Xenoblade Chronicles, Lorithia
I paid for my insolence over, and over, and over again
There’s like 10 years between starting Pokémon Red and beating the final four for me. I didn’t have the guide books but eventually it was easy to get help from the internet for a handful of hangups. I put it down for a long time somewhere after like 4 gyms, came back years later, and spent maybe 6 months playing on the commute
Metroid Dread was my first exposure to “tough but fair” bosses where every defeat felt earned. Every single boss took multiple tries, and every time I went through this cycle of trying a few times, walking away, debating whether I should quit altogether, only to come back a day or so later to repeat the process. I beat the entire game. Ravenbeak was of course the hardest, but man it felt good when I finally beat him.
I had a similar experience playing through various Soulslikes. The only other one I managed to beat was Tunic (I know I talk about that game a lot. It left quite the impression).
Pivot tables.
Excel is one of my favourite games, but I’ve never been able to completely grok those things.
They seem like a waste of time when it’s much easier to use formulas to construct indirect ranges and work on those.
Excel is like grind, grind, grind. You can level up a little and then it’s even more work.
I like the sql better.
Lavos in Chrono Trigger. 😭
Gwyn in Dark Souls.
The problem was my biggest success. I managed to score a zweihander, pretty early on in the game. I upgraded the hell out of it and was able to clear most bosses with some grinding and a lot of determination. I did this with a failing PS3 controller that generated spurious inputs, resulting in randomly switching to my alt config (unarmed) if I squeezed the controller too hard. I even learned a new level of personal zen and patience after realizing that getting angry would make me perform worse. I got gud.
Then I arrive at the end boss and get absolutely wrecked.
Why? I never had to parry. Not. A. Single. Time. Strike, juke, medium-roll, retreat, strike again. Don’t be a target, and keep moving. Meanwhile, every guide to beat Gwyn says you have to parry his attacks. I basically had little choice but to retrain how to play my character modifying an entire game’s worth of muscle-memory in the process.
My save file has been in this condition for years at this point.
Don’t give up, skeleton!
Mike Tyson
Pure Vessel in Hollow Knight. I have a file that’s at like 111% and I just need to beat the final pantheon but I’ve never managed it. I don’t even know how bad Absolute Radiance is, I’ve never made it that far.
Practice down below. He’s no harder than NKG. The real final pantheon takes so long I haven’t done it again since getting to radiance and losing. Instead i occasionally try to beat the first two pantheons all binds
I got stuck on Absolute Radiance and my thumbs took a break and haven’t made it back yet. It’s been at least a year.
Same. I think there’s something of a skill cliff here.
Sekero is just about my favorite game. I’ve completed it at least 20 times and will do so again.
I’ve beaten the Demon of Hatred 2 times and I never want to play that motherfucker ever again.
Killed him once legit and then cheesed him off the cliff on every subsequent playthrough. Fuck that boss.
Joker in Batman for the NES. It took forever to get to him, and it was too easy to mess it up
Beat Emerald without much of a fuss.
Best Ruby after many many tries. X-Summon and KotR with only Cloud alive is the way to go.
Never beat Omega in VIII. Tried many times.
The tank in Arkham Knight on the Xbox 360. I spent hours trying to get past it. Finally looked online and others were saying it took them days to get past it. Decided I didn’t like the game enough to put that much effort into one fight.
Basically any after the first two in B.P.M. The on-beat fighting just is not my cup of tea.
Other than that… I guess Malenia and Promised Consort Radahn took me a while, like three evenings each maybe. But I was also stubborn with my stupid bonking build, with no magic. Below was my status and equipment after Malenia for example:
Wasn’t a boss but an achievement in the original geometry wars. Score 10 million without dying. It took me about two years to get that and I would play it at least once a night if I could.
I don’t think I’ve ever beaten Doom 2 without cheats or mouselook. I just can’t time those rockets correctly.
Perhaps you might find it easier to archvile jump into the exposed brain and chaingun it to death.
I got the Xbox port of this a few years ago, and the last level of Doom 2 was a bitch to play. I died so many f’ing times before I finally got it.
