I'm sure this topic has been discussed at length....but does anyone have a most frustrating game??? I just played a game that while in ways it was very good; I found it horribly frustrating and nearly unfinishable even with the use of three walkthroughs....I'm not going to mention what game it is just yet......I just want to see what others list first.......but i found it frustrating because of lengthy conversations; timed sequences; too much mechanical fiddling; and did i mention timed sequences.......

i don't know.......maybe it's just me....i'm not the brightest bulb in the set, you know?

I've played a lot of frustrating games but the first one that comes to mind is Still Life. Maybe not so much timed sequences since I can't remember if there were any in that game or not but trying to get past the beams with the robot was nearly impossible. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't do it even after having my son (the expert gamer) try it. So I gave up on that one

Another one was Broken Sword 3 (I believe) where you had to do all the sneaking around. I had a tough time with that too.

Now you got me curious as to what game you are referring to! Is it a recent release game?

I don't know if it would be top of my list but Dead Reefs comes to very near to the top and also some of the Nancy Drews - all for the same reason - the timed puzzles. The Curse of Blackmoor Manor was a case in point - enjoyed it apart from that revolving room and never finished it because of the timed bit at the end.

Having said that I did get a giggle because the family name- Penyellyn- is very Cornish, and Cornwall is many, many miles from Essex where we were told it was set - we have wonderful moors in the West and North of England but I don't we have a moor in Essex. :UK:

Legend of Kyrandia.
Ugh.

Okay...here's a clue to the game I'm referring to.....it's an old game and it doesn't take place on Earth.....

I haven't played Still Life so don't know how that is....but did take a look at Dead Reefs and did nothing but run the guy into walls......

Blackmoor Manor i've played....but don't remember having too much trouble with the revolving room....must have had a good walkthrough or gotten lucky!! haha

haven't played Legend of Kyrandia.....why did you find it frustrating, Tomer??

I always thought that MYST IV, with its vile crystal chair and those miserable monkies, was the most frustrating game I ever played.

I'd also like to note that I always love this topic becauses there's always a game others had trouble with but I went through easily. For example, the first time I played STILL LIFE I went through the lazer puzzle without any problem. I never died; not even once. Until a year later when I tried it again I never understood what all the fuss was about!

Still Life I never got passed the laser robot so never finished.

The revoving room was only solved with the w/th.

Are you refering to Starship Titanic where you had to type in answer? Never finished that one but loved the art deco

How to stop hitting walls in Dead Reefs? Press the shift button and he went to walk - no it did not tell you that in the readme

Lately I just stopped having fun in Nancy Drew land. My 'disgruntle-ment' finally came to a head --mid-game-- during White Wolf... and I didn't even bother buying Crystal Skull. Hated the mindless stuff... the timed seq's, fast mouse clicking, racing... things that a walkthrough cannot help you with.

Years ago, I had game-glitch troubles with Journeyman Project: Buried in Time and Lighthouse. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed both of them, I just gave up. If there was any tweaking to be done, I was too chicken to even try. Plus, I didn't know about GameBoomers. Now, Lotus Spring --which I thought would be a nice, relaxing game-- turned out to be a stinker. Can't remember what kind of glitch, but the game just didn't play right. It wasn't very much fun to start with, so not much of a loss.

There are a lot of things that can make a game frustrating.
One of the worst is if it has a clumsy, fussy interface that requires 6 clicks to do some simple thing -- or an interface that is simply difficult to control, where you're overshooting your mark all the time.

And then there are those dexterity challenges that are impossible to get through (Wanted/Westerner shooting gallery) -- at least on some computers. So you have to get a saved game from somewhere. And then the person who made the save did things in a different order from you so you have to repeat some things while you miss other things... And then there are those busywork things that you have to do (carrots in Wanted/Westerner, chores in Nancy Drew). What a nuisance! Life's too short to be bothering with that @%^$!

I too gave up on the White Wolf. It was the first Nancy Drew I didn't even care to finish. My husband bought me the next one but it is still sitting here unopened. As far as frustration level goes, I hated 80 Days. I could barely get started with it.

Jenny, I completely agree with you! Some game makers don't understand what an adventure game should be. Please, don't lure us in to world of FPS's.


Bernard

If it's any inspiration, the people who've played it seem to think it's better than White Wolf in a lot of ways.


Heh! I started that. Couldn't get past the stealth part without giving up and paying the guy. That kind of put me off of continuing the game. When you can't get past something on your own near the very start of a game, it feels like you lost before you even started. I played a little beyond that but didn't get anywhere. Flew around the place on the flying carpet for a while, couldn't figure out where anything was, and gave up. I might have put more effort into it if I hadn't felt like I'd already lost.

I gave up on White Wolf also 15 min. into it :/Read a lot of reviews about Crystal Skull,went and bought it and enjoyed it very much :)Danger by Design was another one that had me so frustrated I gave it up

Hi Jenny -- if you play 80 Days on "tourist" mode, it doesn't matter that you have to pay off the bad guys. You just go out exploring afterwards and pick up more money wherever you find it lying on the ground. (Easier to do if you're walking than if you're flying on the carpet.)

Lighthouse was probably the most frustrating adventure I've played. Multi-step puzzles, and I kept missing one step or one item. And that maze thing with the pipes and that tiny viewing window. (Shudders.)

Still, I know people loved the game as much as I loved 80 Days.

Aaaah- I was trying to remember the name of danger by design ! That was awful - I hated the ridiculous tea-making right at the beginning , and the stupid screaming boss !!! What were they thinking ? You can stay at work and get paid to hear screaming - I put in a game to get away from that ! Ripped it right out , and haven't been back to Nancy yet !
Also,maybe it's just me,but playing Tunguska and bored silly with it - must be my train of thought,but I don't like just walking around and playing with inventory - these don't seem like puzzles,but problems. And again, I do that all day long.

Liz, Ohhh I think I know what game you are referring to but for the life of me I can't think of the name!

When i first played gabriel knight 3 i thought that was very frustrating at the start. The interface was very different with the camera and moving controls if i remember right. Also some of the puzzles were incredibly hard for the average person. Like all the computer map stuff i think was difficult to understang.

Enjoyed it very much tho in the end.

Your avatar just reminded me of one of the most frustrating games I've ever played, Skeeter. The keyboard controls in Grim Fandango drove me nutso. I was expecting a peaceful point and click, but lo, I got not what I expected. I liked the humour of the game, but the puzzles were fiendish. Even now just the thought of that conveyor belt gives me the cold shudders.. and those door tumblers... and the evil inventory system.. and.. and..

Red.....and all others.......the game I just finished was The Ward........ohmy!! I had such a time of it! Those long conversations and having to run around and talk to everyone; and the sliders and the timed puzzles and the memorizer thing that I could never get to work right and then you had to do it in a certain time limit....and then run around and catch the elevator and........and then switch identities....it just kept getting worse and worse........

I am usually the person who says I've never met a game I haven't liked ...but I don't think I'll EVER be playing that one again.....I was stressed out totally by that game!! whew.....where are my chill pills???

anyone else have as much fun with it as I did???

I was in tourist mode. It doesn't keep you from having stealth challenges and failing at them. So it's still discouraging. You fail the challenge the game presents you with, right off the bat, almost at the beginning of the game. Do you even feel like trying anymore? I sure didn't.

My biggest frustration was Penumbra Overture. I just wanted to explore, not constantly kill dogs. Uggghhh! I know it was a borderline adventure/rpg, so I kind of had reservations going in. But the lure of the good story wasn't enough to keep me going. I gave up after several hours of doing the same thing over again and again again.

I hear ya, Tinagoss, it just takes all the fun out of it.....

Jenny100, I felt that way at first in 80 Days, but then did go ahead and play it and had a lot of fun after I stopped running poor Oliver into walls.

Tinagoss, I'm glad I skipped Penumbra--no way I'm killing dogs--I even hate killing wolves cos they look too much like dogs

Problem is, I now have no inclination to ever go back to it. Haven't you ever had a game that just turned you off so much at the beginning that you were too fed up ever to go back to it? Maybe that's a subject for another thread.

Hi Liz,
Frustration is the name of the game I'm playing right now! It's a new game and I've been reading raves about it, and I looked forward to playing it for a long time before it finally was released, but I'm hopelessly, totally lost playing it. I had to go to 2 walkthroughs to be able to do the first real puzzle that is needed right at the beginning before you can even get to the inventory and other parts of the game. Even so I had a hard time finding the right pixel, but that could be due to my poor eyesight, but that doesn't stop it from being frustrating. It is beginning to look like I will only be able to play this game by using the walkthroughs for everything but I don't feel like I'm cheating because even WITH that help I'm having a rough time. I am however intrigued by the storyline and I like the character I'm playing so I think I will stay with it in spite of it all. I think just maybe the challenge of trying to follow the walkthroughs is adding I'm not sure what. Possibly the same kind of challenge that Alkis (Diamonds In the Rough) gets without a walkthrough!

The most frustrating one for me was Myst Uru (the store-bought version) with its loooong load times. I persisted in finishing it but definitely won't ever replay it.

For those who had trouble getting to places in 80 Days, I recommend mastering the use of the map graphic in the upper left of the screen. Once you understand how to use it you'll get around very easily.

Liz, yeah the ward was a stuggle to play the begining was hard to figure how to do things and the puzzles were solid i needed a walkthrough to get past that lights puzzle i think etc. I got up to the bit where u board a ship but stoped playing as i couldnt be bothered to struggle through the rest of it. Nice idea and gfx etc but too much work i thought.

nancy drew the white wolf of icicle creek, brrrr, never finished it. the new Crystall Skull is very good, I enjoy it.
Dead Reefs no click and point, strange walking.
Reprobates (German version played), never finished it, sitting on an island, walking and talking with the same people and again and again. nightmares where you have to solve some puzzles, terrible game.
I hate time-based games. clicking and racing against the clock.not for me.

Definitely The Ward. I played this early on in my gaming career. At that time, I felt I needed to finish every game, especially when I paid full price for it. The end part of the ward was so frustrating, I actually got a migraine trying to do it on my own. Finally I begged a saved game from Witchen here at GB just so i could see the ending.

Hmm Ok, not the game I was thinking of but yes, most definately agree on this one! I vaguely remember this game but I do remember that this was one of my early games that I didn't care to finish. If I remember right, I was only about 15 minutes in the game and said "Ok! That's enough of this!" And never went back to it.

Maybe at the beginning of next year we could have a poll on the most hated games of 2007 and why we disliked them so much. Along side of our favorite games. Sorry mods you do so much it is maybe unfair to ask you to take on another task. :UK:

My worst game ever is Evidence-the Last Ritual. Endless similar puzzles, catching floating letters on the end of a string! is not my idea of fun. Was sooooo glad when I finished. :UK: love this animated flag!!

Hi

Sacred Mirror of Kofun

The cursor completely disappeared - randomly but OFTEN - and Syd played more of it for me to get me past the worst bits, than I played myself !!

[Thanks again Syd ]

Cheers.

Mad

I have to agree with this, but I did not finish it and will not go back to it. I did like the first 3 Myst games.

Bets

The load times on Myst Uru are significantly less if you have a fast computer with a lot of RAM. I wouldn't recommend it at minimum specs though.

I remember some things about The Ward. I remember the timed sequences. I remember being stuck at the poker game for hours. I remember one area where you had to wander around talking to people for hours, with no apparent progress, getting the same responses over and over again until finally you got one that was different, in order to get the game to progress. The Ward had a decent plot and could have been a good game if only it didn't have all the aggravations.

I couldn't get past the safe puzzle in Shivers 2,



I really really liked the game, but this puzzle drove me really really -ehm- over the edge - at least in a figurative sort of way.

I even used several walkthrougs including Mac's great walkthrough, but I just couldn't figure out what to do.
Hopefully, I'm gonna finish this game some day...

I think the most frustrating game for me ever was In Memoriam (aka Missing since January). it took a lot of bother to set up the internet thing in the first place & when I finally managed to do it & get on with playing it was just (or started out as..) a series of really hard & very tedious puzzles - one after the other - I gave up after a few hours & it is about the only game I would not be tempted in the least bit to persist with ever!! Another game on the frustrating side has been Conspiracies - but I may go back to that sometime in the future as I although I think it's not a great game I would like to see how the story ends. As for 80 Days - it didn't really grab me - I found it tedious & I wasn't crazy about the story. I'm not sure I'll ever get to finish it but maybe.

I agree I realized duringthe demo that this just wasn't my kind of game

inferno

well i'm certainly glad that i'm not the only one shouldering the frustration burden.......i'm sorry about all the shared aggravation; but at least this way maybe we'll all know which games may cause us tons of pain......! Thanks for all the replies on things in games that make them NOT fun!! Very useful information!!

I don't know about anyone else but this therapy has been great for me!!!!

Me too! It really helps to hear about the frustrations and problems others are having and makes it easier for me to put up with my own knowing others are out there not totally enjoying each and every game! The reaction to each game is a personal thing but the overall feelings are the same, I think.