Difficult Single-Player Modes

[Cfrock]

I looked for a like thread, since I thought this had probably been done, but I didn't find one.

I've recently started playing F-Zero GX once again because it's an amazing game, but, even though I've had and enjoyed the game for nearly ten years now, I've never unlocked everything. It's just too difficult for me. The Story mode was hard enough on Normal, taking me well over 8 hours just to complete nine missions which can be completed in a matter of minutes, sometimes less. But this time I've been going at these missions on Hard and Very Hard and I've had to teach myself advanced piloting techniques just to keep up and still fail. The Grand Prix mode is just as unforgiving on Expert level, pushing you to make use of every bit of skill you have. It forces you to be quick, be aggressive, be able to recognise opportunities within fractions of a second and react fast enough to seize upon them in order to place in the top six. Placing 1st asks for that much more. And Expert isn't even the highest level; I've still to unlock Master level and God only knows what that will be like but I'm guessing it won't be a picnic.

F-Zero GX would more than deserve a place in the top three at least if I were to ever compile a 'Most Difficult Single-Player' list because it absolutely has some of the most difficult single-player modes in any game I've ever played. What's good about this game in particular though is that it's not difficult because of ridiculously short time-limits or opponents with unbelievable amounts of health or because of one-hit kills or anything else like that. It's difficult purely because the game requires skill and precision and concentration to play well. Every challenge is plainly achievable, you just need to be good enough at the game, not rely on some degree of luck or chance. That makes success all the sweeter, because you haven't just beaten the challenge but genuinely become better at the game too.

What games do you think had a particularly difficult single-player mode and why was it so difficult? Did you enjoy the difficulty, and if so why? Did it only frustrate and upset you and what would have improved it?

 

[Mercedes]

Well, the very obvious, and most recent, example of a quite mainstream title which was very difficult would be Dark Souls. That was a merciless game, my first playthrough consisted of a lot of trial and error to see what exactly could kill me and what I could handle, but it managed to balance this relentless difficulty with such quality gameplay, and actually a quite forgiving system for death, that it was very fun and I can see why it worked so well. It, and it's spiritual prequel Demon's Souls, were definitely among the most difficult big budget titles in recent years.

If we factor in difficulty modes, many games actually become difficult, but I'm more thinking of games that were difficult on their default difficulty setting more than anything. Although one thing I do myself and is something many do is RPG and roleplay within the game, or set certain challenges. Playing Skyrim on Master Difficulty exclusively using a bow, for instance, adds a new level of gameplay and difficulty which I very much enjoy.

Another title, which many may have missed being difficult, was the original inception of the Witcher 2. Like Dark Souls, it was a very healthy challenge from the beginning. Geralt would be stumbled by every single hit struck onto him from combat, and the overall gameplay before the game was patched (which the console version came with) was a very fun and difficult title, especially on the harder modes. But it was a lot of fun. The problem many people found was a lack of a tutorial, but Geralt has many tools to his disposal and this meant combat was much more than just swing swing swing. Original Witcher 2, if you didn't make good use of the Quen side from the very start of the game you definitely weren't going to last long.

I very much like challenge in titles if it's not just shoved in to make a boring, dull game suddenly feel a bit better. Quality titles like Bioshock managed to amaze me and provide a deep, thrilling experience without any difficulty, the game was simple, you were powerful with a lot of resources, and the punishment for death was being misplaced not very far. I felt like games like Dark Souls and Witcher 2 worked well because the difficulty pushed you to think more, and use all the tools available at your disposal to survive. If a game's easy, players can often get complacent and don't bother using all those many features developers took the time to create because simply swinging your standard sword is the best way to handle situations.

The original Operation Flashpoint, which eventually became the ARMA series by Bohemia, is probably the best example of a challenging FPS title too, due to it's extreme realism. Run across a field and get shot once and that was you usually dead. It left no room for mistakes, and whereas Call of Duty desperately tries to balance realism and immersion with arcade, fast-paced shooting, OF/ARMA really did force you to play the game like they wanted you to, realistically. You cleared a house by scouting around and checking exits and moving your team in, not ripping off your shirt, donning a red bandana and screaming "LEEROY JENKINS". The real army don't do that... they feel it's unfair on the enemy, they don't stand a chance against such a tactic. War needs to be fair!

Another title I feel was a rich and challenging single-player experience, a game series which boasted possibly the greatest atmosphere and setting of any game, would be the STALKER games, especially with the Complete mods or Misery installed. The base game was very difficult because, like OF/ARMA, it didn't treat you like superman. It made you feel vulnerable, and thrown into this dangerous world. The knowledge of walking through the dog knowing there's mutated dogs behind you really made the game quite damn scary at times, that being combined with the nuclear war-torn world of Russia. A quality game experience I feel everyone should enjoy, Shadow of Chernobyl is an absolute triumph of a game and I don't see even someone not enjoying FPS' disliking that game.

Finally I'll throw in 2 Indie titles, one which many will have heard of and one which many won't have; Super Meat Boy, and Bloody Trapland. Two very quirky and interesting Indie platformers which make even the hardest Mario level look like a relaxing stroll in the park. Fast-paced and exciting, and made by such small teams that it's very impressive. I had a lot of fun with Super Meat Boy, Edmund McMillen's desire to provide a challenging experience caused some amazing level design, in the later levels demanding absolute perfection to even have a chance of succeeding. Un-forgiving, and yet breeds success, cos I'll be damned if I'd let Bandage Girl get away from me!

Other than that, I can't really think of much, I don't actively scout around for challenging experiences. I'll bump up the difficulty, try challenge maps and user-created content which is quite difficult, but, I'm not the biggest fan. I like to relax more. Have to very much be in the mood to play a quite challenging game.

 

[Blue Canary]

The difficulty is fun as long as I feel like if I lose, it's my fault. There is a game called "2 Fast 4 Gnomes" that requires perfectly times reactions (You Should Play The Game. You Can Get it on the Wii or the 3DS.) but it is fine, because the game is forgiving (The lives count up, not down.) and you feel like if you lose, it's your fault. The same goes with Super Meat Boy. But, if I lose and I feel like I was being cheated (You would be able to tell because I'll get really annoyed...), then I won't pick the game up again.

 

[Ventus]

Fire Emblem Awakening - Lunatic+ is the hardest game mode I've ever encountered in gaming. It throws ridiculous, randomized skills at you from the Prologue, and it only gets worse by end game where they have ridiculous Lunatic+ skills and impossible forged weapons. Hell they might even have forged brave weapons at endgame. I haven't gotten past Chapter 2, and even then I was playing Lunatic+ Casual. Actually...the hardest chapter is DEFINITELY Chapter 2, due to randomized skills, ridiculous stats, AND a Hammer wielding foe. It basically says "GG Frederick" >_>'

Skyward Sword - Hero Mode is just ridiculous. The AI is incomprehensibly good that it wipes the floor with me regarding combat. Puzzles are unchanged, though.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - The Hunny Pot Command Board is simply ridiculous. Try to play without Tigger or else you'll be losing game after game. I swear that board is so rigged ;p

 

[Justac00lguy]

It's hard to differentiate between modern games and game so played when 5+ years ago. Mainly for two reasons; I was slightly less inexperienced back then, obviously intelligence on some level comes into play in some game. The second point being the fact that games have advanced a long way and have thus become more efficient to play - easier control schemes etc.

I'm actually finding incredibly hard to think of such games, so I'll just go with a game I know quite well which certainly challenged me in many ways. This game would be Fallout New Vegas. I tend to find the more open, larger experiences a lot harder overall, maybe because I judge them on multiple elements of difficulty as opposed to just a few. For example, platforms can be incredibly frustrating but the only elements of challenge come from precision, timing, perfecting limited movements and keeping up with the fast paced gameplay. While in a game like Fallout New Vegas you have multiple; shooter elements, survival, melee, exploration, diversity of quests.

It's hard to pin point the challenge, but because this game offers a lot of diversity, it becomes a challenging experience in more ways than one. Playing this game on "Very Hard" and on "Hardcore Mode" definitely raised the challenge to a very high level indeed. Very Hard essentially increased the enemies threshold to damage, meaning that it would take a while to take down foes no matter what your level, this increased demands on ammunition, health, the pressure to be at a higher level to advance and the pressure to obtain stronger weapons.

Hardcore Mode was the real game changer though. This increased that idea of survival - ammunition would now add on to your weight; meaning that your ability to carry such items was heavily diminished. Since the emphasis was put largely on carrying a wide variety of items/weapons/armour etc. This severely lowered that capability, essentially resulting in one not becoming overpowered. Ammunition became a burden, it made you make more decisions; "should I keep this gun" -- "should I take this ammo" etc. Hardcore mode also gave a sense of "realism" to the game; you would essentially have to survive. Dehydration levels and food levels would drop with time - meaning that, not only would you be worrying about tackling quests and whatnot, but you would have to watch these levels, not doing so would essentially mean death. Water was quite scarce in this Fallout installment, especially clean water, and food would add to your weight - putting strain on that as well. This just added the that whole idea of a "post apocalyptic world", resources were scarce and you had to rely on them to survive. I think it just gave a new element to the game, survival was already present but with this mode it just enhanced it A lot. Another thing I should mention is that now you would have to manually fix broken limbs with stimpaks (health). Usually one could just use a Stimpak and not only would it increase a percentage of health, health but it would fix broken limbs. Now you would have to target that limb and it really put stress on Stimpak levels - again adding to that aspect of "survival".

This game also had freedom. Now what's hard about freedom? Well it makes the game more about how you play rather than how the game wants you to play. It eliminates linearity and hand holding and just throws you into the world; the world is essentially your oyster. One could explore anything, of course there were certain limitations here and there, but I encountered one of the hardest enemies in the game, just two hours in due to a wrong turn. It's not just about freedom in terms of the overworld though, you get freedom in what decisions you make. You can choose to that quest - of you do it then you'll risk losing supplies and possible failure, but if you succeed then you can gain experience points and actually gain supplies, maybe a secret weapon etc. It's that kind of choice that essentially moulds this experience, take risks and you shall be rewarded, but they are risks. There are also many choices among what you do in the Mojave Desert, you have reputations in certain Towns and among other Tribes. Make a wrong move and then your reputation will fall and so on. It's all your choice though, I can steal this valuable weapon and sell it for a high price but I may become vilified and possibly killed for my actions. Siding with certain tribes also gave more of a choice, it had its disadvantages and advantages, if I sided with the NCR then multiple bases and quests would be my reward, same for the Legion.

I think this sense of choice and reward really offered a diverse experience, now how does diverse relate to challenge? Well it fits into nonlinearity in a sense - you get that feeling of strategy. Making that choice will lead to consequences, but also an advantage may be your reward and vice versa. It also adds to the longevity of the game, but I guess that's a different topic.

All of what I mentioned doesn't actually relate to the actual challenge coming from quests and whatnot. The quests are all varied and all offer new aspects of challenge, all offer choices as well. The enemies are also very challenging, more so the advanced ones, I'm sure if you're familiar with this series you will know what I'm on about. It's hard to really pin point the challenge, but all of what our said above fits into this, you had that action based challenge - combat etc. Then you have survival like elements as well as strategy all of which fits into most of the game. More challenge comes with experiencing all this game has to offer, that includes; completing all quests, visiting all locations, finding all hidden items, completing miscellaneous objectives, the mini challenges in game etc.

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While this game my not be challenging to some, it certainly offers a diverse experience with that comes many elements of challenge, which is what I believe true challenge is. However, you want a real run for your money? Then go for Very Hard and switch hardcore mode on, this will give the best gamers a good challenge.

 

[Aelic7]

Any Metal Gear Solid game on Extreme difficulty with "Game over if spotted" on. Sometimes it feels really cheap, though, and it's easy to get frustrated.

 

[Linknerd09]

I remember playing Super C on the Wii on my own because I enjoy playing this game. Well, I could never pass to the level 4 since it is very hard to pass and making sure you have enough lives to continue on by yourself. I do enjoy the difficulty it has to offer me, but it's just ridiculous of not passing the same 3rd level of the game.

 

[JuicieJ]

Donkey Kong Country Returns. It starts out fairly challenging, nothing too hard, but nothing too easy, although there are some irritating barrel and mine cart levels, but around World 6, it starts to get pretty tough. World 7, levels become really intense. And World 8, **** hits the fan and hits it hard. So many levels start to borderline rely on memorization to the point that it's often outright unfair. And the final boss is murder (until you know his pattern).

I'm really appreciative of the New Mode in DKCR 3D because of this. An extra heart is added, and juice that protects the barrels and mine carts can be purchased, among other alterations. I'm grateful that Retro wasn't afraid to make a legitimately difficult game in an era where pandering to the casual audience is the popular thing to do, but they went a little overboard.

 

[tketle]

Xenoblade Chronicles was challenging for me. I got all of the experience I could along the way, from sidequests and exploring and whatnot, but there were still times when I had to grind up a couple of levels to beat a boss. Even some of the normal enemies in the later parts of the game were too much for me in groups. Could've just been my own fault, as I never really researched good armor sets and stuff like that, plus I didn't incorporate a tank into my party until almost the end of the game. I still enjoyed the game immensely though. Now one of my all-time favorites, for sure.

Mine cart, rocket barrel(?), and K-levels were always tough for me in Donkey Kong Country Returns. I didn't find the game to be as challenging overall as some people think though. I adore this game too.

In Rayman Origins the giant mosquito thing levels always took me a few tries. As did the treasure chase levels, of course, and the last level. Probably died at least a hundred times between those three level types. Really enjoyed this one; not sure if I'd put it in my Top 5 or anything though.

Resident Evil 0. I actually had to restart this one on Easy because it got to a point where it was literally impossible for me to continue on Normal. Those apes just wail on you, and the controls are so clunky that you basically just have to take it. Mixed feelings on this game, though I'm not done with it yet.