safe ways to deal with them.
Oh yeah, once you know how to handle them they’re basically just an annoyance, but until then, FUCK THEM.
Lost Izalith and the Bed of Chaos in Dark Souls.
Everything before acquiring the Lordvessel is some of the tightest and best game design ever seen. The whole late game has problems, but Lost Izalith is by far the worst and most noticeably rushed.
My Kingdom to know a world where DS1 finished cooking
