How to end it all...?

[cinabar]

Now I have lovingly played all the levels of Starsky and Hutch, and got to the last level.

This is quite frankly beyond me. I have no hope of ever completing the game. And I really do feel ripped off! I understand others may have finished it (i don't know how) but it is beyond me, and yet the rest of the game was at my level, so why is the end SO hard???

I realise it is the last level, and needs some kind of boost, to finish the game, and get the adrenaline buzzing, but this is just madness!

After go twenty... (in one sitting!) I sort of gave up. And now all my happy memories of the game, are filled with that horrible frustration. Yuck.

Are there other examples of games where players give up on the last level?

Finally, how do you end the perfect game??? If it is too easy, then thats not fun either!!!!

[Shimmyhill]

Halo ending was nigh on perfect imo.

Me and my m8 where playing it co-op, done the manic drive bit and flew towards the ship when wollop crash bang ! m8 planted the car slap bang into a rock or something with enemy all around us. Now you probably needed to be there to get this, but you know the bit in austin powers when he is trying to turn the cart around ? well thats my m8, mid way thru the mayhem with secounds to go, tryng too 3 point turn the damm car !! meanwhile i ran and jumped on the ship with 2 secounds to go if memory serves.

Absolutly hillarious, thrilling and perfect ending!

[TheShend]

I stopped playing Headhunter right near the end....& i really don't know why?

It was a class game.

[Adam Stone]

Hm... Very nice Topic.

I think Prime had a good ending... by that I feel it was pretty well balanced. It wasn't any easier then the hardest parts before the end battle(s) and it wasn't that much harder... just a fraction more?. But it was extremely tense and well executed. I think, it ultimately comes down to how well balanced the end is with the rest of the game. There is no point suddenly increasing the difficulty by 10, nor is there any need to suddenly make it too easy. I think people like to feel a challenge at the end of a game, but not to think it is being unfair?.

Right now, I cant actually think of a game that got me so frustrated or annoyed with an insane difficulty at the end? but I?m sure there is something.

The final boss battle in Wind Waker was done pretty well? yet I thought it was a little too easy for my liking. Yet it was well balanced with the rest of the game so ultimately was executed pretty well for an end battle? In terms of wow factor though.. it definitely had that

[Che Musashi]

I stopped playing Headhunter right near the end....& i really don't know why?

It was a class game.

That happened to me with FFX, I made it to the final battle but I was just petered out on the whole thing. I even picked it up again and tried but I really just was wasting time.

Wind waker was the first game in a long while I wanted to finish and I'm glad I did.

Maybe the solution is shorter games without insane difficulty or too much storytelling. Or maybe we should be like Japan and just play Mahjong games.

[Firsty]

Online Strip Webcam Mahjong!

I used to get stuck at the end of games when I was younger.
Now I don't really have much trouble.
Maybe I have madskillz or I'm just flukey.
I tend to be able to pull off some cool stuff in Monkey Ball Expert,
without actually meaning to

Actually that's a good example.
Monkeyball was a nice enjoyable little game.
Fun to blast thru.

Then you get the expert stages, and it totally changes.
But in a GOOD way! It becomes very relaxing IMO.
I know people who tense up at the crazy boards.
But I love it

[tssk]

I can't for the life of me finish off Mizar at the very very end of Jet Force Gemini.

Even though the end sequence is beyond my reach though, I still have fond memories of the rest of the game.

[JetBlack]

Bah.....you haven't had a final boss to screw your entire game until you've attemtped to beat Silent Bomber. Egad, what a mess. Fun throughout the game from the start, but get to the end and forget it. And with no save point to be seen for miles - except replaying the entire game.

Sad, really.

My best "ending" was with Extermination. You know a man is at his last wit when all he has left is a knife against the final boss. But it's oh, so sweet when that's all you needed to finish him off. it was a miracle, but it actually worked. Now that was an ending.

Klonoa has also sported the best endings. Not hard, just demanding, and constant, so you never feel you can't do it.....just how to do it.

[charlesr]

I can't for the life of me finish off Mizar at the very very end of Jet Force Gemini.

Even though the end sequence is beyond my reach though, I still have fond memories of the rest of the game.

I was just about to post the exact same thing. I enjoyed this game more than most and was a bit peeved that I couldn't finish it off.

[quirky]

Driver! Did anyone do that last level without cheating? I remember getting hellishly stuck on FF8 as well, but I think that's a RPG thing. Did it eventually after wandering around on Hell Island (or whatever it's called) for yonks and getting loads of magic power. Pok?mon Red also stumped me for a while on the Elite 4, but that's really just a case of persevering as the battles are all about who has the highest level.

Agree about Metroid Prime - first time I got to the last boss, I was "this is impossible!" but each go I got a bit further and understood the attack patterns better, until I finally could beat it without taking a whole load of damage. And that was without the ice super power-up, which, I discovered afterwards, all the faqs say is crucial

Just to show that I don't think all Nintendo games are perfectly balanced, Majora's Mask's last boss remains undefeated on my cart. I didn't bother getting all the masks, which I think makes it more tricky, plus it requires a quantity of arrows that'd make Robin Hood envious.

[DaiSuki]

I think Prime had a good ending... by that I feel it was pretty well balanced. It wasn't any easier then the hardest parts before the end battle(s) and it wasn't that much harder... just a fraction more?. But it was extremely tense and well executed. I think, it ultimately comes down to how well balanced the end is with the rest of the game.

Personally, I found Metroid Prime most disappointing after the horrors of Meta Ridley. Its patterns were way simpler, you didn't even really need to think about what you were doing as long as you watched it closely...

I would vote most Rare games into this topic's category, particularly the witch at the end of Banjo Kazooie; the first time I missed trying to hit her with the air-dive-thingy, I knew that I would never finish the game without cheating. And I was right.

Cheating rocks

[Chadruharazzeb]

Contra: Shattered Soldier... no way am I ever gonna finish that. You can practise the first 4 levels at will and accustom yourself to the attack patterns and what weapons to use against certain enemies... but then you get to the fifth level and your credits get eaten at a furious rate, then IF you make it past that (I managed it once) it just starts taking the piss.

Last level of the Saturn version of Dodonpachi is ludicrous as well, only thanks to the fact you get infinite credits was it defeated.

[Bleeders]

I almost became a victim of this at the hands of Silent Hill 3.

I went into the final battle with only 1 Health Pack, 80 Bullets and 5 Shotgun Bullets to my name. Suffice to say, it took me a good 10 trys before I defeated it, but there were times when I came precariously close to just washing my hands of it completely.

But, I kept with it and eventually it succumbed.

[scottcr]

My personal fave ending is TooT. Defeating Ganon in his evil pig form at the top of the tower and then escaping as it falls around you... fantastic.

Wind Waker ending was also very good... however, I agree, a bit easy. Having said that though, perfectly balanced with the rest of the game.

Gaming image that will stick in head forever: (mini-spoiler) seeing Ganon sitting beside a sleeping Zelda through the curtains (mini-spoiler)

Other than that, Halo ending was great.. the adrenaline rush as the music pumps out and you try to reach the end while all hell is breaking loose.

I did however, reckon that Metroid Prime itself was easier than Meta-Ripley.

[Olympichero]

I liked the ending to Final Fantasy X...

Kingdom Hearts made me feel like that when you face Riku (I think Riku...) anyway I could not beat him, tried about 5 times before I got bored of sitting through the cutscene everytime I tried again and in the end I never completed it which is really annoying as I wanted to see the ending and stuff I thought of buying an action replay or something to help me but I just couldnt be bothered with the game anymore.

I hate levelling up in RPGs ft:

I always enjoy the tekken endings, short and sweet.