10 Video Games That Secretly Get Harder Without You Realising
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00:00Now video game difficulty can be a tricky thing. What's easy for one player can be soul-crushingly
00:04hard for another, and even when you pick your ideal difficulty at the start, that actually
00:09still might not be enough to save you. You see, a game can get harder for any number of reasons,
00:14which is exactly what we're here to talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:19and these are 10 video games that secretly get harder without you realising.
00:2310. Not Going to the Church of Ella, Elden Ring
00:27Now like any Souls game, how you start Elden Ring is vital to your chances of surviving to the end,
00:33but unlike previous Souls games, Elden Ring is a full card-carrying open-world title,
00:38and so it's very easy to miss a lot of very important things, and one of these things is
00:43visiting Merchant Kale at the Church of Ella. Almost every tips for first-time players guide
00:48for this game will tell you to make this place one of your first stops upon starting the game,
00:53Not only does it have a site of grace to rest and save your progress, but Merchant Kale's
00:57inventory includes many items that are vital to any playthrough. This includes a crafting kit,
01:02a few recipes to get you started, and a torch. These three items are lifesavers for first-time
01:08players, and naturally, they're incredibly easy to miss. Like anywhere else in the game,
01:12there's nothing specific calling you to that church, you have to make the conscious decision
01:16to go there yourself. If you don't, then wherever you went instead just got a whole lot harder.
01:219. Not Playing The Previous Games
01:24Mass Effect 3
01:25Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of an entire trilogy's worth of stories, so it's only natural
01:30that players who have been on the ride from minute one would have some distinct advantages.
01:35Like with Mass Effect 2, starting on a pre-made Shepard nets you extra points in either Paragon
01:39or Renegade, thus opening up more story options and giving you more opportunities to save everyone,
01:45especially when it comes to passing valuable reputation checks early on in the game.
01:49This is the only surefire way that you can stop the war between the Geth and the Quarians
01:53in a way that doesn't end with Tali or Legion dying. Depending on your choices in 1 and 2,
01:59this is also the only way to get the best ending to the Krogan storyline,
02:03as Rex, the hands-down best character in Mass Effect, and no, I'm not taking questions,
02:07is dead in the default world state. The best version of Mass Effect 3 from a story perspective
02:11is the one you play after putting in your time with the previous two, and it's also the best one
02:16from a gameplay standpoint because that experience from your save file means more options to get
02:20the best ending. Not that it's impossible without doing the extra labour, but man, it is way harder.
02:268. Burning Money on Incremental Upgrades
02:28Dragon's Dogma 2
02:30What makes Dragon's Dogma 2 so fun for a certain kind of gamer is just how it will sit back and
02:35watch as you absolutely destroy your playthrough. Go on, run through a village full of story-important
02:40NPCs while suffering from a highly contagious, deadly virus. I'm sure the neighbours won't mind.
02:46This mindset surfaces in super small ways as well, not just in accidentally genociding an entire
02:52village on your way to the doctor. For instance, early on in the game, you might feel tempted to
02:56spend your hard-earned money on as many incremental upgrades as you can get your hands on. I mean,
03:01it's the correct decision in other games such as Borderlands and Destiny, so why wouldn't it be the
03:05right move here? Well, unlike many other games, Dragon's Dogma 2 prioritises player skill over big
03:11numbers. So if you try to cheese your way to victory by making your numbers go big, instead of
03:16learning the game's mechanics inside out, well, you've just screwed yourself. Now you're getting
03:20your ass kicked, and you have no money. Nice going.
03:247. Killing Andrei
03:25Dark Souls
03:26While your decisions don't carry quite the same abysmal consequences as Dragon's Dogma 2,
03:31Dark Souls still gives you full reign to screw yourself over. Whether it's
03:35choosing a really crap starting item or killing somebody you shouldn't have, you can make your
03:39own Dark Souls playthrough as easy or as hard as you want. And on that note, killing blacksmith Andrei
03:45is considered by much of the fandom to be an ill-advised move. Andrei is a blacksmith that
03:50you meet in the Undead Parish, who can upgrade your weapons in exchange for Titanite. These upgrades
03:55can be truly remarkable, so while it is completely doable to finish the game without them, getting
04:00them can make this game so much easier. Needless to say, killing him is not something that most
04:05players consider wise. For one thing, you really don't get much out of it compared to what
04:08you lose, and secondly, doing so makes the game so much harder than it otherwise could
04:13have been. Only the clumsy or trigger-happy player ends up putting down Andrei, and they
04:18always regret it afterwards, as well they should.
04:216. Making CJ Fat
04:23GTA San Andreas
04:25GTA San Andreas earned acclaim upon its release for how dynamic its world was, and the way that
04:30various activities you could do in the game had impact on the player character CJ, but
04:35there's one hilarious instance of this can all but bring your entire playthrough to a screeching
04:40halt. You see, you can eat in the restaurants in San Andreas, and if you eat enough food in
04:44one sitting, like around 10 or so pizzas at well-stacked pizza, you can actually make CJ
04:49gain weight. However, this introduces a new problem. Since this is the mid-2000s, where fat
04:54shaming was still seen as a prime example of comedy material, multiple missions become
04:59locked off when you're a huskier gentleman. Some even play unique cutscenes where everyone
05:04laughs CJ out of the room. Fortunately, the fix is simple. Just wait 48 in-game hours without
05:09eating, and CJ will slim back down. But that's quite a lot of out-of-game time to faff about
05:15waiting for your waistline to reset.
05:185. Shooting The Legion at Nipton
05:21Fallout New Vegas While Fallout New Vegas retains Fallout 3's
05:25karma system, it's made rather redundant by the way more dynamic reputation system, where your
05:30actions affect how you're viewed by members of various communities throughout the wasteland,
05:34and this system can really screw you over if you're not careful. When you first meet the Legion
05:39in Nipton, having just wrapped up their magical murder tour of the city, your first instinct might
05:44very well be to just keep the party going. This is especially tempting if you're starting with all
05:49the DLC installed and thus have a handy grenade launcher to really clean house before they know
05:53what's hit them. However, get ready to have a bad time going forward because this is when the
05:59reputation system comes into play. You see, now the Legion knows about you, it knows that they have a
06:04psychotic mailman with a grenade launcher wandering around shooting at them, and they will respond in
06:09kind. Which would be fine if you were in any way leveled and equipped enough, which most likely you are not.
06:15So if you'd rather not be in constant danger of being jumped by random heavily armed cosplayers,
06:21best to just let this guy and his posse go on their merry way.
06:244. Trying to go for 104% Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time
06:29On its own, Crash 4 is a fun but challenging platformer, giving the player hard but infectiously
06:35kinetic levels for them to traverse. The game's central gimmick when it comes to progression is
06:39acquiring specific gems, and also gaining gems for completing tasks in a level, like breaking all of the
06:45boxes or completing a level without dying. And you get a cool costume waiting for you as the prize.
06:50This system, however, makes trying to 100% Crash 4 an actual nightmare. Now most players accept that
06:56trying to 100% a game is going to be more challenging than the vanilla experience, but Crash 4's 100%
07:01run is an actual exercise in masochism. Getting 80% of the fruit in every level, an act that nets you
07:07three gems per level isn't that hard. No, no, no, it's the other three gems that will really test
07:13your patience. Boxes are hidden in obscure or ludicrous places, which is the same as hidden
07:17gems in later levels, and then there's the bane of the bunch, the lives gem. You have to complete
07:22each level without dying more than three times, which doesn't sound bad on paper, but these levels
07:27are long and they are unrelenting. But even after doing all of that, you still have to complete the
07:33time trials. The Platinum Relics, once simply bragging rights with no impact on progression,
07:38are now mandatory for getting the best ending. Playing casually, Crash 4 is the most fun game
07:43in the franchise, but trying to play it to the coveted 104%, however, well, it is a real pain.
07:493. Not Using the Knife
07:51Ghosts'n Goblins
07:53Now, there's a lot of advice that you can follow to make the original Ghosts'n Goblins on the nears a
07:58little bit easier on yourself, but chief amongst them is this, get the knife. The angry video game
08:04nerd does not lie. The knife is the only thing that deals out the right amount of damage at the
08:08right speed to get you through the challenges ahead with any kind of reliability. The other
08:12weapons technically work as well, but they just do not compare. The flame weapon's travel arc is just
08:17too high to reliably hit anything on the ground, the lance's fire rate doesn't compare to the knife's,
08:22the shield weapon, due to an infamous trick on the final level, is the only one you should ever even
08:26consider swapping the knife out for. The knife is one of the best weapons in gaming history,
08:31if only because it is the only weapon that truly measures up to the obstacles the game puts in
08:36front of you. Playing this game without it is like playing on default hard mode.
08:402. Not Recruiting Leliana and Sten
08:43Dragon Age Origins
08:44Dragon Age Origins, like all great RPGs, gives you the tools needed to make the best experience
08:50possible, then just sits back and lets you potentially screw it all up without stopping you.
08:54The way it's supposed to go when you first reach the opening area of the game is to go to the tavern,
08:59pick up Leliana, and she in turn manages to convince the lady in charge of the local chantry
09:03chapter to let Sten go free. But if this is your first time and you go in completely blind,
09:08like your humble scribe did way back when, you may not really know the steps to that process.
09:13You may only notice Sten and try to free him without Leliana, inevitably becoming frustrated.
09:18You may not go to the tavern at all, certainly nothing is pointing you in that direction,
09:21you might just grab your other supplies and just be on your way. Thus, Leliana and Sten will die
09:26horrible, brutal deaths at the hands of the darkspawn as they move in to wipe this area off
09:31the map, costing you two pretty powerful party members. Dragon Age Origins will in no way stop
09:36you from doing this, or chide you afterward. It will, however, make the game much harder going
09:41forward, free of charge. Cheers.
09:441. Equipping the Skinsuit
09:46Stellar Blade
09:47Stellar Blade knows why you're playing it. Honestly, one of the best things about this
09:51game is its all-out honesty with its own sexuality. Like, if you're going to have fan service,
09:56don't be ashamed about it, because ironically, that actually makes it worse. With that said,
10:01it doesn't mean that you can't have some fun with your horny, horny players. Stellar Blade,
10:05very early on, gives you the Skinsuit, one of the most revealing suits in the game, and that is
10:10quite the statement. Obviously, most pervy players will be quick to put the suit on,
10:14even if it is just out of sheer curiosity, and this is where the game plays its wonderfully cheeky
10:20hand. It won't take long to figure out the drawback of putting on this suit, as the Skinsuit
10:24immediately disables your shield upon equipping it. And how bad is that? Well, have you ever tried
10:29playing Borderlands 2 without your shield? Yeah, it's that bad. Stellar Blade hangs something
10:34obvious right in front of players' eyes, and then immediately and hilariously punishes them for
10:39taking it by making the game a million times harder. Amazing.