ADMITTING DEFEAT - WHEN A VIDEOGAME BREAKS YOUR SPIRIT

I don't think so. I finished Phantasy Star II without even having a map years earlier!

Well, I really don't remember the actual numbers anymore, just that after 3 battles I ran out of resources without using healing items and using healing items caused me to not have enough zeny for better equip and that was the reason I didn't finish that game. I didn't finish any Breath of Fire game actually. In BoFII I got to the final dungeon. In BoFIV I managed to reach the final boss but after he was still not dead after 2 hours I just gave up (the dungeon to reach the boss is already like 2 hours without save point, I just couldn't take playing more than 4 hours without a break). And in Dragon Quarter I didn't even manage to get past the second battle.

Actually, I forgot about a more recent example, which would be Fire Emblem Conquest, the final mission. Because, unlike other missions, you don't get to plan ahead for this one, but instead you get thrown into it after finishing another the second last mission without saving in between.
I'm like, LOL, what's the point of a strategy game if I don't get the chance to try out different strategies? Especially since I don't know what's coming at me in the final mission (but apparently it's endless reinforcements, which isn't something a common thing in Fire Emblem games, and a wave of damage at your characters each turn).
If you fail for whatever reason, or want to try out different strategies to beat it, you're forced to play through that second last mission every time. At that point, it feels like I'm playing an RPG Maker game made by a 12-year old who thinks his boss fight is suddenly more challenging if he doesn't let the player save in front of it. WTF were they even thinking, lol.

author=RyaReisender
I remembered another game I forgot: Vagrant Story.

I've tried so hard to get into that game. I've been stopped in my tracks twice in the same place.

It's pretty far into the beginning. Past the Dullahan.. Past the Minotaur... It's around some goblins or seomthing, but basically when you encounter your first real dragon encounter in the game that isn't from the prologue - the Wyvern I think.

I could almost never deal any damage to it, and when I did it was like 1 or 2. Very minimal. I couldn't get past it.

Learn from your defeats, too often that some games today take away that feeling of accomplishment, and Dark Souls is the series where you have to learn. You can do it, I know you can. It took me several times to beat Fume Knight until I learned what I was doing wrong, and that feeling of accomplishment can feel amazing.

When I played Demon Souls, I learned real quick that this was the type of gaming I have not played in many years, I really missed it.

Final Fantasy XIV - Titan

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't beat him. I put down the game, and I haven't gone back since. Thing is, I'd have kept going if it was just me, but it wasn't just me. You had to take on the boss with other people and I was always the one that couldn't do it. And you can't grind because it automatically drops your level. Dragging down other people with them yelling at you...I just couldn't do that. I was really upset over it, too, because I really liked the game, but I was just too embarrassed to go back.

bahleted

author=Red_Nova

author=Ciel
i feel like the marketing of this series had some psychological effect on players that is holding them back

100% agree with this. The "Prepare to Die" tagline is such a blatant misrepresentation of Souls games for me (and everyone I've talked to) that it's sad to see people who would enjoy these kinds of games get turned off because they mistakenly believe that death is a all there is to Souls.

Steam makes Dark Souls franchise pop in the store every-time but I always been in doubt about buying it for this reason.

All I hear is about how hard and complicated the bosses are, and how "it will kill you in the title screen".
I love a challenging game, but... Spending dozens of attempts only to uncover all the hidden near oneshot tricks the boss have under the sleeve and how to avoid them? Not cool.

Also heard about how you lose all your souls (or whatever the currency was called) when you die, which for me translates to: Great fear factor, coupled with a lot of backtracking and redoing things over and over again because you need those souls back.

Heard some nice things about the lore, not in detail which is ok so I can find on my own, unfortunately, that came with the commentary "I glitched boss X so I could progress with the story".

I'm fairly sure that this impression is wrong, but that's the point. Because this is what I get from the general DarkSouls chatter. (This topic not included.)

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As for my own story: Tera

I had my ideal premade back there, the guys (and one girl) where not only pros at their class, they also were a laid-back bunch you'd log-in just to chatterbox useless topics for hours long.

However I wasn't so keen to throw money or endure 8 hours of boring farming, so my gear was sub-par overall, added decent skill and not-decent ping of over 200ms, I had an only acceptable damage output. Everything was well and good 'till we got to the last dungeon, which by the MMO rule book, we would have on a daily-basis.

The bloody thing become a two hour chore real-fast, the "this is serious busyness" aura ran over the random talk, and as the laid-back aura faded away I soon realized my place in there, dead weight. They avoided talking about it, but at every single wipe I knew it was my fault, I knew I was the one ruining their days, but my selfish self couldn't let go of it, I'd have no chance to play with them at all if it wasn't there, nothing short of that dungeon was progress for them.

The stressful runs tore our premade apart about a month and 20 clears later.

Despite still liking the game and loving my class I gave up on it, to never take any MMO seriously ever again. In memory of Buttermilk guild.

Dwarf Fortress. Too much !!FUN!! to be had in the game; both the fun kind, and the not-so-fun kind.

Dark Souls isn't difficult at all! Let me tell you right now, that it is worth every coin you peddle for it. Playing it is like having a lethargic, sadistic hobgoblin tear your purty little birdie wings out, one feather at a time. Then have that hobgoblin summon a powerful troll witch. And have that witch cast some voodoo what-have-you to heal your wings. And have all that repeated. Twelve and a half times. Plus one more round for every tear shed. And another, because why not?

(Really though, try it out "for free", play a while, and if you like it, buy the game. If not, then walk away and move on. You didn't lose much, other than some time and a bit of data anyway).

Was saying about this type of thing:

author=Masomonk
I'd say that the arena gimmick was an annoyance at best. However, I still don't think it's very fair to bathe the entire room in poison, ensuring that those playing the game for the first time will almost certainly die. If there was a tiny piece of land untouched by poison, or if there was poison leading INTO the fog gate, then it would have been a better warning flag for players that something was up with the arena. As it is, it's extremely difficult to expect the players to win the fight the first time through, which I find questionable from a game design perspective.

The boss itself was interesting to fight, but that poison on the outer edge just put a big wet blanket on the enjoyment.

On a simplistic manner, I'd say difficulty is okay as long as it makes the player say "I got that wrong" instead of "That was bullshift".

Can't really say cents on Final Fantasies because I've only played one of them back on PSX, and because it was on Japanese and near a decade ago, I don't ever remember the number of it.

Ps. The JimInquisition video actually convinced me into buying Darksouls II, but there's some payment methods juggling I need to resolve before getting it. freakin' Itchy and Scratchy money. .-.