8 Gameplay Sections That Nearly Killed Amazing Video Games
Join Jules and James as they take look at gameplay sections that nearly killed amazing video games! Literally all mandated turret sequences suck.
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00:00Hello all of you little demons, Jules here for WhatCulture.com, back again with another
00:04episode of the awesomely named and awfully hosted Choose Your Own Adventure, the weekly
00:09medieval themed format where I, the Crown Jules of WhatCulture.com, take a list chosen
00:14by you, yes you, the person whose bike is FINALLY back. Praise the bike. I'm Noah.
00:20I really hope I install it well so it doesn't fall. That would actually be really terrible
00:25because the cats eat under there, so. Not gonna imagine that horrible scenario. Yes,
00:29you get to decide what list I double out to you each and every week, and this week we
00:34have none other to thank than diabeetus Sam Holsell for their suggestion of stapled-on
00:42stealth sections, and of course I've done my YouTube trickery to take that idea and
00:46turn it into a list which is now going to be 8 gameplay sections that nearly killed
00:51amazing video games.
00:53So let's have a nice little chat, shall we?
00:55Because while it is amazing to try and do something new, sometimes we better prepare
00:59first to make sure that we don't go out there and make ourselves look like an absolute
01:03tit.
01:04Am I right, my friends?
01:05But yeah, I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 8 gameplay sections that nearly
01:10killed amazing video games.
01:13And you know the drill by now, pop your suggestions for next week's episode down in the comments
01:16section below, and with that in mind, let's get on with the list, shall we?
01:218.
01:22Chronicles of the Sword – Soul Calibur 3
01:25Now this might get a little bit of hate, seeing as the third instalment in the highly successful
01:29and jiggle-tastic Soul Calibur fighting series – technically it's the fourth game in
01:34the franchise, but apparently nobody gives a s*** about you, Soul Edge – is pretty
01:38well-respected amongst the fanbase, but I'm just gonna say it, Chronicles of the Sword
01:42mode in Soul Calibur 3 is absolute bulls***… sometimes.
01:48And you know what?
01:49It's that sometimes that really infuriates me, because this mode was actually a welcome
01:53diversion from the main fighting-centric formula, employing light RPG and RTS elements, allowing
01:58you to level up your character, gain new equipment, and pick your own path through maps in order
02:03to reach harder and harder challenges.
02:05However, while this all sounds great on paper, in practice things can be ruined almost before
02:10they start thanks to the uber-aggressive AI that will always, without any provocation,
02:15zerg rush you into oblivion.
02:17Now if you're a dab hand at this game, you will be able to fend off the first few waves
02:21and buy yourself some breathing room, and admittedly things do get a lot easier from
02:25that point on, but if you're looking for a brand new experience, and something to usher
02:28you into the world of Soul Calibur, well you're gonna get a slap in the face and a sword in
02:32the gut at the same time.
02:34So to summarise, the Chronicles of the Sword mode is only as fun as you are good at this
02:39game.
02:40Meaning that some people will absolutely love this, but for others it might actually ruin
02:43the entire experience.
02:457.
02:46Emma Escort Mission
02:47Metal Gear Solid 2
02:48Now if there's one thing that pretty much every player hates, it's a forced escort
02:53mission.
02:54Having to drop the one-versus-a-thousand gimmick that so many action games present their protagonists
02:58as, in order to hand-hold an NPC with all the life-preservation skills of a dog who
03:02enjoys chewing electrical wires, is always going to be a bit of a brick wall to your
03:06enjoyment.
03:07However, said wall of mortar was simply not enough to Resident I-Will-Have-My-Dessert-Before-My-Main-Mad-Head
03:14Hideo Kojima, as he found a way to make the much-loathed escort mission even worse.
03:19Now Metal Gear Solid 2 is well known to be Hideo Kojima's troll game, I mean, he already
03:24duped players into thinking that they'd be playing as Solid Snake throughout the majority
03:27of the title, only to be switched out at the last moment for Pretty Boy Jack, and that
03:32mischievous energy definitely seemed to carry through to his approach to the escort mission,
03:36where you had to take Emma from one section to the other, because...
03:40Oh!
03:41Ah!
03:42Oh!
03:43He makes you do it underwater.
03:44That's right, the very Venn diagrams of Hell itself have overlapped, as here we are
03:48dealing with a character about as durable as wet confetti, while also being submerged
03:53and having to deal with, oh you know, tiny things like not being able to breathe and
03:57awkward swimming controls.
03:58To say that this was a bit of a pain to get through is kind of like saying that watching
04:03your grandparents make sweet, sweet love while you're maintaining eye contact with them
04:07is a little bit horrifying.
04:10Quite the understatement.
04:116.
04:12Nightmare Levels, Max Payne
04:14Now when you think of Max Payne, you probably think of slow-motion diving through the air,
04:19dual-firing guns, maybe screaming, that's optional for the person, dealer's choice,
04:23isn't it?
04:24And then landing and just making a face that kind of looks like an anus has been stuffed
04:28full of lemons.
04:29You don't likely think of platforming sections.
04:31Yet to the hardcore set that saw the original Max Payne through to completion, even mentioning
04:36the term platforming will likely cause them to break out in a nervous sweat.
04:40This is because the nightmare sections of this game were exactly that, an odorous dump
04:45on the otherwise chaotic experience that forced players to follow trails of blood across invisible
04:50platforms or risk falling to an instant death.
04:53None of the experience was fun, and while I'm sure the devs would argue that this
04:57wasn't meant to be an enjoyable moment, the abject torture it places on the player
05:01is enough to leave them sleepless for many moons to come.
05:04Thankfully the series never went down this dark path ever again, and the only blood trails
05:08you'd be seeing were ones left on the walls after you basically entered a room and said
05:12''Hello, I'm Max Payne, here's my business card!''
05:155.
05:16The Damn Corridor – Final Fantasy XV
05:20James, James, come closer.
05:24My time on this earth is growing short.
05:28It's the damn corridor from Final Fantasy XV.
05:31Chapter 13, James, chapter 13.
05:33Everything was going so well.
05:35It was kind of like this boys on tour vibe.
05:38I really enjoyed the game, the open worlds, the fantastic fun, the cooking.
05:43But then came the corridor.
05:46Anyway, yes, I don't exactly know how to segue into this, but yeah, the boys on tour
05:51vibe that had been prevalent throughout the game up until this point was dropped entirely
05:54in chapter 13, which gave us a glorious helping of, let me just check my menu here, oh yes,
05:59forced stealth in a protracted and unspired setting.
06:02Ooh, no thanks, I'm full.
06:05Except this isn't an option, as the devs, for some unknown reasons, piped this liquid
06:10piss down players' throats with no worry as to whether the entire experience was enjoyable
06:14or not.
06:15Stripped of all of his powers and his allies, Noctis must traverse a seemingly endless and
06:20linear system of corridors while trying to avoid enemies by ducking into small gaps placed
06:24sporadically throughout.
06:26And try is the operative word here, because as you might expect from a game so focused
06:30on massive battles in open world areas, the stealth controls were completely at odds with
06:35anything else you'd experienced before.
06:37And if you're about to fire up your keyboard by typing, well actually, I enjoyed the corridor
06:41sections in chapter 13, well just remember that the devs themselves took it out, or at
06:46least gave you a way to bypass this.
06:48They knew it was bad.
06:50They knew.
06:514.
06:52ASTEROID?
06:53Dead Space.
06:55Now while the franchise might have lost its way as it wore on, the original Dead Space
06:59still remains a high point of the horror video game genre.
07:03Fingers crossed for the Dead Space remake to be good, cross your fingers James, cross
07:06your fingers.
07:07In genuinely terrifying enemies with cramped and claustrophobic locations, Dead Space always
07:12felt like it was running at a level designed to give players a heart attack.
07:15However, thanks to a late game switch up, many players were left with fizzy blood to
07:19accompany their cardiac arrests, as to be brutally honest, the asteroid shooting section
07:24of this game absolutely sucked.
07:26Here Isaac is confronted by an enemy even more deadly than the necromorphs, a load of
07:31rocks.
07:32Scary it is not, but horrifying it most definitely is when said rocks come crashing into
07:37your face and decimate your health.
07:39Thankfully Mr. Clark has access to a gun turret that looks like it will turn the job of clearing
07:43out the asteroid field into a piece of cake.
07:45However, it's here that the devs added in another wrinkle to the gameplay, and that
07:50is overheating weapons.
07:52Oh boy, I sure do love running out of gas just as a giant rock is about to come and
07:56smash into my orbital bone.
07:59Gee willikers, thanks.
08:01As such, this short section became the bane for so many.
08:04What could have been a tiny moment of difference ended up sticking out like a sore middle finger
08:08to players.
08:093.
08:10Niflheim – God of War 2018
08:13Now I won't lie to you, it actively pains me to talk negatively about God of War on
08:17the PS4 2018 version, because you know what, I absolutely love this game.
08:23I can't think of a more honest and enjoyable experience that I've had playing a video
08:27game since maybe when I was a wee nipper back in the day.
08:30However, I can't sit by and ignore the one guest at the party that's got way too
08:34drunk and is now literally wiping its arse on my happy birthday banner.
08:38Thanks for that one, dad.
08:39And that's the poison-filled paradise getaway known as Niflheim.
08:43Now for those of you not in the know, this is the one section of the game that feels
08:46like the brakes have truly been put on hard.
08:49And it's only at that point that you realise that you've been joyriding without a bloody
08:52seatbelt.
08:53As such, the resulting crash of ever-draining poison, procedurally generated and thoroughly
08:58uninspired level design, and of course a hidden Valkyrie within the maze makes for
09:02quite a horrible mess, especially for those either grinding the area for all the treasure,
09:06or just trying to make it through the base experience on the likes of Give Me God of
09:09War mode.
09:10On this extreme difficulty, many players have expressed dismay at having to spend between
09:14four to five hours just running the same area over and over and over again in order to get
09:19the best of the boss that's hidden within.
09:21And if that doesn't at least slightly dampen your enthusiasm for this title, I don't
09:26know what will.
09:272.
09:28The Majority of the Game
09:29Brutal Legend
09:31Ah, Brutal Legend, you cheeky whippet, you.
09:35Now, depending on who you ask, this game is either a nugget that needs to be flushed straight
09:40away for fear of the stink, or it is a nugget made of pure gold that was surprisingly decent,
09:47actually, and it only achieved this sort of gold vs. poo split because of the fact that
09:53Double Fine kind of missold what this game was all about.
09:57In a demo that released before the full game dropped, fans got to experience a metal-infused
10:01hack-and-slash adventure with Jack Black at the helm, and while it didn't seem to be
10:05reinventing the wheel through its combat, it did promise a whole lot more with its album
10:09cover-inspired overworld and utterly banging soundtrack.
10:13However, upon release, it soon became clear that this wasn't actually the main gameplay
10:17element the game was going with.
10:18In fact, this one hack-and-slash segment was indeed a one-and-done affair, meaning that
10:23its sudden RTS switch-up felt like a con-job to fans not expecting to have to manage units
10:28and protect bases.
10:29Now, in all honesty, it wasn't a bad change by any means, however, the demo sold fans
10:33an experience they simply weren't getting, which led to a rather sizable backlash from
10:37the community, which in turn ended up affecting sales and critical opinion.
10:41Therefore, the demo section of this game nearly killed what is technically a great game for
10:46many because they just felt like they were being missold, but it does allow me to lead
10:50into a much-beloved, and to be fair, we've often forgotten about it, segment of the show.
10:55That is right, we're bringing back the musical interlude.
10:58DUST IT OFF JAMES, DUST IT THE HECK OFF, BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT TO GET CRAZY WHEN WE'RE TALKING
11:11ABOUT DEMOS.
11:12DEMO.
11:13HELL NO.
11:14DEMO.
11:15DEMO.
11:16HELL NO.
11:17DEMO.
11:18What the hell was that?
11:271.
11:28Any stealth section at all, like, ever, at all, ever, ever, all of them, all of the,
11:34all, Shadow of Rome.
11:36Now, I couldn't do this list without at least referencing the fact that Sam, who suggested
11:41we make this list in the first place, mentioned that Shadow of Rome had a lot of stapled on
11:46stealth sections, and trust me, they really did come close to ruining what is an almightily
11:51over-the-top game.
11:53Because if you've ever sat looking out of your window as rain dripped down the pain
11:56and sighed aloud, oh boy howdy, I do wish that somebody would cross over my love of
12:01Devil May Cry in the film Gladiator, then fret not, my friend, for this crossover exists
12:07in video game form and it goes by the name of Shadow of Rome, and it is glorious.
12:13You've got your combo meters, you've got your special moves, you've got your buckets
12:17of blood and gore and a buttery biscuit base, as well as a rather callous approach to death.
12:22My personal favourite is the fact that it says Rest in Peace that pops up most of the
12:26time when you just stab somebody in the face.
12:28Fantastic.
12:29Rest in Peace, mate.
12:30It is delicious turn-your-brain-off fun.
12:33However, what most players likely didn't anticipate was the sudden gameplay switch
12:37from full-on action to mandatory stealth, which happens more than I'd care to engage
12:41with in a game of this nature.
12:43And for the record, none is the amount of times that I want to engage with this in my
12:46action games.
12:47Especially ones from the PS2 era, where because of clunky controls, bad camera angles, and
12:52of course the sheer jank that comes with early titles like this, things boil down
12:57to crossing your fingers and hoping that the guards were actually facing the other way
13:00and it wasn't just a missing texture on their faces.
13:03With instant failure also added into the mix, you have got a recipe that just tastes absolutely
13:08bad.
13:09Oh yes please, I'd like some broken glass around the rim of my asbestos milkshake.
13:14And it just left you begging for the game to hurry up and get back to the bloodshed.
13:17And there we go my friends, those were 8 gameplay sections that nearly killed amazing video
13:22games.
13:23I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down
13:25in the comments section below, and put your suggestions for next week's episode down
13:28there as well.
13:29As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero,
13:33and you can follow James over here, I'm sure he's got some funny meme going on at
13:37the moment.
13:38I hope I'm on the right side, he's over here maybe, I can't remember which side
13:40he actually puts this one on, but either way go follow him as well.
13:43And also if you want to check out my Warhammer stuff and what I get up to in my spare time,
13:48go over to Liv and Let's Dice, that's not how you spell it at all with hand gestures,
13:52but still I am over there most weeks doing streaming and stuff like that outside of work
13:56and it'd be great to see ya.
13:57But before I go, I do just want to say one thing.
14:00We detail today a lot about video games that tried something a bit different and ultimately
14:04didn't end up succeeding, but in our real lives I always encourage people to break out
14:09of their shells, to break out of the mould and try something a bit different, to constantly
14:12be pushing yourself, whether it's physically, spiritually, mentally, just trying to grow
14:17as people, because that's the only way that you can get the most out of life, by going
14:21out and just seeing stuff, by taking in new things.
14:23You might find that not everything's for you, you might not like some of the new stuff
14:26you try, but at least you can say you did it, and that is the most important thing.
14:30Get out there and have as many experiences as you can.
14:33As always, I have been Jules, you have been awesome, remember above all else to be kind
14:38to yourself because you're a massive ledge, and I'll see you next week.
14:41Bye.