History ThatOneLevel / RPG

* While probably not as infuriating as some of the above examples, the Junkyard area in ''Legend of Mana'' definitely qualifies ''That One Level''. Paths change with no warning, depending on if you talk to certain NPCs or not. Certain paths become inaccessible if you happen to change your mind and go another direction. Towards the end of the level is an NPC that will teleport you all the way back to the beginning, from where you'll have to struggle all over again to get back to where you were. Even with a guide, it's difficult to navigate as you have to talk to or ignore certain NPCs whose helpful advice consist of lamenting to you in vague terms. Pair this with mandatory encounters on certain paths, and you have yourself a [[TwoWords One Compound Word]] : [[IncrediblyLamePun Scrappy.]] level indeed. [[/folder]]

* While probably not as infuriating as some of the above examples, the Junkyard area in ''Legend of Mana'' definitely qualifies ''That One Level''. Paths change with no warning, depending on if you talk to certain NPCs or not. Certain paths become inaccessible if you happen to change your mind and go another direction. Towards the end of the level is an NPC that will teleport you all the way back to the beginning, from where you'll have to struggle all over again to get back to where you were. Even with a guide, it's difficult to navigate as you have to talk to or ignore certain NPCs whose helpful advice consist of lamenting to you in vague terms. Pair this with mandatory encounters on certain paths, and you have yourself a [[TwoWords] : [IncrediblyLamePun Scrappy]] level indeed.[[/folder]]

* While probably not as infuriating as some of the above examples, the Junkyard area in ''Legend of Mana'' definitely qualifies ''That One Level''. Paths change with no warning, depending on if you talk to certain NPCs or not. Certain paths become inaccessible if you happen to change your mind and go another direction. Towards the end of the level is an NPC that will teleport you all the way back to the beginning, from where you'll have to struggle all over again to get back to where you were. Even with a guide, it's difficult to navigate as you have to talk to or ignore certain NPCs whose helpful advice consist of lamenting to you in vague terms. Pair this with mandatory encounters on certain paths, and you have yourself a [[TwoWords One Compound Word]] : [IncrediblyLamePun Scrappy] level indeed.[[/folder]]

** And then there's the Dark Forest, an endless maze of trees with dead-ends and lots of enemies, you ''will'' get very lost very fast. The game is merciful by giving you a subtle hint - the trees in the foreground sometimes have demons in them, and if you follow the paths with the demons you'll find the exit. Of course, the game never tells you this. And to add to the insanity, when you get to the bridge and beat the boss, you find out it isn't over - the forest is split into two sections, you've still got Part 2 to go, and Part 2 also has a boss.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other [=JRPGs=]]]

** To elaborate: The game doesn't even give you a reason to bother with Air's Rock, as it [[GuideDangIt doesn't tell you that an important and plot-centric skill]] is located there. When you finally do tackle it, you start out solving a bunch of annoying maze puzzles that require you to use a PP-draining skill ''over and over again''. Air's Rock is near the beginning of the game, so you have very little HP and PP, hardly any good equipment, and [[GoddamnBats the enemies are a significant cut above what you've seen so far]]. After the mazes, you get to climb up the mountain, solving annoying platform puzzles and engaging in a lot of TrialAndErrorGameplay on the way. When you reach the top, you've likely spent nearly as much time as you did in the previous game's [[VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]]. But, reaching the top isn't the end of Air's Rock; horrified, you soon discover that you're only ''[[BeyondTheImpossible one third of the way done]].'' You then venture ''inside'' the stone, and proceed to make your way down, level by level, to the heart of the mountain, solving annoying and repetitive block puzzles along the way [[DemonicSpiders (the enemies have got an upgrade at this point.)]] After you finally reach the heart of the mountain, a process that takes about as long as the climb up did, you've got to go ''back'' to the top level and go down a different way this time, using the newly revitalized tornado machines to worm your way through previously inaccessible areas. Only at the end of this segment, which is also about the same length as the initial climb up the mountain, are you done with this horrible, horrible level.[[/folder]]

* Another one from DragonAge. When you get to Denerim, you go into the marketplace. Pretty much the only enemy there? OGRES. I actually had to set the difficulty on ''Easy'' to make it past them, and it ''still'' took me a few tries![[/folder]]

*** What? Huh?! WHAT?!? - to both of the above. a) The proving temple is a breeze for just about any build, the traps aren't enough to kill you if you trigger EVERY SINGLE ONE, without healing in between, and you don't actually have to kill anything whatsoever to get through it. If you're not getting through it, that's just the game nonchalantly hinting at the fact that decent-to-maximum agility is paramount in Fallouts 1&2. Hatred for the level only stems from having to go through it 100 zillion times while trying to develop your perfect character. b) Wanamingos? Required?! You can get Advanced Power Armor, which is 95% as good as the endgame's best armor, 15-20 minutes into the game, just talking and running, which is devoid of skill due to turn-based having no twitch reflex requirements. Btw, that's without killing a single enemy but ants (not killing ants also possible - just takes longer). Or you can get basic Power Armor about 10 minutes into the game, with much less running, and then go for the Advanced suit in relative safety. And you can then either pick up a couple levels and go massacre the bastards - or just ignore Redding altogether, since there is nothing much of interest there.
*** Just because you CAN get a DiscOneNuke doesn't mean you should or it's fun to, and by required I think he meant to get all that money.
*** You guys are missing the point of CrapsackWorld games. This isn't AD&D - here, everyone ranges from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Evil, with game one actually pitting you, working for a clearly Lawful Evil organization, to foil a Chaotic Neutral's overly-radical plans for the improvement of mankind's lot, and game 2 sending you in to destroy what is perhaps the game's only Lawful Neutrals, who by the time you get there are a lot less morally ambiguous than YOU. ...So, the way to get ahead here is to find powerful future targets, bullshit or sneak your way in, jack their stuff, bullshit your way through a couple of high-level quests involving them for multiple instant levelups without a single HP lost, go slaughter a bunch of primitives with your newly-acquired space age technology, and once you're powerful enough - come back and slaughter the losers you stole your kit from! Then, rinse and repeat.

** And then there's the Dark Forest, an endless maze of trees with dead-ends and lots of enemies, you ''will'' get very lost very fast. The game is merciful by giving you a subtle hint - the trees in the foreground sometimes have demons in them, and if you follow the paths with the demons you'll find the exit. Of course, the game never tells you this. And to add to the insanity, when you get to the bridge and beat the boss, you find out it isn't over - the forest is split into two sections, you've still got Part 2 to go, and Part 2 also has a boss.[[/folder]

[[folder:[=CRPGs=]]]

[[AC:Squaresoft/Square-Enix]]

** And then there's the Dark Forest, an endless maze of trees with dead-ends and lots of enemies, you ''will'' get very lost very fast. The game is merciful by giving you a subtle hint - the trees in the foreground sometimes have demons in them, and if you follow the paths with the demons you'll find the exit. Of course, the game never tells you this. And to add to the insanity, when you get to the bridge and beat the boss, you find out it isn't over - the forest is split into two sections, you've still got Part 2 to go, and Part 2 also has a boss.

[[AC:Bioware]]

* Another one from DragonAge. When you get to Denerim, you go into the marketplace. Pretty much the only enemy there? OGRES. I actually had to set the difficulty on ''Easy'' to make it past them, and it ''still'' took me a few tries!

[[AC:Tales Series (Namco)]]

* ''TalesOfLegendia'' has the Forest of No Return and Mirage Palace. You'll be ''glad'' Moses allows you to skip the Forest of No Return and that Will can make you skip the puzzle in Mirage Palace. However...they're ''repeated''. The Forest of No Return must be forded through once more. Thankfully, Mirage Palace can actually be gone through by ''mistake'', this troper does not know if Will will offer to lead you through Mirage palace again.

[[AC:[=CRPGs=]]]

* An old one, but have to rant. The 4 Jewels dungeon in Legacy of the Ancients. go down seven levels worth of "everything has double the hit points and wants to kill you," booby-trapped chests, shitloads of traps, and the final level is split into four parts, leading you to climb back up, walk around more of the maze, drop back down, get treasure, and repeat. Oh...and the fact you have to climb your way out of the dungeon you've already plundered? VERY annoying.

[[AC:Nintendo]]

** To elaborate: The game doesn't even give you a reason to bother with Air's Rock, as it [[GuideDangIt doesn't tell you that an important and plot-centric skill]] is located there. When you finally do tackle it, you start out solving a bunch of annoying maze puzzles that require you to use a PP-draining skill ''over and over again''. Air's Rock is near the beginning of the game, so you have very little HP and PP, hardly any good equipment, and [[GoddamnBats the enemies are a significant cut above what you've seen so far]]. After the mazes, you get to climb up the mountain, solving annoying platform puzzles and engaging in a lot of TrialAndErrorGameplay on the way. When you reach the top, you've likely spent nearly as much time as you did in the previous game's [[VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]]. But, reaching the top isn't the end of Air's Rock; horrified, you soon discover that you're only ''[[BeyondTheImpossible one third of the way done]].'' You then venture ''inside'' the stone, and proceed to make your way down, level by level, to the heart of the mountain, solving annoying and repetitive block puzzles along the way [[DemonicSpiders (the enemies have got an upgrade at this point.)]] After you finally reach the heart of the mountain, a process that takes about as long as the climb up did, you've got to go ''back'' to the top level and go down a different way this time, using the newly revitalized tornado machines to worm your way through previously inaccessible areas. Only at the end of this segment, which is also about the same length as the initial climb up the mountain, are you done with this horrible, horrible level.

[[AC:Other [=JRPGs=]]]

* ''SkiesOfArcadia'' gave us Moon Stone Mountain, a long dungeon with powerful enemies that had floor tiles that could open up and drop you back to the beginning. The first couple tile sets are marked so you can tell which tiles will open up, but later sets trade the Xs and Os for triangles, so you have to guess. And then you get to the end and realize you forgot to get the moonfish, so you have to go all the way back ''again''!


[[AC:Independent Games]]

*** Both of these places are also [[ScrappyLevel THE HARDEST]] parts of them games for a single character game, anything and I mean anything that can cast Stun turn into {{Demonic Spiders}}, as you slowly die from not being able to move (both areas have tons of monsters that can do this) resulting in many a [[RageQuit rage quit]] and monsters that can instakill and inflict [[TakenForGranite petrification]] witch is instant [[GameOver game over]] for SCC’s…

*** Both of these places are also [[ScrappyLevel THE HARDEST]] parts of them games for a single character game, anything and I mean anything that can cast Stun turn into {Demonic Spiders}, As you slowly die from not being able to move(Both areas have tons of monsters that can do this) Resulting in many a {Rage Quit} and monsters that can Insta-Kill and inflict {Petrifaction} witch is instant {Game Over} For SCC’s…

[[AC:Independant Games]]

* In ''FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the Cave of Summoned Monsters is basically a joke, the Sealed Cave is tamed, and the only time you have to deal with magnetism is when you have an all-mage team; all are much more manageable. However, Porom's challenge dungeon? Ugh. You're on a strict [[TimedMission time limit]]. You have to satisfy the arbitrary desires of random NPCs, which include wasting Porom's MP on cure spells, [[GiveMeYourInventoryItem giving away expensive armor]], fighting powerful monsters, and so forth. You're only given two characters that can surpass level 20, one of which is Porom herself, who is a White Mage and can't really fight. Your party makeup and time limit would imply that you should run from battles, but then you won't have the money to buy much of that armor you have to give the greedy NPCs. And even if you satisfy the request of every single NPC on the map and make it to the final treasure in time, [[LuckBasedMission you're still not guaranteed to get anything worthwhile for it]].

* ''FinalFantasyIX'' has the Desert Palace. Unnecessarily complicated light puzzles, completely full of extremely deadly random encounters, and finished with a potential ThatOneBoss, who can be almost unkillable if you missed a few of the "bloodstones", [[GuideDangIt completely optional item pickups that the game doesn't tell you about]]. Oh, and to make matters better, if you listened to [[spoiler: Kuja]]'s suggestions about party formation for the ''[[LetsSplitUpGang other]]'' dungeon, you probably sent all your heavy hitters there instead, leaving a bunch of undertrained characters and [[SquishyWizard Squishy Wizards]] behind. The hardest monsters in the Oelivert run are found in the short segment leading to the airship dock. Which, incidentally, is the Desert Palace. SoYeah.

> Enter\\

Sorry...[[KillerGameMaster can't let you do that]].

***** Explorers of Sky brought us the ultimate dungeon: Destiny Tower. Like Purity Forest, it has 99 floors, you're only allowed to bring in your leader, and it's level will be lowered to 1, and you're not allowed to bring in any items or money. It also prevents you from using your IQ skills, and if you step on a trap, KEEPS IT HIDDEN. Worst part? Some of these traps are absolute cruelty, with the worst one being the "Grudge" trap, which gives a PERMANENT grudge status to EVERY SINGLE POKEMON ON THE FLOOR. Good luck getting to the top.