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[kicker]

What are some sections of games or whole games that would be impossible to beat without a guide?

Inspired by Enter the gungeon's

Spoiler: ETG spoiler

4th level has an essential item you can only get by walking on an invisible path over a pit of spikes in a room that doesn't indicate anything about the item in it. I can imagine anyone who figured this out stumbled on it by noticing the particles off a gun settling on apparently empty space.

 

[IFireflyl]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

 

[SpiceRacz]

La Mulana - The entire fucking game.

 

[kicker]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

Yeah. I feel like the cd code at the back of the case thing in the same mgs also qualifies

 

[Evolved1]

Literally any souls side quests

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Imagine using a guide to beat a game.

 

[kicker]

Weirdly, early minecraft probably qualifies too. I know I wouldn't have been able to figure out the end portal, or even the nether portal on my own

 

[Keihart]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

Scrub, you dont need a guide to defeat him, but he does have a lot of gimmicks to the fight.

 

[kicker]

Imagine using a guide to beat a game.

Imagine defending bad design

 

[Unknown?]

Carnival Night Zone in Sonic 3. The dreaded barrel!!!

 

[Dr.Morris79]

The whole game.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Castlevania 2 Simons Quest with kneeling with the crystal has got to be up there.

 

[The artful mincer]

Getting the gold chocobo in FFVII seemed impossible without a guide

 

[kicker]

Literally any souls side quests

Yeah, most of their quests are needlessly obtuse. That said, I actually feel like they put some effort into making ranni's questline accessible in elden ring. The quest at castle mourne with the daughter and father is probably the most straightforward one in the game

 

[Knightime_X]

Castlevania Harmony of dissonance the thread.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

It does, the game even tells you the way to beat him if you don't switch the controller port (shoot the statues in the corners of the room).

 

[kicker]

La Mulana - The entire fucking game.

Castlevania Harmony of dissonance the thread.

Getting the gold chocobo in FFVII seemed impossible without a guide

Castlevania 2 Simons Quest with kneeling with the crystal has got to be up there.

Carnival Night Zone in Sonic 3. The dreaded barrel!!!

Literally any souls side quests

Also It's weird how the thread so far has been mostly japanese games

 

[Rush2112]

kojima’s PT demo cutscene unlock. Not sure how you would figure that out just randomly. The demo didnt give you any hints.

 

[Captain Toad]

Imagine using a guide to beat a game.

I'm sure you just breezed through Castlevania 2 with no outside help.

 

[Deerock71]

Yeah. I feel like the cd code at the back of the case thing in the same mgs also qualifies

"It's on the box."

 

[kicker]

"It's on the box."

eh

 

[Moneal]

Legend of Zelda Oarina of Time Inside Jabu Jabu's belly.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Every Sierra adventure game from the 90s.

Most adventure games from the 90s, actually.

 

[BennyBlanco]

How about accessing the DLC in dark souls 1?

You have to get an item in a remote corner of the map then bring it across the entire game and kill a random golem. Wtf were they thinking?

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I have better things to do with my life than breed a golden chocobo in FF7 without a cheat sheet.

 

[March Climber]

 

[Roni]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

My brother actually defeated him without switching the controller port, that took a lot of tries... I myself had to use the trick too.

 

[poodaddy]

The whole game.

Is this any good? Always been curious about it. Is it available for purchase on any modern store front?

 

[SeraphJan]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

If you keep on calling your codec, they will tell you, this is how I beat it back in the 90s

 

[Magic Carpet]

URU expansion Path of the Shell.
I don't think even the game creators knew how to finish these levels.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Also It's weird how the thread so far has been mostly japanese games

Not really, modern western games are almost always too easy

 

[Generic]

King's Field games. They are too cryptic.

 

[Antwix]

The first time I played Dark Souls 1 was offline too so I wasn't able to see the messages/bloodstains...

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Castlevania 2 Simons Quest with kneeling with the crystal RED ORB to call a tornado has got to be up there.

+1
Was going to post that. What the f*** they were thinking ?!?

 

[Thabass]

Metal Gear Solid

There was that bit with Psycho Mantis where you had to plug your controller into the player 2 slot. This was mentioned in the game's pamphlet, but there is nothing in-game that tells you how to stop him from beating the shit out of you.

You don't need a guide for this. The game tells you if you use the codec.

Also if anyone says Water Temple, I'm laughing at you.

 

[emivita]

Complete the entire bestiary in FFXII without a guide, since a lot of enemies appear in very specific conditions that the game doesn't even tell you. It was basically "buy a guide or gtfo".

 

[Pyral Phoenix]

I feel like this would fit a lot of cRPGs, specially for amateurs in such a genre.
I was talking to my brother sometime ago about ADnD 2nd edition and Baldur's Gate and he was like, how the f*** do you learn all this.
This is a game that you need "the manual" for.
I wasted a couple of months learning my first TTRPG for a game released 25 years ago
And its systems are outdated.
The community for these games are so casual about everything as if they were explaining the Alphabet to a 6th grade.

 

[AJUMP23]

Imagine defending bad design

Imagine

 

[Fredrik]

Every Sierra adventure game from the 90s.

Most adventure games from the 90s, actually.

I never used any guide for any Sierra adventure. And my english was crap... It was quite the struggle lol
Took ages to finish the Space Quest games! I specifically remember being stuck in Space Quest 2 where you was supposed to use stinking berries to survive an alien and that spot alone probably 2x my playtime before I realized that you should write ”rub berries” instead of the million other alternatives I could think of to use those berries lol

 

[TexMex]

Riven

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

Megaman Zero 1: Protect the Factory, 2nd half of mission, disarming the 8 bombs within time limit...if you know, ya know.

 

[March Climber]

Complete the entire bestiary in FFXII without a guide, since a lot of enemies appear in very specific conditions that the game doesn't even tell you. It was basically "buy a guide or gtfo".

All 3 of the PS2 gen, single player FF games, had these weird missable ‘one time only’ requirements for 100% completion. FFX-2 might be the biggest offender.

 

[kicker]

The first time I played Dark Souls 1 was offline too so I wasn't able to see the messages/bloodstains...

I remember I just got pissed and tried to jump off so I would die and try somewhere else, then started laughing when I realized it was an invisible path

 

[Dr. Suchong]

The original Discworld game had some pretty ludicrous puzzles.
I think almost everyone got stuck on the goat in Broken sword.

 

[Bartski]

early 90s point and click games which you can progress block without knowing

 

[Cattlyst]

I’d still be wandering aimlessly around the second level of Turok 2 if I hadn’t had a trusty magazine guide! So many locked gates and impossible jumps and the game does absolutely nothing to explain a lot of it to you.

 

[SCB3]

Someone earlier mentioned the DLC for Dark Souls, well all Fromsoft games are like that, theres no need, for example:

• 2 - Find 3 keys and go to specific statues that you will have seen in the base game, the SotFS edition even changes where these keys are - Tbh this one is not too bad as it is foreshadowed
• 3 - Go back to an NPC that was in the first 3rd and he teleports you there and you can access both DLC from there so thats ok, a bit obtuse but the Trailers gave it away
• Bloodborne - The Worst one, you need to be either in a New Game or start from New Game+ if you've got past a certain part of the game, find a certain enemy, btw its invisible if you haven't gained enough insight and stand there whilst it looks like its gonna kill you, allow it to capture you and teleport you to the DLC area, the only thing I can think of in terms of a clue is early in the game if you die to a certain enemy you get moved to a New area which is a prison. That's it

If you want a more older example, Goldeneye has one level early on that doesn't tell you what to do and can be softlocked if a NPC dies or decides to not do the actions needed to progress the level, but the game literally does not give a fail state until you walk to the end of the level either

 

[Chastten]

Not sure if it was actually difficult or I was being stupid or just missed something, but there was this one dungeon in Eternal Sonata, Fort Fermata, that had me running around in (pretty litterally) circles for hours before I went ahead and looked up a map/guide on the internet.

 

[Teslerum]

I think almost everyone got stuck on the goat in Broken sword.

I didn't. Lots of people probably didn't.

Honestly the most overrated puzzle in video game history. That's not to say I don't get WHY so many people got stuck (Because of expectation and the game does a horrible job of presenting it.). But it doesn't hold a candle to actually hard, obtuse and complicated puzzles.

 

[SJRB]