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Areas in games that are intentionally not fun
- Thread starter Raitosaito
- Start date
Waylon Drums
Member
Super Metroid Wall Jumping: The Thread
I have to assume they knew how bad it was and left it in because they hate fun.
I have to assume they knew how bad it was and left it in because they hate fun.
Bedameister
Member
Maybe this one?
Listing something like "That hard part in game <x> that I personally didn't like" or "Jab at popular game <y>" isn't what this thread is about.
An actual applicable example would be the Metal Gear Solid electrical torture scene on the PS1.
That's not supposed to be fun. What it is, is supposed to be an endurance test. To make you feel the suffering of the character. If you find fun in that, it's purely coincidental. The section is supposed to suck. It's torture. That's the point.
An actual applicable example would be the Metal Gear Solid electrical torture scene on the PS1.
That's not supposed to be fun. What it is, is supposed to be an endurance test. To make you feel the suffering of the character. If you find fun in that, it's purely coincidental. The section is supposed to suck. It's torture. That's the point.
Fancy Clown
Member
Listing something like "That hard part in game <x> that I personally didn't like" or "Jab at popular game <y>" isn't what this thread is about.
An actual applicable example would be the Metal Gear Solid electrical torture scene on the PS1.
That's not supposed to be fun. What it is, is supposed to be an endurance test. To make you feel the suffering of the character. If you find fun in that, it's purely coincidental. The section is supposed to suck. It's torture. That's the point.
Bingo
Listing something like "That hard part in game <x> that I personally didn't like" or "Jab at popular game <y>" isn't what this thread is about.
An actual applicable example would be the Metal Gear Solid electrical torture scene on the PS1.
That's not supposed to be fun. What it is, is supposed to be an endurance test. To make you feel the suffering of the character. If you find fun in that, it's purely coincidental. The section is supposed to suck. It's torture. That's the point.
There we go. Maybe there is some hope for this thread after all.
Listing something like "That hard part in game <x> that I personally didn't like" or "Jab at popular game <y>" isn't what this thread is about.
An actual applicable example would be the Metal Gear Solid electrical torture scene on the PS1.
That's not supposed to be fun. What it is, is supposed to be an endurance test. To make you feel the suffering of the character. If you find fun in that, it's purely coincidental. The section is supposed to suck. It's torture. That's the point.
Actually I cheered at the end of that, because I didn't give up and I didn't come close to losing. Laughed afterwards about it too with my friend who was watching, because he thought I was far to excited given what was going on in the game. Although I think he was using it more of a guage to figure out why the group could dismantle his PnP RPG sessions so efficiently by seeing the approach taken in a more free formed game.
But seriously though, if you are going the route of endurance tests to "qualify" what hell really is within a game and fail to mention Everquest and camping for items, you are doing it wrong. Folks did that shit for days straight with no success and kept on doing it because their character wouldn't have any progression without the itemization.
Raitosaito
Member
Honestly the correct thread title would be
"What game has set specific expectations for gameplay and how you feel but later flipped that around and try to convey a different message through its gameplay mechanics, or the level design."
I think I didn't give enough credit to the "No Russian" section of MW2. The player correlates fun with shooting humans, but when put into the context of shooting innocent civilians it takes the player by surprise, and it stays in the confines of what the player think they should be doing in the game.
Obviously the heavy rain examples are something similar. But it's not always uncomfortable, like in RDR where you go shoot birds with your son. You killed animals the whole game, but in the context that you are in you feel happy doing it. It wasn't fun, it's just illiciting an emotional response from you as a player.
The mgs examples work too. You've played these sections in other games, so you know to mash triangle and you get a reward. That reward never really comes as it's almost impossible to beat the damn thing, which the game is trying to tie you to how Snake feels.
Idk maybe this topic is too broad.
Metroid Prime 2 is fun, but its level design seems intentionally as convoluted and confusing as possible. Often you'll want to go somewhere and you'll find that the path requires some bizarre shortcut in the dark world in a completely different room. That's part of the reason the game is so polarizing.
The Valley of Defilement is fascinating. It's definitely not "fun," but I think every gamer breathed a sigh of relief upon touching the Dirty Colossus Archstone, and that's exactly how the level's supposed to make people feel.
5-2 is a masterpiece of level design. Never before have I seen a game level focus so much on just screwing the player. The poisonous swamp that slows you to a crawl, the hordes of small enemies that slow you down further, the darkness and confusingly open areas, the absurdly powerful enemies who you'll likely not see until you trigger them, the complicated village with enemies coming at you from every direction...
The Valley of Defilement is fascinating. It's definitely not "fun," but I think every gamer breathed a sigh of relief upon touching the Dirty Colossus Archstone, and that's exactly how the level's supposed to make people feel.
More_Badass
Member
I think a recent moment that really stood out to me was in The Last of Us. Similar to the MGS example, the whole game, you're so used to tapping Triangle to place ladders and Ellie coming and climbing up. The QTE/interaction is ingrained into the player by the end of the game. And then you do it...and she doesn't come. It's something so simple but totally makes sense and tells you everything about how she had changed. What a fantastic way of taking the simple little action and using it to forward the narrative
Also in God of War 3, the player is conditioned to follow QTE prompts or risk failure or losing health. Then you fight Zeus at the end and you get the circle prompt and it doesn't go away. You can keep punching Zeus's face as your screen gets totally covered in blood. The only way to continue is to stop pressing, stop punching and give up.
Raitosaito
Member
This section of the game got me too. The characters and the player is keenly aware that they have done this many times, and it's comfortable. You put a latter there and Ellie comes. This time she doesn't come though, and you understand the tension between them and how she's feeling after the "winter" incident.
Good stuff
anchorman128
Member
Maybe this one?
Come on now, people are confusing hard with not fun. This area isn't even hard! If you're having trouble here have fun with the rest of the game! This is one of the most memorable moments of RE4, when you first get to the village.
itzknickknac
Member
Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow. The caves
meitantei_conan
Member
The forklift part in Shenmue was not fun...... ;-;
Atraveller
Banned
Should have been first post.
Lumpy Onion
Member
I thought chapter 10 of FF XIII did this well. You have to travel through level after level of this large subway looking area where all the levels look similar. And it just keeps going and going for a long time. I assume this was done for psychological reasons to make the next chapter's large open area feel even more welcoming and impressive after being trapped in that underground complex for ages.
More_Badass
Member
People aren't getting it. This isn't about areas that weren't fun because they were too hard or tedious or poor controls or bad level design. This is about areas that used gameplay in a thematic manner, "not fun" as in using the gameplay to make a point or forward the narrative rather than simply for fun gameplay
Some examples so far have been:
- The Last of Us: Triangle prompt to set ladder for Ellie to come works the same for the entire game. After winter, you do as usual, and Ellie doesn't come and you instantly know how she and their relationship has changed
- MGS: Torture scene. Was designed to be a test of endurance for the player as much as it was for Snake.
- Spec Ops: Using the white phosphorus and then being forced to walk through the destruction and death you caused
- Heavy Rain: The Lizard trial, preparing to and then actually having to cut off your finger.
Demon's Souls is probably still the best Souls game in terms of atmosphere. The Tower of Latria was the same. You feel horrible in it and you can see and hear all sorts of things around you that are just... wrong. And yet you know you need to press on, so you make yourself keep moving forward, even though you really don't want to.
I need to finish that game. I'm
in what I think is the final area of the Tower of Latria, where there is that gigantic beating heart (the sound freaked me out until I saw the source... which just freaked me out in a different way) among broken platforms and gargoyles.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Any area that makes me put my weapon away.
Or in any dudebro shooter where my character decides to walk while sticking his finger in his ear.
Or in any dudebro shooter where my character decides to walk while sticking his finger in his ear.
whiteninja
Member
I got so sick and tired of climbing these towers in oblivion.
Tye The Czar
Member
Almost every choice in The Walking Dead.
The
in Journey.
at the end of the Undertale preview release. This helped establish this as one of the best demos I played since MGS2.
The
snowstorm
I felt so exhausted and hopeless as I got assailed by the dragons before I fell.
The battle with Toriel
Oh man, finally got through this place after a lot of tries. I hope there is a special place in hell for the person who designed it
Rodolink
Member
the entire game!
I hated that game a lot, it was boring as hell, its like the devs did that on purpose to make the game longer
Clockwork5
Member
Gathering in all mmos. Followed closely by crafting in all mmos.
I got so sick and tired of climbing these towers in oblivion.
I don't know if they were intentionally not fun, but I did, too.
PseudoViper
Member
don't know if this section was considered "fun." I am not saying this section is bad and shouldn't exist.
ahaha I was just thinking that! But you can't lie tho. that music was epic!
MichaelFassbender
Member
Blighttown in Dark Souls. Every time I get frustrated in DS2, I think of my Blighttown experience, and the frustration fades away.
Ultimadrago
Member
Baten Kaitos - Detourne
Fuck this intentional slog of a dungeon.
Fuck this intentional slog of a dungeon.
The Cloister Of Trials in Final Fantasy X.
Every single one of them in each temple, i always hated it.
Right after I finished that part I immediately quit playing the game and haven't returned. I'm guessing I was at the end? Oh well.
Pureauthor
Member
I'm not seeing enough mentions of Pathologic in this thread.
The entire game is designed from the ground up to be a draining, oppressive, hopeless experience.
The entire game is designed from the ground up to be a draining, oppressive, hopeless experience.
wintermute0
Banned
Dark Souls: Blighttown. That was intentional, right?
GamingIsDead
Member
It was intentionally difficult to navigate. I enjoyed it though (on pc).
mcz117chief
Member
Never played it myself but GTA V torture scene, a lot of people said they were grossed out.
Maiden Astrae felt like it was not supposed to be fun to kill her (I think).
MW2 airport scene (also never played)
I am sure there are a million scenarios like these in games, for the sole purpose to just get a reaction from you, some slaughter of children/civilians in general.
Edit: Dropping nuke on your own troops in World in Conflict, extremely powerful moment, one of my favourite in video games, not sure if it counts, though.
Maiden Astrae felt like it was not supposed to be fun to kill her (I think).
MW2 airport scene (also never played)
I am sure there are a million scenarios like these in games, for the sole purpose to just get a reaction from you, some slaughter of children/civilians in general.
Edit: Dropping nuke on your own troops in World in Conflict, extremely powerful moment, one of my favourite in video games, not sure if it counts, though.
wintermute0
Banned
Blighttown sounds like it would be much better on PC, especially for actually seeing what is in front of you.
I played on PS3.
Red Chocobo
Banned
The mundane jobs in No More Heroes. But that was the whole point of them.
More_Badass
Member
Thank you so much for this post. I had never heard of the game. Just read about it and it sounds amazing.
UpperCaseN
Member
I think the nightmare puzzles in Catherine were channeling a feeling of dread. I say this because the main character, Vincent, is dreading them in the story. I ended up loving the puzzle nights but man, the ones where the level is being destroyed from under you really do a great job at making you, the player, fear for your life.
Dion Blaster
Member
??? That was the funnest part of the game to me. You can get places you weren't supposed to be able to by repeatedly wall-jumping a single wall.
The Batman: Arkham Asylum scarecrow sequences. Not the "AVOID GIANT SCARECROW" parts, but the quiet walking down the hall sequence while remembering how people looked at Bruce after his parents died, brushing him off because "he's got money, he's got a butler, why should I feel sorry for him?" That, the whole twist by reversing the opening section of the game, etc. It's nothing crazy interactive, and it's certainly not fun, but it is interesting and really well done.
Icefire1424
Member
MGS4 (Endgame Spoilers)
Wasn't meant to be fun. Or even enjoyable. Was designed for you to feel pain, pure and simple. And surprisingly effective.
Edit:
While I'm thinking of it:
MGS3 - The Sorrow boss fight. Again, not meant to be fun, means for you to reflect on all the bad things you've done up until that point.
The Microwaves.
Edit:
While I'm thinking of it:
MGS3 - The Sorrow boss fight. Again, not meant to be fun, means for you to reflect on all the bad things you've done up until that point.
Nostremitus
Member
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Silent Realm sequences...
That whole chapter is the game saying "You want to play the good parts? Sure, just do this 1,5 hour fetch quest first."
Oh man. Paper Mario 2 has some great gameplay and truly wonderful and fun parts, but the game suffers from padding and backtracking. Even the best areas of the game involve you having to run back and forth through most of the screens multiple times.
Does the Triathlon in GTA V count? If so, that. After mashing buttons for 30 mins straight, I did enjoy winning the most difficult one afterwards though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUBn4Q8MOI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUBn4Q8MOI
The Shenmue forklift seems like a valid answer imo. It was tedious because it was designed to be. It's a job and is supposed to feel like one. I actually anjoyed it, but it didn't seem to be designed with that purpose. I'd probably just enjoy actually driving a forklift for a while.
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