Jump to content

The Difficulty Archives


PunisherXD

Recommended Posts

Some thoughts on a few more games:

 

- La-Mulana EX: Definitely not a 9, not even close. It's been a long time since I played it, but from what I remember I wouldn't even consider it an 8. I think what keeps most people from platting it is the speedrun, which isn't all that difficult with a step by step guide. I may be underestimating the difficulty a bit due to not remembering all the details, so hopefully someone else can chime in. Should definitely lower it to at least an 8, though.

 

- THPS 1+2: Eh, I did this one fairly recently and I didn't find it remarkably difficult. It's very grindy, otherwise the plat would be significantly more common. The hardest part is completing all the hard get-theres, which is a bit hard but not 8/10 hard, imo.

 

- Toukiden Kiwami: I didn't play this one, but I played the original Toukiden, which this one is an expanded version of. The original was not a hard game at all, it was just very grindy, like most Monster Hunter clones. I can't say for sure about this one, but I doubt it is that much harder than the first game.

 

- Wipeout Omega Collection: This should be at least as hard as Wipeout HD, as the hardest trophy from that game, Elite Campaign Legend, is also in this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, ExistentialSolid said:

My biggest issue with the list, especially when it was first posted, is one of inclusivity. I feel like too much was being excluded to push against the "mainstream" perception of difficulty and establish some sort of new standard. Excluding games like DMC5, Wolfenstein II, and Crash 4, despite popular opinion, felt like a deliberately edgy, even elitist, take. I'd rather see a list where the majority is represented rather than a small handful of people at the top getting to decide what "is" or "isn't" difficult.

I could’ve worded it better, but you’re right in that using a metric isn’t possible for a thread like this. Popular opinion would be a metric however, and I don’t think it’s elitist to exclude these games at all, unless you’re referring to a specific post. I would’ve given Wolf 2 an 8 or possibly a 9 when I didn’t have any public strats to watch or go off of. The majority of my time was not failed runs, it was trying to get down consistent strategies to use for my runs. Having even one video to go off of is a massive time reduction since you can practice each section accordingly without having to worry about the safety of your own.

 

I’m actually surprised that you rate some of these games so high as in my opinion, they pale in comparison to some of your harder feats. 

 

This list is valuable for people looking to get into difficult games generally, but I was thinking it would be more about quality rather than trying to fit in as many games as possible. There’s a lot that can be removed without being needing to be labelled “elitist”.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of comments here seem to give pretty low scores for some difficult games imo. But I usually tend to rate higher than others from what I can tell. 
Alchemic Jousts probably isn't an 8 though tbh. Just lacks information. Will be nice to see how the list looks when its cleaned up and things have settled down somewhat. 

I also think it would be really good to have some sort of ideas of what people are expecting an 8/10 etc to present in terms of challenge. 

Good luck with the list though, I don't really think about difficulty much when I play games, just enjoy doing them lol, so maybe I won't be much help for this. :P  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I generally feel the community way, way overrates how hard a game needs to be to deserve an 8/10 score, but in any case, Toukiden: Kiwami should be removed. As @Niilismo mentioned, the guide score likely is a reflection of how incredibly grindy it is. Even though it was the first game in the genre I ever played, I don't remember it being particularly difficult.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Jeanolt said:

RockBand 2 should be there even without a guide, you need the complete the entire game without pausing or failing, although I'm not sure if there are exploits for that.

 

Also RockBand: The Beatles, but the requirements are different.

As far as I know there aren't any exploits for it. But the endless setlist without pausing or failing can be completed on lower difficulties such as medium.

 

You do have to complete the endless setlist once on expert difficulty but you can do it om vocals if the instruments are difficult. The hardest trophy is probably doing all of the drum challenges which is legitimately difficult.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said:


I disagree with parts of this list too, but applying any "real metric" towards difficulty isn't possible. All we'll ever have are arbitrary personal metrics that we flail around and batter against one another. My 8/10 will never be your 8/10. That said, I think we have diametrically opposed ideas on where this list should be heading.

 

Yeah, difficulty is subjective at the end of the day, and we're trying to be as fair as possible on the difficulty, so that will take a while to reach due to the constant discussion surrounding game difficulty

 

3 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said:

My biggest issue with the list, especially when it was first posted, is one of inclusivity. I feel like too much was being excluded to push against the "mainstream" perception of difficulty and establish some sort of new standard. Excluding games like DMC5, Wolfenstein II, and Crash 4, despite popular opinion, felt like a deliberately edgy, even elitist, take. I'd rather see a list where the majority is represented rather than a small handful of people at the top getting to decide what "is" or "isn't" difficult. That said, there's something these list curators are doing that I really appreciate...

 

DMC5, Wolf 2 and Crash 4 originally not being on the sheet were actually due to me, as compared to other 8s and 9s I have played they felt easier. However, I probably have to apologise for that due to me realising that I most likely have bias towards all 3 of these games in different ways, especially Crash 4, as I have done the developer times as well 😅. So, we've changed these accordingly (not DMC5  as of now, but we will move it to discussion [@CatLord732 take a note of this 👀] and announce that on the next update log).

 

3 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said:

They're listening to feedback.

I'm glad to see Wolfenstein II and Crash 4 already being reinstated on the list and I hope this list's curators will continue listening to feedback and adjusting the list accordingly. If I were to throw a few of my own opinions out there on games that need discussion:

 

I do have to say thank you for the kind words too, this is actually more effort than people might realise, as some of these update logs have been taking us minimum 1 hour each, so we need the little compliments here and there lmao. We posted this with the idea that we'll update this on the go, as the plan itself was to get more accurate ratings on games we haven't played from others on the forums.

 

3 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said:

- I agree with Crash 4 and Wolf II earning an 8+ (though I'd argue both deserve 9+)
- Even after following "that guide", I felt that DMC5 was an 8+ and should feature on this list.
- I'd vote for Downwell being an 8+.
- I'm in the minority, but Might No. 9's challenges push it well into 8/10 territory for me.
- THPS1+2 felt like an 8+.
- Despite the guide author's recommendation, I felt like Olli Olli World deserved an 8 since it felt considerably more difficult (to me) than Olli Olli 2 which is on here as an 8. 
- Dariusburst: CS's hitless QUZ route felt like a clear 10 (for me anyway). 9 seems a little low.
- Even though I haven't played it, I'd vouch for Outlast II being at least an 8 (looks closer to a 9).

Best of luck with the list! 

Also a big thank you for the suggestions, it helps a lot, and we will consider them. Especially Dariusburst CS, I started that one at around the making of this forum and it's been pretty hard to even get through some of the story stages, nevermind what's to come. Considering it's the first shoot 'em up I'm attempting, I'm scared by the QUZ route. 🤣

 

The next update log is being worked on by CatLord as we speak and should go through the most recent suggestions (there's been quite a bit of discussion in the past day or so, so it's gonna be a pretty big one again haha). Thank you everyone for the support for this sheet, we do appreciate it a lot as it took us a lot of effort to get it to this point. :D

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, LegendExeter said:

Burn Zombie Burn is impossible to 100%, it has unnobtainable trophies, BUT if you get all the other trophies PSNTL will count it as a 100%, ( it will appear like " 86%(100%) " or something like that, if i'm not mistaking.

Just saying it for the completists, because in PSNTL it counts for a 100% but i'm not sure about PSNP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Milktastrophe said:

I would suggest removing Pier Solar. The slippery mini game puts it at like 5/10 tops. Especially if OlliOlli2 is 8/10. The slippery game is similar in that you need specific presses at precise moments, except it's way easier and there's only two "levels" (there's a checkpoint).

 

Edit: and for some more context, I would put OlliOlli2 at 9/10, maybe even 10/10.

 

Just out of curiosity, the slippery game is the only hard thing of Pier Solar?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Changelog

 

  • XCOM 2: removed with a "TBA" difficulty due to exploits
  • Rock Band 2: added to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Rock Band Beatles: added to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Outlast 2: added to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Downwell: added back at an 8/10
  • Pix The Cat: removed at "6/10" difficulty due to cheese + guides
  • P4A Ultimax Adachi DLC: Added at 8/10
  • Hustle Kings removed at "5/10", heavily boostable
  • Pier Solar and The Great Architects: Moved to discussion until more estimates are given
  • COD Black Ops 4: Removed at "TBA" difficulty because its easily boostable
  • Command And Conquer Red Alert 3: Added to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Earth Defense Force 5: Removed
  • Earth Defense Force 2: Added to discussion until a proper difficulty estimate is given
  • Guitar Hero Metallica: Added at 10/10 with red tag due to unobtainable online
  • Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams: Removed at "TBA" rating due to guide overrating
  • Star Trek Online: Removed at "3/10" due to incorrect guide rating
  • Devil May Cry 5: Moved to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Wipeout Omega Collection: added to list at 8/10
  • Toukiden Kiwami: Added to discussion until more estimates are given

 

@Jeanolt@LegendExeter could either of you give an estimated difficulty for Rockband 2?

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, CatLord732 said:

Changelog

  • Rock Band Beatles: added to discussion until more estimates are given
  • Guitar Hero Metallica: Added at 10/10 with red tag due to unobtainable online
  • Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams: Removed at "TBA" rating due to guide overrating
  • Star Trek Online: Removed at "3/10" due to incorrect guide rating

 

 

I appreciate these changes, thank you. I’m more inclined to keep an eye on this thread when positive adjustments like these are made, so good job to you all for keeping it updated. I also apologise for being hypercritical earlier. It’s clear you guys care to maintain this list.

 

I can vouch for the beatles being added. I wouldn’t be against it being a 9 for beginners. Drums are scriptable but “Dig a Pony” and “I Saw Her Standing There” are worth an 8 minimum imo. It would be incredibly difficult to pick up the guitar and do these trophies right away.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tanuki Justice - Can absolutely be here as a 9 or even a 10. A lot of the “Insane” trophies are really demanding. Sadly the trophy for beating insane without missing shurikens is on the verge of being unobtainable. On steam, if you hit an enemy on the last frame of the shuriken throw, it’s rendered as a miss. I’m not sure if this has been fixed, but doing an already ridiculous requirement with this means it isn’t realistically doable. 

 

Hard Corps: Uprising - Should be on the list. An 8 or 9 is good. Even with the OP DLC character, there’s a lot that makes the deathless run really difficult still. I don’t even want to remember the helicopter jump at the very end of the run..

 

Elder Scrolls Online - The platinum doesn’t have anything difficult. You need a good amount of luck and time on your side for emperor, but there’s no real difficulty there that should bump it near an 8. @Morialready mentioned it, but the difficulty is
mostly in the in-game achievements rather than the trophies.

 

Dirt Rally - Nothing very difficult here, shouldn’t be close to an 8/10. The online tier trophies can be save scummed, leaving only difficulty in the single player which shouldn’t extend beyond a 6, maybe a 7 at the very most.

 

MLB 19 - The only difficult trophy is boostable, everything else is trivial.

 

Super Rude Bear Resurrection - If you downgrade and use all the exploits for no death runs in practice mode for the base levels, it becomes no more than a 5/10. Boss rush can be done the same way, just pressing “Restart” on the final plane scene will give you a deathless record and pop the trophy.

 

Surgeon Simulator - The game is incredibly annoying because of how it works, but i don’t think it warrants more than a 7 when you factor in downgrading.

 

The End Is Nigh - This should at most be an 8. I’ve done this gem on an alt and plan to do it again, the trophies aren’t so demanding, but I suppose it should still at least make the list if SMB does. The steam achievements are where the true difficulty lies.

 

Do what you wish with this information, it’s all just my opinion.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DeepEyes7 said:

 

Just out of curiosity, the slippery game is the only hard thing of Pier Solar?

Pretty much. At release That's Tim's Way (only fight mandatory battles) may have justified an 8/10, but they added New Game+ which trivializes it. Everything else is standard JRPG, just grind some levels if it's difficult and it'll become easy. The low rarity is due to a number of missable trophies and several of the trophies being unobtainable for a while (and possiblity requiring two playthroughs which not everyone will want to do), edit: and of course everyone who didn't go back after new game+ was added 

Edited by Milktastrophe
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/22/2023 at 7:42 PM, TheYuriG said:

No, easy game, can be seeded on the vita and you can save on every room for PS4. It still takes 300 hours, but time is not difficulty.

Sure, but when I came into this thread there were quite a few games included on the list with the caveat of no glitches/save scumming and I'd say there's a chance the 100% incl. Afterbirth+ & Repentance could have been argued to make the cut without exploits (though I'm not entirely sure, I'd still be on the fence).

 

With the save scums however, totally not and agreed super easy.

 

On 9/24/2023 at 10:17 PM, Enzo_0684 said:

For both Wuppo and Downwell, we would like more people to give their input on them if possible.

For Wuppo I'd say no. But it's an annoying one to do because of various bugs that were fixed on PC but not for us... The vast majority of the game is easy aside from the boss rush without buying stuff. There's a few opportunities to full heal on certain bosses because they provide health in some of their moves so it more or less comes down to doing the final boss with only the starting healing item and without hard-carry upgrades whilst hoping it doesn't crash or softlock xD I can understand arguments for an 8 however, but I would probably say no. Also, correct me if I'm wrong because I never tried it myself but I swear I saw a post (it may have been for the PC version though) that you can use a glitch to double your starting health which would make a significant difference and I'd say would at least lower it by a rating if it's true.

 

As for Downwell, I'm not going to really rely my own personal experience but instead I've watched a couple people over on Twitch and they both felt like it was 8-9 to them and they're typically not the kind to overrate so I'm inclined to feel it should make the cut. I'm also surprised to hear of many people who didn't have much troubles with other alleged difficult 8s and 9s really struggle with Downwell or even give up entirely. I guess it just clicked better for me than others so I'm perfectly happy to see this make the cut even if it wouldn't make an 8 for me personally.

 

22 hours ago, esstee11 said:

 

Was there any other peoples input on Oultlast 2 who have played it?

I'd absolutely not consider Outlast 2 personally. I think the idea of permadeath scares people particularly with games that have some length (I felt Outlast 2 was bloated compared to the first...) but nearly every 'deadly' encounter is a scripted chase sequence, actually that's one of the main criticisms people had on the game. Aside from the section with the cart fairly early on and one of the encounters with the archer there's almost nothing in the game that can kill you aside from a crash or getting stuck in the terrain somehow xD. As for battery management, even in pitch black areas there isn't really much reason to need to see, if you know where you're going just go that way blindly. On a first playthrough you don't know what could be in the darkness, on a second you know there's nobody there so just push through it lol.

 

All the non-chase encounters are also predictable, enemies seem to spawn in or 'activate' when you reach certain points so as long as your route is the same they'll be in the same positions every time. Outside of maybe 1 or 2 points where something can be standing somewhere else, but usually these cases don't make any difference.

 

It all comes down to knowing the route to run during scripted chases and nothing more IMO. The slightly more 'random' encounters are very front loaded and once you're past the first half of the game it's a walk in the park.

 

18 hours ago, Hitman_Spinksy1 said:

Guide writers difficulty rating is nearly always pointless. They either over compensate and give a game a higher difficulty than it deserves or a much lower one due to the fact they've put in hundreds of more hours into said game in order to write the guide

I view the idea of a guide writers rating the same as a critics review score. It's not that they have no value at all but it's still just one opinion from someone who's not typically representative of other folk. 

 

A critics value comes from their written work not the arbitrary score and similarly a guide writers value comes from their written work being helpful to the reader rather than their ability to score difficulty.

 

What I think the site could do with, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of people disagreeing with me because there's always some kind of aversion to this suggestion but... difficulty voting for registered users, maybe limited to those who have the platinum or an A rank in the game if you want to be more inclusive. It's still not an absolute fact on where the difficulty will be but neither is, say, Metacritic user score for game quality. However, I think that's an easy quick indicator of general consensus which can be helpful.

 

Now I'm aware what most criticisms of a feature will be. Troll/ego votes (giving hard games 5/10, Mayo a 10/10 etc.), Difficulty bombing using 1/10 votes to drag down an 8 average into a 7 or something, basically the same stuff you get with reviews. The idea that popular mainstream games might have inflated averages like Dark Souls probably getting more 9s and 10s which it doesn't really deserve. But I think it's still better than the alternative of glomming onto whatever one guide writer decided to put down and bickering whether it's score is over/underrated. Besides, if you can see vote distribution it's easy to spot the outliers for troll votes and see a general range where most people are voting. Some may have a clear spike where most people feel it is while other may have a broader arrangement of votes over 3 or 4 numbers and in a way that in of itself is an indicator of how variable it may be for certain types of games. 

 

16 hours ago, Hitman_Spinksy1 said:

Aint no1 playing SMB or the like with a banana lmao.

Are you sure about that? Someone had played Crypt of the Necrodancer with a dance mat and has cleared some Coda stuff. Would not surprise me to hear someone's played Meat Boy with a banana (or more appropriately, meat) seen plenty of other games with weird peripherals including bananas. I've even seen a fish beat some Souls bosses once, yes, a FISH swimming around a tank to do inputs. Don't underestimate the weird things people do lol.

 

Nothing against your point, just having fun with the banana part xD

 

7 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said:


I disagree with parts of this list too, but applying any "real metric" towards difficulty isn't possible. All we'll ever have are arbitrary personal metrics that we flail around and batter against one another. My 8/10 will never be your 8/10. That said, I think we have diametrically opposed ideas on where this list should be heading.

My biggest issue with the list, especially when it was first posted, is one of inclusivity. I feel like too much was being excluded to push against the "mainstream" perception of difficulty and establish some sort of new standard. Excluding games like DMC5, Wolfenstein II, and Crash 4, despite popular opinion, felt like a deliberately edgy, even elitist, take. I'd rather see a list where the majority is represented rather than a small handful of people at the top getting to decide what "is" or "isn't" difficult.

I appreciate and agree with where you're coming from, if there's one thing that comes to mind for people who know me is that I'm completely anti-elitist and the like so I'd dislike the idea of a difficulty compilation devolving into some kind of 'cool kids club' circle jerking games on each other profiles whilst saying everyone else's suggestion are 'easy 1/10 doesn't belong, not elite enough', even if some of my contributions have been to say I don't think certain games are 8+ I'm offering that solely as my own personal take and wouldn't be upset if every game I suggest is below an 8 stays on the list so long as enough people believe it should and it seems to come from an informed position (like being aware of any easier methods etc.).

 

The only real ones that upset me more than they should to be overrated are older titles such as WipEout or Vanquish and that's really only because they're old PS3 games that I think people just remember as being considered some of the hardest at the time but don't hold up. I know numerous people who thought they were 10/10 until they played the PS4 releases and realised they weren't as hard as their reputations. More modern examples, such as the Wolf 2/Crash/DMC are much more current and whilst I personally disagree with the 8+ on those I can at least sit back and be like 'okay, people do actually genuinely feel this way, they're not just clinging onto dated information'.

 

The only reason I would consider wanting the list to be stricter would only be to selfishly to use it as a means to discover something challenging I hadn't known of beforehand but let's be honest if you like to find difficult things to do in games then you already know where to look and such a list would be rather pointless. I kinda feel like this is a more valuable list for those who don't regularly seek difficult games so it would probably make sense to be more inclusive if anything.

 

That being said though I do feel, much with reviews, sometimes it gets a bit top heavy with difficult game ratings where they seem to float in the 8+ region more often whilst 6 and 7 get neglected and the mere idea of suggesting a difficult game is a 6 or 7 is somehow offensive and as if it's claiming the game is 'easy'... 'easy' is 4 or lower, average is 5, 6&7 are hard, they're still hard if they score there.

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, JohnCenaSong- said:

That being said though I do feel, much with reviews, sometimes it gets a bit top heavy with difficult game ratings where they seem to float in the 8+ region more often whilst 6 and 7 get neglected and the mere idea of suggesting a difficult game is a 6 or 7 is somehow offensive and as if it's claiming the game is 'easy'... 'easy' is 4 or lower, average is 5, 6&7 are hard, they're still hard if they score there.

If we're dealing with a 10 point scale, surely a 6 is only slightly above average in difficulty rather than hard?

 

It seems to me that people kind of put up an artificial barrier between 7 and 8 and feel the need to really, really justify giving an 8 for difficulty when really, it only means that a game is in the top 30% for difficulty if the whole scale is going to be used.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

@Mellenthin if I've got every trophy in Vermintide 2 except for the last three weave trophies how much more difficult would you say the game gets from here? I'm conflicted in terms of how difficult I'd say this game has been thus far but I'm probably fine saying it deserves to be on this list. It feels like a lot of the "difficulty" is finding people who are good enough to play consistently enough to practice and execute on the above average amount of content there is in the 100% list. But if we're only talking about the plat then I don't think this was even an 8/10 honestly. I respect your thoughts though since you're a serious Warhammer trophy hunter 

 

A 7 or 8 for the platinum is nothing I would fret over; it's the weaves that are hard. How your group will fare in those is down to the usual: individual skill, team composition and communication. The weaves are obviously a point or two higher but doesn't warrant a full 10, not only due to what I said earlier, but also due to the fact that you only have to complete the first 80 and not the full 160 - something precious few have managed.

 

I understand the pain of not finding a good group, but perhaps try Reddit as I think that's where the VT community went after Sony shut them down.

 

24 minutes ago, cckerberos said:

If we're dealing with a 10 point scale, surely a 6 is only slightly above average in difficulty rather than hard?

 

It seems to me that people kind of put up an artificial barrier between 7 and 8 and feel the need to really, really justify giving an 8 for difficulty when really, it only means that a game is in the top 30% for difficulty if the whole scale is going to be used.

 

A 6 is indeed not hard. It first start at 7 and then an 8 would be very hard. A 9 is extremely hard and lastly a 10 is inconceivably difficult - or whatever adjective that fits better.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Mellenthin said:

I understand the pain of not finding a good group, but perhaps try Reddit as I think that's where the VT community went after Sony shut them down.

Oh I'm good on the group. Two friends of mine started with me and we picked up two good players along the way. The "nice" thing about the weaves is that they're completely predetermined as you know. I imagine for me personally the 100% will land at an 8 unless the weaves are just that much of a nightmare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

Oh I'm good on the group. Two friends of mine started with me and we picked up two good players along the way. The "nice" thing about the weaves is that they're completely predetermined as you know. I imagine for me personally the 100% will land at an 8 unless the weaves are just that much of a nightmare.

 

Come back and report once you're done. I'm sure you guys will have your fill.😉

 

And thanks for the kind words earlier by the way.🤗 Warhammer is my favourite setting so I try and get most of them.🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...