The Gamer's Quarter

[Ketch]

Read about Druaga here http://www.ntsc-uk.com/feature.php?featuretype=edi&fea=Druaga

Takeshii no Chousenjou (is that how it is spelt?) is more of a prank than a game, saying that it is made "by a man who hates video-games" and with an end boss that needs to be hit 20,ooo times to defeat, it also had things like needing to sing into the famicom microphone for an hour without touching the controller (ie. karaoke). I'm sure that most regulars here or at insertcredit have heard about this one.

It seems to me that both these games highlight some of the main problems with games, I'd love to see a game that was built in a real world setting like (TnC) but where the challenges are more obvious and forgiving, where the game is made with *empathy* for the player rather than as a cruel prank. Maybe as a kind of adventure/RPG? where you would score points (or improve your stats) with everything you do. And where the following never happens

[simplicio]

Add to that Super Ghouls & Ghosts (and its kin), where you have to play through the whole damn-near impossible thing twice.

I guess it's good to have the occasional semi-impossible game though. I see them as the pre-MMORPG method of grinding, and plenty of people go for that. Plus there's plenty more accomplishment in beating one of these than there is in getting your WoW character up to lvl 60 or whatever.

[Swimmy]

Speaking of terrible games, I saw a copy of the original Hydlide in a store the other day for about a buck. Anyone seeking that for some unspeakable reason?
_________________

"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

[ApM]

I actually managed to extract some fun out of Hydlide, back in the day. I don't remember exactly how, but I'm certain it involved the mute button.

Would you like to hear an embarassing childhood story? When I was quite young, like six years old, my brother beat me so soundly in Double Dribble that I cried. Filled with impotent rage, I swore through my tears that I was going to write a letter to Konami telling them that they shouldn't be allowed to advertise their game as entertainment software. To this day, my family taunts me with cries of "It's not entertaining me anymore!"

That's probably about as cruel as a game has ever been to me.

[OtakupunkX]

[J.Goodwin]

[ApM]

Hydlide was a totally lobotomized Zelda rip-off with a cheery 15-second music loop that literally never stopped. Instead of, say, swinging your sword at an enemy, you would hold down the A button, which would change a textbox from "DEFEND" to "ATTACK", and bump into them.

Somehow it managed to spawn an entire series.

[a_plus]

The WORST, as far as I'm concerned, is the old cruelty in adventure games. You know, like old Sierra games or text adventures, where if you didn't grab the 4-by7 pixel piece of wood in the first five minutes of the game (that you didn't even know you could pick up) you'll be stuck three hours later when you crash land and need to make a fire to survive. Or, my favorite, walking into the wrong room and falling down a pit to your death. I guess I learned to make lots of backup saves, which could be a good trait, but there's no reason for those games to be such assholes about it!

[dessgeega]

[ApM]

Yeah, I was considering mentioning SMB2j. Attempting to play through the Lost Levels version, I kept saying to myself, "Man, this game really doesn't like me."

[a_plus]

Lucasarts where did you go

[Dracko]

[Ketch]

Apparently the Babel Fish puzzle in HHGttG had an evil twist too, if you didn't solve it right on your first attempt, when you did work it out the vending machine would have run out of Babelfish !

So that is a case of save-attempt reload. Also to do it you needed to pick up the JunkMail from your doormat, which was at the start of the game and there was no way to get it from where you were now.

That's just ridiculously bad design, if you ask me.

[J.Goodwin]

[Tablesaw]

[Tablesaw]

[dessgeega]

[Shapermc]

[a_plus]

I just thought of Space Quest II -- there's a point where you're in some sort of ship, trying to start it, but every command you input gives you a "I don't understand the word 'ignition.' Please try another sentence"-type answer. After banging your head on the keyboard for a while you type something like "TURN THIS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT ON" and boop! it goes.

Of course, the other 90% of the puzzles in this and all other Sierra adventure games are equally difficult, but without the humorous solution. I kind of love them for some BDSM reason.

[ApM]

Shit, I remember writing into Sierra for SQ2 hints. I had to write them twice for the same puzzle because their first answer was too cryptic. Those were the days!

a_plus, have you played the Gobliiins games at all? Now those are punishing puzzles that are completely devoid of any logic or even a clear goal. Gobliins 2 made my wife cry on one of the early puzzles. She did the right thing with the wrong Gobliin. Instead of cooking the egg she'd just spent the last fifteen minutes doing ridiculous things to get, he ate it and laughed at her.

I love the shit out of them, though. I find discovering their ridiculous dream logic to be reward enough.

[a_plus]

I haven't! Are they at all like Lemmings/Lost vikings, or did I just make that up?

[Lockeownzj00]

[squidlarkin]

Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die!

[OtakupunkX]

So I'm making a game for a digital art class I'm in at school that's from the point of view of a mentally challenged person. It's a point and click adventure (I'm using AGS to make the game), but the catch is that, since the main character isn't all there, he only has two interactions he can make with the environment - Look and Use, use being used to also trigger conversations, which will be limited because the character won't be able to really interact with the environment.

I haven't really figured out what kind of puzzles, if any, I'm going to put in the game. I'm hoping to have some kind of demo ready within the next week or so though.

[Swimmy]

[Toto]

Being a not-so-old gamer, I have a skewed perspective of what difficult is.
Two examples: Shinobi, PS2. Breath of Fire V, PS2.
I gave these games away because I was not big enough to face up to the fact that I am shit at video games

[ApM]

[Shapermc]

[Lockeownzj00]

Oh, shit! Gobliins? Ahh god. Yeah, they were pretty ruthless. I remember playing them (1, 2, and 3) with my brother and getting so much satisfaction if we ever figured out a single goddamned thing.

I also totally didn't realise this thread was about Beat Takeshi's videogame. I'm an idiot.

"This is a game...made by a man who hates videogames..."

L:ove that man.

[squidlarkin]

[squidlarkin]

Incidentally, all this talk of gobliiins is inexplicably reminding me of The Gostak, even though it's not actually cruel; it is, in fact, excellent and I recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in interactive fiction and/or linguistics.

[TOLLMASTER]

I got fairly far into Gobliins at the Boys and Girls Club, back in the day.

There was a magical moment when one of the older kids got into this castle that all of us had been skipping until then, because we just couldn't find a way in. I don't quite clearly remember what was inside, but a crowd of kids had gathered behind him, rooting the kid on. It looked a lot more fun being stuck on these mushroom things, anyway.

[TOLLMASTER]