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[NotebookJ2]

Argh, I remember this level in the Game Gear version [which had some really crazy glitches IIRC]. It was hard, but I managed to get through it.

 

[cartman414]

Throw in another vote for Vash'jir being awesome. If you want unbearable WoW zones, just look at Gilneas. It is OKAY the first time through, but the fact that it is completely unskippable makes starting a new Worgen a chore. OTOH, the Goblin starting area might just be my favorite leveling experience in WoW, at least from shipwreck onwards.

Back to the water stage thing, Maridia is my absolute favorite part of Super Metroid. I started listing why, but then I just realized that what made Maridia so great applies to the entire game. Basically, Super Metroid may be the perfect game, but Maridia is Super Metroid perfected.

Maridia is one of the few tolerable water levels in existence where you spend a prolonged stretch of time underwater, precisely because the mobility issue is taken care of quickly enough.

If only Aonuma had a mind to take care of said issue with the Water Temple in the OoT 3d remake.

 

[cann3dheat]

Any and all caves in any Pokemon game ever. Glad they decided to place doctors in them in Black/White, but still. Always rue walking into caves in Pokemon games.

 

[Sianos]

As many others have said:

You mess up once, it's pretty much game over and back to stage 1 of the castle.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

I like how most of this thread are water levels. I think this is why FPS dudebro games are so dominant because they never have water levels.

I hope you realize this is a really stupid statement.

 

[User 73706]

-Any cave that requires Flash in Pokemon before you've gotten Flash

-Taopo Swamp in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. While it was good in concept, minus the Djinn the only thing you really got out of it was some forgeable material that could be gotten just as easily as a random drop. If it was plot relevant beyond that or something, it'd be better.

Also, I know I'm going to get a WAT out of this, but I actually loved Air's Rock in the same game. Sure, it took forever, but the way it was executed in terms of music, atmosphere, etc just sort of sold the dungeon for me.

-Full Moon in Castle Crashers. Also the Crashed Ship to a lesser extent.

 

[JaseMath]

I love Wind Waker, but the thought of filling out the sea chart makes me never want to play it again.

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

That part in Batman Arkhan Asylum when the...

Spoiler

Gargoyles are booby trapped with proximity explosives and you have to take out 6 armed guards! I'm really not good at stealth gameplay and I don't like them, which is why it was so hard for me.

Drove me bonkers!

 

[Frankenstrat]

I love Wind Waker, but the thought of filling out the sea chart makes me never want to play it again.

really? I thought this was much worse:

and you can't use the d-pad.

In terms of levels, I would have to throw another vote in for the first few hours of twilight princess.

 

[meshuggah-x]

Parasite Eve - Day 5 Sewers (so boring)
Super Street Fighter IV - Bonus Stages (not as fun as the SF2 ones IMO)
Doom 2 - Any of the levels they tried to make look like a city, so ugly (ex: MAP15 Industrial Zone)
Dragon Age: Origins - The Fade

 

[SteveWinwood]

That level actually ruins the game. Nobody can beat it so, for most people, the game just ends there and there might as well not be anything after it.

Oh my god burn it. Worst part of any game ever.

 

[Myriadis]

Level 6-5 in Yoshis Island.You ant to get 100 Points?If you muss the door to the other room (which happens often),you have to do all the first part again.Which is a fixed scrolling part.And it takes 5 minutes.And to add insult into injury,there are some red coins in the last part of this level that you can miss if you don't have insane reflexes because you have to ground pound three logs while the screen scrolls pretty fast.

Another level,Extra Level 3,the one with the monkeys and the fly guy with the red coin who loves to hover above the bottomless pit.

Super Mario Bros has level 8-3.These Hammer Bros.You have to go past 4 of them and they're pretty hard to avoid

SMB Lost Levels have Level 8-4 and C-4,both for their hige difficulty.It actually took me two months to reach Bowser,because there is one "Choose the right path" part where I always thought that you have to go the upper way.Nope,turns out you have to choose the lowest path.

Super Mario Bros 3 has the second Fortess in World 7.I couldn't beat it without the P-Wing.

Super Mario World has Valley Of Bowser 2,this part:

Incredibly long and boring.

Oh,and I like the Water Temple in OoT.Not because of the scrappy water level changing,but because it has its focus on exploration.Unlike the Shadow Temple,which is basically one straight line down with a few side rooms thrown in.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

Dragon Age Origins-The Fade.

 

[Jokab]

Ocarina of Time: Water Temple

/thread

 

[a.wd]

Uncharted anything to do with zombie Nazis

 

[Degen]

Tekken 5:

Damn, I almost fall asleep just looking at this picture.

 

[daevv]

There's a section in Castlevania Symphony of the Night when you have to hit 4 gears till they "click" to open another door. The problem is that room has tonnes of enemies both respawning and not that swarm you, spikes and water. What a pain doing that when I was going for the full 200.6% map!! Not to bad once you get the poisonous cloud item though.

The 7th level Ice Palace (#5) in Zelda A Link to the Past is a pain too!

 

[viewtiful_dru]

So basically this thread is a message to devs know that we don't like water levels.

And are people serious about MM2 quick man stage? Just use the time stopper.

 

[Granger Danger]

So basically this thread is a message to devs know that we don't like water levels.

That explains why there weren't any in DKCR

Except we got something even worse in return: the rocket barrel levels

 

[sixteen-bit]

underwater bits in action games like devil may cry and ninja gaiden

 

[djtiesto]

I think Marble Garden is one of my favorite levels in Sonic history. I like the music, and the structure of the level... how you start out on the surface, descend way down, and work your way back up to a final battle above the clouds. Plus, how the level morphs slightly as you attack the miniboss or hit the blue switches... very cool.

Yeah, those spinning platforms are a bit annoying and tricky to grasp but that's my only problem with it. Actually, it's the Carnival Night zone from the same game that I hate. The board is way too long, the music is nerve-wracking, the barrel stumped me when I was little and I still have nightmares about it (of course, now that I know what to do, it's easy).

Rez: Area 4. Because I CAN'T FUCKING BEAT IT. And I hear Area 5 is amazing, so fuck.

Area 4 is one of my favorite levels in videogame history... I've replayed that so many times... when the guitar riff drops during the boss fight STILL sends shivers up my spine.

Radiata Stories, the last level of the game. I hate that the sand would drop you down to the first level and you'd have to start climbing all over again.

OH GOD, THE NIGHTMARES!

Some of my picks:

Nier - Ancient Temple. Because you have to go there 3 times in the story, just to get the first ending. And then you go back there some more times, on replays. Wouldn't be so bad, if you didn't have all those doors and block puzzles slowing you down. Plus the music gets annoying fairly quickly.

Dragon Quest (any) - The final dungeons. Usually a good deal longer than any other dungeon in the game, without any save points, a difficult final boss, and a long ending if you (hopefully) manage to beat the boss. It's one of my favorite game series of all time, but you really need to commit a good amount of time to beat the game.

Ys 1/2 - Any Mine area where you have limited vision.

Witcher - trudging across that Swamp again and getting a bunch of Drowners pissing you off

 

[StuBurns]

I've been playing HL1, I hate the underground train section, just because interfacing with the little train cart is way more irritating than it should have been. The rest of it is still better than almost anything released today.

 

[Chamber]

Water levels. All of em.

I get nervous whenever I see a body of water in a video game.

 

[Dark Machine]

Hmmm...Lets see...

Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Water Temple obviously.

Zelda: Majora's Mask: I thought quite a few of the temples were pretty meh. Woodfall was boring, Great Bay is annoying, Climbing Stone Tower is hellishly horrid.

Sonic 1: Labyrinth, god I hate that level. At least Aquatic Ruin and Hydrocity allowed you to avoid the water.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Marble Garden is ok, but gets boring if you can't figure it out quickly. Casino Night act 2 is bad to me too. THAT BARRELL. Also the never ending loop on Ice Cap Zone, I got stuck on that for ages because I couldn't work out when to jump, and the stupid ice car you're supposed to ride glitched all the time so I wouldn't move for me.

Tales of Symphonia: Sewers were crap, hated them so much. Being tiny and facing giant RATS was not pleasant. Shadow Temple was annoying because of the blobs getting stuck all the time. By far the worst though were the Anti-Gravity maze puzzles in space. Like Ice block puzzles only much much worse, and there were 3 in a row! ARGH!

Bayonetta: the two on rails levels (missile and bike) weren't very good, the controls were meh and while the boss of 666 was cool, the level dragged on far too long.

Super Mario 64: Jolly Roger Bay. In fact any bit of 3D Mario with eels...I hate eels.

Zelda: Wind Waker: Last two temples because of the command melody and the fact that you finished them and then there was little else. Made me feel so damn jilted.

Chrono Trigger: Most of 2300AD. It was just so annoying making your way through the ruins and racing Johnny seemed like it was thrown in for kicks. IF they'd let you ride the bike on the overworld after winning it would've worked better. Shame on those who dislike Robo though, he's a dude who spends 400 years saving a forest!

Metroid Prime: Phazon Mines, they did try to vary the level a bit, but it still came out very samey, lasted forever, and EVERYTHING KILLED YOU. EVERYTHING. At least the first time through.

Super Metroid: Though this is an awesome game, I didn't like the quicksand in Maridia at all, rest of the level is awesome, quicksand not. Wrecked Ship was annoying as well.

Pokemon Red: Rock Tunnel, I had to get a guide for this one. Luckily I watched the TV series and so Pikachu was my main 'mon and had Flash. Still a bitch of a place though. Silph Co. was awful too, damned teleport pads!

 

[aronnov reborn]

Ocarina of Time: Water Temple

said it for me

 

[Green Mamba]

I agree with whoever said Croc's Lair in Arkham Asylum. It's so ungodly slow and like twice as long as it needs to be. Completely kills the pacing in that part of the game. I dread it every time I play through it.

 

[corrosivefrost]

While I'm not a huge fan of Dragon Age: Origins, the game was pretty solid. Except for the fade. Fuck the fade.

The Dwarven politics were also irritating, but just because it was a long drawn out fetch quest extravaganza of sorts. The fade almost made me quit the game. And it's early in... horrible fucking design. >_<

Hmmm...Lets see...
Zelda: Wind Waker: Last two temples because of the command melody and the fact that you finished them and then there was little else. Made me feel so damn jilted.

I felt jilted as well, but I remember (whether correctly or not is another story) those two being the only dungeons I thought were worthwhile in the game. In my memory, there were 5 total dungeons, which felt like a rip off after 9 dungeons in OoT with a non-boring water filled overworld. Those two dungeons were the most of the positive part of the game for me.

 

[Dark Machine]

I felt jilted as well, but I remember (whether correctly or not is another story) those two being the only dungeons I thought were worthwhile in the game. In my memory, there were 5 total dungeons, which felt like a rip off after 9 dungeons in OoT with a non-boring water filled overworld. Those two dungeons were the most of the positive part of the game for me.

Hey man each to their own. The dungeons themselves were pretty good, but the damn command melody was so annoying. I felt jilted because I wanted more though...I liked the letter sorting game too, so I guess I'm weird in that case.

 

[markot]

Mario platformers.

Anything underwater >_<

 

[TheLastCandle]

Super Metroid: Though this is an awesome game, I didn't like the quicksand in Maridia at all, rest of the level is awesome, quicksand not. Wrecked Ship was annoying as well.

Just played through this a few months ago, and completely agreed on both areas. Especially the quicksand.

I suppose there is one area of Earthbound that I never really liked, and that would be Peaceful Rest Valley. I think it was the exploding trees and the ufos that gave you the sniffles that made that place a chore to get through. It's so, so worth it once you do though.

 

[Suairyu]

Sonic 2 - Hill Top Zone. The music, the boring level design. Mystic Cave Zone is full of too many spots where Sonic can get stuck and crushed, even where the designers didn't intend it.

Sonic 3 - Marble Garden has gorgeous aesthetics, but it's a pain in the ass. Was fun the first couple of times through, but not so much anymore.

Sonic R - The ancient Egypt level and Factory courses. Which is 2/5s of the game. Oops.

(yeah, Sonic games always come to mind first. Can't understand the Labyrinth Zone hate though. Sonic 1 is pitch-perfect from start to finish. I mean, I prefer Sonic 3K, but it certainly doesn't have Sonic 1's consistency)

Warcraft III - The fifth mission of the Orc campaign, where you first meet the Night Elves. There is a ridiculous difficulty spike when assaulting the large base in the south west of the map (the first proper base of the mission). The only way to survive is to brute force it with three groups of 20. Absolutely loath it.

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows Of Unrendtide - About the third dungeon you'll come to naturally, a giant cave formation where a gang of bandits lives. At such a low level, if you're anything but a fighter it's stupidly difficult. And when the campaign is so brilliantly written and designed if you're playing a ranger, why would you want to be a fighter?

It's not that hard to understand. Everytime I play play FF7, midgar is a complete drag. It's very linear and not much to do. It's like a breath of fresh air the moment you get out of Midgar.

Well, yeah, but that's kind of the point. For ages, due to its size, I had assumed the entire RPG would be set in Midgar. When the game does suddenly open up, it's a stunning moment. The long, linear stretch of Midgar is needed to make that opening up moment so powerful.

I actually wish the game had more Midgar, really. And at the beginning. I love me some cyberpunk cities.

I've been playing HL1, I hate the underground train section, just because interfacing with the little train cart is way more irritating than it should have been. The rest of it is still better than almost anything released today.

I hate that train section, too. I never understood the ire the vehicle sections got in HL2 in light of the train sequence in the first one.

 

[bishopcruz]

I hate that train section, too. I never understood the ire the vehicle sections got in HL2 in light of the train sequence in the first one.

Because the Vehicle sections in HL2 were fucking awful and went on for far too long. HL2 is an amazing game, but I can never consider it the top of the FPS heap as so many others do pretty much as a result of the vehicle stages and the mines. Those areas were awful, padded the length of the game necessarily, and always give me pause every time I think about replaying the game.

Don't get me wrong, the tram sections in HL1 were awful too. REALLY awful. And Xen. Seriously I want to know what valve was thinking, I really really do.

EP2 was vehicles done right in a Half life game.

Other things that annoy me in games I love:

Hades in GOW. It sucked. Honorable mentions in that game go out to the puzzle sections, they are universally awful. Actually I have trouble thinking of any puzzle section in an action game I have actually enjoyed outside of the music box in Lords of Shadow. So unless it is REALLY good, like near Portal level good, or so damn fan service-y that it has to be in the game. DON'T DO IT! Games about ripping enemies to bloody bits to NOT need to be broken up by rudemtary block/ light/water/button/crank/whatever puzzles. It just makes your game worse.

Speaking of Lords of Shadow...

The Chupachabra. Really whoever designed those sections needs to die in a fire. Honorable mentions in that game go out to any room with a light beam puzzle, and the last titan fight.

The Lunar descent in Final Fantasy IV. Oy. Actually most final dungeons in RPGs.

 

[ace3skoot]

The fade in Dragon Age: Origins. Fortunately with mods you can just delete it.

I hated this part, I thought I'm really enjoying this game, finally being specialised as long ranged rogue my RPG dream has come true, I can put everything into dex and reek havoc...

a great idea as long as your party is built for it , take all my party members away will you...fuck

took me hours to finish this segment -_-

 

[LakeEarth]

Any non-stealth game that suddenly has a lame stealth section.

 

[see5harp]

Any non-stealth game that suddenly has a lame stealth section.

Just did this in Uncharted 2. Horrible to put that automatic lose section right at the beginning.

 

[Roto13]

Fighting The Apprentice in Soul Calibur IV. Fuck that fucking turtling fuck right in the fuck. And he's the second last character for everybody in Quick Play or Arcade Mode or whatever it's called, too. Ugh.

 

[Dark Machine]

Fighting The Apprentice in Soul Calibur IV. Fuck that fucking turtling fuck right in the fuck. And he's the second last character for everybody in Quick Play or Arcade Mode or whatever it's called, too. Ugh.

This is why Soul Calibur IV sits collecting dust on my shelf, Apprentice is overpowered worse than M.Bison in the original Street Fighter II.

 

[Roto13]

He's not particularly overpowered, it's just the way the AI likes to play him.

 

[Ourobolus]

Wow, only one mention of Xenogears so far, and it's one of the two I'd post. The other:

Motherfucking Kislev. God that part drags on. Not only do you have to win all of those damned tournaments in the arena, but you have to run back and forth across the town over several days to do it. Then you gotta deal with Rico and his crew, then you have to go down into the sewers (oh god, the sewers), and run around that maze of a place, only to fight Redrum, who isn't really terribly annoying but quickly shows you how goddamn useless Rico is in a fight. AND THEN YOU HAVE TO ESCAPE through the tunnels underneath the arena before finally getting the hell out of the town.

Xenogears is possibly my favorite RPG of all time, but goddamn if the thought of playing through that area doesn't make me want to play something else.

 

[Utako]

I love Half Life 2 - I hate Ravenholm. And I am probably the only person on the planet who think that way.

I don't replay through Half-Life 2 because of that area. Not because I think it's poorly designed (quite the contrary), but because it's too tense. >_<

Any non-stealth game that suddenly has a lame stealth section.

Yep. Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker both.

Xenogears: Tower of Babel. "Hey, our platforming elements are really fucking shitty with, you know, having enemy encounters in mid jump at times, but you know what would realllllly be awesome?! An entire level filled with platforming with non-adjustable cameras! *trollface*"

In terms of art direction, it's quite a beautiful area. But yeah, anyone's first playthrough there is going to be filled with moderate rage. Subsequent plays are OK, I find.

Valkyria Chronicles
The Huge tank in the desert

I beat it on the very last turn of the battle, which is a extremely long, tedious fight!

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

Halo CE, the Library, for obvious reasons.

Those obvious reasons are what make that level great!

 

[heringer]

Vagrant Story.

Best RPG ever, but fuck that forest

 

[red13th]

Final Fantasy Tactics, Meliadoul Battle.
Yes, I hate Meliadoul more than Wiegraf/Riovannes roof. I'm used to resetting Riovannes. I know it better to cheese Wiegraf with Auto Potion/Yell and plan accordingly since, like, chapter 1. But for some reason I never remember to get Maintenance on all my characters until the very moment I reach Meliadoul. It's always "oh crap, her already".

Oh and Tower of Babel is one the reasons I won't replay Xenogears.

 

[krae_man]

Tubular in Super Mario World:

 

[megashock5]

Wind Waker: stealth barrel stuff

 

[megamerican]

I was really enjoying The Darkness up til the stupid "purgatory WWI level." That was a very busy time in my life so I would just give up on games. Looking back, I wish I would have stuck with it.

 

[bumpkin]

Hmm... Well let's see. As far as recent experiences go, here's a few choice selections...

Gears of War: Fuck the APC/vehicle stage (with the UV lamp and swarms of kryll) right up its stupid ass. I somehow got past it playing through solo on insane difficulty, but couldn't reproduce the success when playing co-op with a friend. No idea why.

Gears of War 2: I absolutely despise the part of the hollow where you're riding the "boats" while being attacked from multiple angles.

God of War III: The cerberus fight everyone else usually complains about.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The final stage/boss... Good god! It's even worse when playing with friend(s).

Super Mario Galaxy: Luigi's Purple Coins. 'Nuff said.

Uncharted: The jet-ski level on the river.


And some classic headaches...

Resident Evil: The fight with Yawn in the big open room with the fireplace. Nowhere to hide, just you and that giant damn snake.

Sonic the Hedgehog: To this day, I've never gotten past that water level with the bubbles for air. The deaths still haunt me...

Super Mario Bros.: Level 8-3.... Fucking bullet bills and huge gaps.

 

[Finalow]

xenogears: babel tower.

 

[TheExodu5]

Game I love: Amnesia. Areas I don't: the whole game. It's too friggin scary.

 

[Roto13]

You know, everyone hates the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, but I'd rather play that than the Shadow Temple. It still creeps me out, like 13 years later. >_>