Join Jules and James as they take look at gameplay sections that nearly killed amazing video games! Literally all mandated turret sequences suck.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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, un-no-o, I
00:21really 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 going to 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 Diabetes. Sam Hulsall 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. So let's have a nice little chat, shall we, because while it is
00:55amazing to try and do something new, sometimes we better prepare first to make sure that
01:00we don't go out there and make ourselves look like an absolute tit, am 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. And you know the drill by now, pop your suggestions for
01:15next week's episode down in the comments section below, and with that in mind, let's
01:18get on with the list, shall we?
01:218. Chronicles 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 the
01:34franchise, but apparently nobody gives a s*** about you, Soul Edge. It's pretty well respected
01:39amongst the fanbase, but I'm just gonna say it. Chronicles of the Sword mode in Soul
01:42Calibur 3 is absolute bulls***. Sometimes. And you know what, it's that sometimes that
01:50really infuriates me, because this mode was actually a welcome diversion from the main
01:54fighting-centric formula, employing light RPG and RTS elements, allowing you to level
01:59up your character, gain new equipment, and pick your own path through maps in order to
02:03reach harder and harder challenges. However, while this all sounds great on paper, in practice
02:09things can be ruined almost before they start thanks to the uber-aggressive AI that will
02:13always, without any provocation, zerg 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. Meaning that some people will absolutely love this, but for others it might actually
02:43ruin the entire experience.
02:457. Emma 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. Having to drop the 1 vs 1000 gimmick that so many action games present their protagonists
02:58as, in order to handhold 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. However, said wall of mortar was simply not enough to Resident I Will Have
03:12My Dessert Before My Main Mad Head Hideo Kojima, as he found a way to make the much loathed
03:16escort 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… he makes you do it
03:43underwater.
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. Quite the understatement.
04:116. Nightmare 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,
04:24and then landing and just making a face that kind of looks like an anus has been stuffed
04:28full of lemons. You 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. This is because
04:41the nightmare sections of this game were exactly that, an odorous dump on the otherwise chaotic
04:46experience that forced players to follow trails of blood across invisible platforms, or risk
04:51falling to an instant death. None of the experience was fun, and while I'm sure the
04:55devs would argue that this wasn't meant to be an enjoyable moment, the abject torture
04:59it places on the player is 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
05:12Hello, I'm Max Payne, here's my business card.
05:15Number 5. The Damn Corridor. Final Fantasy XV.
05:20James, James, come closer. My time on this earth is growing short. It's the damn corridor
05:29from Final Fantasy XV. Chapter 13, James, chapter 13. Ah, everything was going so well.
05:35It was kind of like this boys on tour vibe. I really enjoyed the game, the open worlds,
05:40the fantastic fun, the cooking, oh, laughs. But 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,
06:00forced stealth in a protracted and unspired setting. Ooh, 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. Stripped of all of his powers and his allies, Noctis must traverse a seemingly
06:19endless and linear system of corridors while trying to avoid enemies by ducking into small
06:23gaps placed sporadically throughout. And try is the operative word here, because as you
06:29might expect from a game so focused on massive battles in open world areas, the stealth controls
06:33were completely at odds with anything 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. They knew it was bad. They knew.
06:51Number 4. Asteroid? Dead 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. Fingers crossed for the Dead Space
07:04remake to be good. Cross your fingers James. Jazz, cross your fingers.
07:06Mixing in genuinely terrifying enemies with cramped and claustrophobic locations, Dead
07:11Space always felt 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. Scary it is not, but horrifying it most definitely is when said rocks come crashing
07:36into your face and decimate your health. Thankfully Mr. Clark has access to a gun turret that
07:41looks like it will turn the job of clearing out 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. Gee willikers, thanks.
08:01As such, this short section became the bane for so many. What could have been a tiny moment
08:06of difference ended up sticking out like a sore middle finger to players.
08:103. Niflheim – 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. I can't think
08:23of a more honest and enjoyable experience that I've had playing a video game since
08:27maybe 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. Thanks for that
08:39one dad.
08:40And 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, and it's only at that point that you realise
08:50that you've been joyriding without a bloody seatbelt.
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
09:19get the best of the boss that's hidden within, and if that doesn't at least slightly dampen
09:23your enthusiasm for this title, I don't know what will.
09:272. The 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 an
10:33experience 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 and we're
11:11talking about DEMOS.
11:27And number one, any stealth section, at all, like, ever, at all, ever, ever, all of them,
11:34all of the, all, Shadow of Rome.
11:37Now 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, then fret not, my friend, for this crossover
12:06exists in 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, fantastic.
12:28Rest in peace, mate.
12:30It is delicious turn-your-brain-off fun, however what most players likely didn't anticipate
12:35was the sudden gameplay switch from full-on action to mandatory stealth, which happens
12:40more than I'd care to engage with 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.
12:48Especially 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 to crossing
12:57your fingers and hoping that the guards were actually facing the other way, and it wasn't
13:01just a missing texture on their faces.
13:03With instant failure also added into the mix, you've got a recipe that just tastes
13:07absolutely bad.
13:08Oh 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 in
13:25the comments section below, and put your suggestions for next week's episode down there 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 the moment.
13:36I hope I'm on the right side, he's over here maybe, I can't remember which side he actually
13:40puts 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,
13:48then go 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.
13:58But 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
14:08out of 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 you
14:27try, 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.