Gaming Moments That Make You Feel Like DSP - C'mon, Man!

[Leo Bonhart]

This is a thread of commiseration for when you get stuck on a game for an inordinate amount of time by either not being able to solve a puzzle, beat a boss, find your way out of a maze, etc.

What are the moments that have had you tearing out your hair for an hour or -- horror of horrors -- reaching for a walkthrough?

I'll start:

I've been playing Silent Hill 4: The Room for the first time for four hours, two of which were spent walking around clicking everything in site and checking for the 10th time that the ball of rags in the laundry room really *doesn't* contain the critical item needed.

Spoiler

In one instance I was off by two pixels when I tried to interact with an area, and in the other -- because of the top down viewpoint -- I couldn't see how to exit a subway car.

At least I can say I didn't do this:

 

[NumberingYourState]

Point and click games give me gout so there's that. Ever play HELL: a cyberpunk thriller? Some of the dialog can be taken too literally. Boss fight? In a point and click? Here let me plug in a controller for that...

 

[Leo Bonhart]

Ever play HELL: a cyberpunk thriller?

I vaguely remember that game when it came out, but I've never played it... I liked this bit from Wikipedia:

"Due to several script oversights and programming errors that appear in both the PC and 3DO versions, some of the game's puzzles cannot be solved by following the clues provided. For one, the demon Abonides shouts out a code which yields three clue phrases. However, the subtitles and the replay function (which are what the player will almost certainly refer to when attempting the puzzle) have three numbers that are either incorrect or out of order; decoding these numbers yields two non-existent words, "friut" and "oiv", which are obviously of no use as clue words. The correct words can only be obtained by following Abonides's actual voice instead of the text. In addition, the clue phrases appear in the wrong order."

Sounds like a barrel of laughs.

 

[Puukalikka]

I was playing Batman: Arkham City and I was in a vent. Somehow I got turned around and got lost, couldn't find a way out and ended up closing the game after a long struggle with myself. I'm not proud of that moment.

 

[MediExcalibur2012]

This is a thread of commiseration for when you get stuck on a game for an inordinate amount of time by either not being able to solve a puzzle, beat a boss, find your way out of a maze, etc.

What are the moments that have had you tearing out your hair for an hour or -- horror of horrors -- reaching for a walkthrough?

I'll start:

I've been playing Silent Hill 4: The Room for the first time for four hours, two of which were spent walking around clicking everything in site and checking for the 10th time that the ball of rags in the laundry room really *doesn't* contain the critical item needed.

Spoiler

In one instance I was off by two pixels when I tried to interact with an area, and in the other -- because of the top down viewpoint -- I couldn't see how to exit a subway car.

At least I can say I didn't do this:

The Legend of Spyro game for PS3. I had to look up the game 4 times on YouTube on how to beat the game.
But when I realised that the way to do was just going in that direction or using a power up in an creative way; I felt like a DSP

 

[Burned Man]

Bloodborne gave me a couple of DSP moments. Ebrietas, Ludwig, and the Orphan stalled my progress for some quite some time. Ebrietas and the Orphan took me multiple play sessions over multiple days to finally beat.

 

[Disgruntled Pupper]

Bloodborne gave me a couple of DSP moments. Ebrietas, Ludwig, and the Orphan stalled my progress for some quite some time. Ebrietas and the Orphan took me multiple play sessions over multiple days to finally beat.

At least those were bosses. When I first started Bloodborne I couldn't figure out how to equip my cleaver or gun- I completely missed the left and right hand slots, and of course the "use" button on the main item page was grayed out. I came to the conclusion the game was making me fight the first werewolf barehanded, and after I defeated it it would "unlock" my weapons, so I spent hours dying before I finally karate chopped my way to victory and... a still grayed out "use" button. I ended up having to look online

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

I was never able to finish the Halo Reach campaign even on Heroic, never mind Legendary, I guess because I'm a filthy casual. Got bogged down in the latter part of the the Nightfall stage and must have died 84000 times before I bailed. Was trying to do it without looking at any guides or videos, probably should have. One of those things where I was thinking "this isn't that bad" to getting my ass kicked. Most I can say, alas, is that I finished the Campaign on Normal.

I also spent more time than I'll ever admit playing Terraria on the XBox 360, but I never beat the two end game events, the Frost Moon and the Pumpkin Moon. Huge difficulty spike from the various bosses (Duke Fishron wasn't on the console then, not sure if it is now) to the Events. I don't think I ever made it past Wave 7.

 

[timecop]

I also spent more time than I'll ever admit playing Terraria on the XBox 360, but I never beat the two end game events, the Frost Moon and the Pumpkin Moon. Huge difficulty spike from the various bosses (Duke Fishron wasn't on the console then, not sure if it is now) to the Events. I don't think I ever made it past Wave 7.

get the scourge of the corruptor, the fire gauntlet, ankh shield, celestial shell, and turtle armor. you should be set.
don't forget to make an arena with platforms, and keep a bonfire and star in a jar nearby. also use that grindstone before you start, every little buff helps.

 

[nonnewtonian]

The Vah Naboris dungeon in Breath of the Wild. The interior has you rotating three segments to reach some of the terminals. Well, my spatial awareness isn't the greatest, and the entire dungeon seems to have been built by someone who didn't know how the camera in BotW worked. I wandered around in there for three hours turning segments over and over and over to the point where I actually started to get motion sickness for the first time in my life. After taking a break and trying not to barf I consulted a walkthrough.

Fuck camels, man.

 

[DumbDosh]

In MGS3 there's a part where you climb this mountain to meet with someone and get a keycard, then you gotta backtrack to a locked door in one area. I've played through that game like 10 times and sometimes I go through it skipping some cutscenes because Ive seen it many many times and sometimes I get to that part and just forget and go "what the fuck do I do again, I'm just standing on a mountaintop like an asshole with nowhere to go"

Ocarina of Time's water temple as a kid, I would go beyond ragequitting, I remember I would get up to that point in that game, then not know how to do it so I would just delete that file and start over until I got to that temple, and I did that like I think 3 times thinking that the water temple was just actually impossible.

Also in Majora's Mask I didn't know the lens of truth was a thing in that game or how to get it, so when I got to the part where you need it to get the goron mask, I just climbed the mountain to the goron mask without it after hours and hours of trial and error, thinking it was the dumbest puzzle ever and getting so mad, when really I just didn't get what I was supposed to do.

 

[Dysnomia]

I was at the Lake Shrine in Alundra when my memory card got corrupted. Not the whole card. Just the block Alundra was saved to. That block remained dead forever too. The Lake Shrine is the final dungeon and it's loaded with puzzles that I spent forever figuring out. I was so mad that I used a cheat device to see the ending. I figured I was entitled to it since I was at the end and not only was my save corrupted but my memory card got partially borked as well. I'm still ashamed of that moment. Youtube didn't exist then. You couldn't just get the cutscene you wanted in two seconds from the internet.

Eventually I went back to the game, started over and finished it. But I could never get that last gilded falcon. Because I couldn't win that stupid roulette game. There's an NPC at the casino who says "I hate roulette, I love roulette. There has to be a pattern". This caused me to waste hours at the casino trying to discern a pattern. You have to win a certain number of times in a row. I think it's three. But it's been forever since I've played. However, I have heard that there's actually no pattern at all. If you manage the unlikely feat of winning enough times in a row it's totally random luck. That NPC lied to me.

 

[CWCissey]

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the jungle level. I didn't realise that you could rappel and spent days pissed off thinking I couldn't go any further than this area with only a hole that would kill you if you jumped down it.

 

[Overcast]

Well there was this one section in Metal Arms: Glitch in the System where you were pretending to be a spy bot and infiltrating a spy bot facility. In one part of the level, you're in this room with a bunch of lockers and you have a mil scientist checking in on you periodically, thinking you're one of the spy bots. When he leaves the room, you need to check the lockers until you find this chip you're looking for. During this time, you have to go back and stand in the center of the room when he's about to come back so you don't blow your cover.

The catch is, you have to make sure the room you're in is EXACTLY the way it was before he left the room. The guy who contacts you even tells you this. For the longest time, I kept getting caught and wondering why. I thought I had to be stand on a pixel perfect spot in the center of the room whenever I went to open the lockers.

I ended up giving up on the game and coming back to it years later. I still wondered what the problem was until I decided to only open one locker and head back. Instead of getting caught immediately, the scientist went over and closed it and remarked at how strange that was.

It finally hit me: I was supposed to CLOSE the lockers after checking them. I looked back at my 12-year-old self and just kept thinking how stupid he was.

 

[Burned Man]

At least those were bosses. When I first started Bloodborne I couldn't figure out how to equip my cleaver or gun- I completely missed the left and right hand slots, and of course the "use" button on the main item page was grayed out. I came to the conclusion the game was making me fight the first werewolf barehanded, and after I defeated it it would "unlock" my weapons, so I spent hours dying before I finally karate chopped my way to victory and... a still grayed out "use" button. I ended up having to look online

I had a kinda Similar experience in the first Dark Souls. After beating the tutorial and arriving in Firelink Shrine I didn't notice the path going up the aqueduct into undead burg. So I spent a lot of time and frustration trying to go through the skeletons in the graveyard and the ghosts in New Londo. I had to look it up. I still can't figure out how I missed the path to the intended starting area.

 

[Leo Bonhart]

I had a kinda Similar experience in the first Dark Souls. After beating the tutorial and arriving in Firelink Shrine I didn't notice the path going up the aqueduct into undead burg.

I knew absolutely nothing about Dark Souls (or Demon's Souls) when I got the game. I just ordered it online after hearing that it's a brutally hard game.

I worked my way quite far into the catacombs with my early-level dude because I genuinely thought that the game was supposed to be that difficult; honestly, I enjoyed the ambience and feeling of freedom that I didn't even mind dying a hundred times working my way down towards Pinwheel. Probably after my twentieth time being mauled by a skeleton wheel horde, I decided to check out a different path from Firelink Shrine. Naturally, like you, I gravitated to New Londo next.

Playing the game completely blind and discovering the lore, the characters, and most of all the marvel that is its interconnected map has made Dark Souls a very strong contender for my favourite game of all time (even though I was happy to put it down after 2 playthroughs - I'll get the Dark Lord ending one of these days).

Contrast that with my session of Silent Hill 4 last night when after 2 1/2 hours of combing the apartments for clues I gave up my bragging rights of not looking at a strategy guide and buckled.

Spoiler

I either was off by a few pixels on the correct fridge, or I gave up after clicking on the other 15 un-openable fridges and missed my clue.

 

[The Grimace]

That one awful platforming section in Bright Man's stage in Mega Man 4

 

[Mimic]

Really dumb moment, but when playing A Link Between Worlds I had trouble getting the Pegasus Boots because I forgot you could stick to the wall to get across the gap in the north east. Y'know, the game's gimmick?

I felt sooooo dumb. I even spent a play coin on a hint like a stooge.

 

[ERROR_ENTRY]

8 years ago I was doing the endless setlist achievement for Rock Band 2 where you play every song through one by one (about 6 hours) and I couldn't pass this song. It was one of the last songs to do and I got so pissed after trying for several hours straight (which was physically exhausting because of how fast the song is) that I smashed my controller. It's the only time I've ever proper raged at a game.

 

[RIP_SANITY]

This was before I discovered DSP, but back in 2010, I played Uninvited for NES.
You are supposed to use an anti ghost bottle at this old lady ghost you find in a hallway.
However, you first have to open the bottle, otherwise nothing happens, and the ghost kills you...which is exactly what happened to me.
I quickly realized the second try that you had to open the bottle first. I'll admit, this happened more because of the fact that in most games when you need to use an item...well, you just use it. In Uninvited, you have to pay closer attention to things: you can't just spam the use button on everything and expect to win.