You know, this is a series I’ve known about for ages but have always overlooked. I always though it was primarily a castle builder and didn’t have much interest. Having read some reviews here on GOG, though, this might just be my kind of RTS. The consensus seems to be that while it can be challenging, it is very easy to learn and get into. I’ll have to check this series out some day. Thanks for the recommendation!

Sure thing :) I've heard the 2nd game in the series is held in high regard as well. Still have to check it out myself someday.
By the way, castle building and management is definitely a very big part of the game: gathering/refining raw resources and the setting up of weapon and food industries as you build your castle and train your troops. But thankfully it's not nearly as involved as something like Anno or Pharaoh. Most of the game is preparing for the inevitable combat, outside of the odd mission where you siege a castle yourself.

I have OCD about playing all games on the highest difficulty. I played Ys 8 for 30 hours on nightmare, but got fed up with the grinding. Then I started a new playthrough on hard and got just as far in under 6 hours.. I also quit Ys Origin a few years ago for the same reason, but I will get back to it.

I've been stuck on one of the last showdowns in Final Fantasy X for quite a while.

I met a huge difficulty wall in one of the later chapters of Final Fantasy XIII and gave up.

I made it to the last showdown of Final Fantasy VII.. and gave up (starting to see a pattern?).

I just bought Final Fantasy XII for my Switch (and I'm a prospective buyer of IX). Can't wait for the inevitable :P But hey, it's about the journey, not the goal, am I right?

I remember as a kid not being able to finish one of the Super Star Wars games on SNES. Not sure which one it was, but I think Empire. I'm sure there are lots of NES and SNES games I couldn't beat today without save states.

As for my normal PC genres (FPS, RPG, Stealth, Point and Click) I honestly can't think of one I rage quit. I quit a few because they weren't good, but too hard? I feel like that's rare in those genres, because of difficulty settings, quicksave, etc. I remember turning Medal of Honor Airborne down in difficulty though, because the grenade spam drove me nuts.

Trojan for the NES.

That game was ridiculously hard.

Retro City Rampage (DX): So here's the the thing. I never played Smash TV or most of the other games that directly inspired the mechanics of RCR, so while bumbling around in the 8 bit city is fine enough, the missions are where it all breaks down. The handful of unexpected genre changes the game throws isn't so fun either.

Nethack is the main one.

You mean between mouse and keyboard or something else? Because if it's mouse and keyboard, many many games use that mechanic and most pc gamers can use it easily. :|

Now Crusader: No Remorse(and it's sequel) had cr*p controls on the keyboard and couldn't be rebound....that s*kked worse than SS's controls, imo.

For Descent, I meant keyboard + joystick.

I meant how you said the control switching in SS was/is clumsy. It is mainly mouse and keyboard as well, and except for the virtual environments it is very easy to handle imo.

Completely agree - I like the SMT/Megaten series but they do have so much BS in them that they seem to have been made with a guide in mind as in using a guide to tell you about upcoming bosses and what strength and weaknesses they have and that's just not fun. But other than that I do like them and do enjoy their difficulty when it's fair.

Nah that game was easy astyanax NOW THAT WAS HARD!

Loved this game though

I don't like Ys Origin's Nightmare mode, as it makes one of the game's more interesting features, the ability to get interesting upgrades by spending a special currency, essentially unusable.

There's also the fact that, if you're playing as the third character, the short duration of Boost makes one particular segment earlier in the game potentially incredibly frustrating (I haven't tried it, but it's a part where Boost is required). This is a shame, as the other part where you need to boost, I think, could be quite interesting (HP management when you're constantly taking damage, have a limited (but rechargable) ability to mitigate it, and a nice HP drain ability, sounds like it could actually be quite fun).

There are some other games where the highest difficulty is not reasonable:
* In Paper Sorcerer, the hardest difficulty makes it mandatory to spend some extra time leveling up. (Then again, even on the easiest difficulty, this game lulls you into a sense of security (game becomes too easy), only to then suddenly face you against enemies that can easily wipe out your party.)
* From what I understand, in Cosmic Star Heroine, the hardest difficulty is ridiculous, and the first battle is apparently unwinnable without making use of a mechanic the game doesn't teach you until later; Heroine difficulty (the second highest) is recommended for this game if you like to play on harder difficulties.

Bosses like those aren't the problem, particularly if you can realistically change your setup to match the boss, and you can quickly retry the fight when you fail.

It's when regular enemies can easily cause a game over (especially if there's nothing you can do about it), and the game forces you to lose progress when that happens, that it becomes an issue.

(Interestingly, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest can get quite mean with its encounters (just watch speedruns (especially marathons and races) to see what I mean; however, that game, in addition to haveing save anywhere, allows you to retry a bettle if you lose it (especially nice if that happens on the first fight, which comes before the first opportunity to save).)

Fahrenheit - I got stuck at some QTE, and never picked it up again even though I enjoyed the story.

A Story About My Uncle - I stopped playing at the very last segment, I wasn't using controller back then though... Sadly steam ate my cloud save and I'm not willing to play whole game again.

Slain: Back From Hell - it's a shame, 'cause I really liked pixel art.

Most of Rogue-likes and Rogue-lites I tried... But in some cases it's lack of patience/time, not difficulty. From that genre I think I only finished Out There: Ω Edition, Road Not Taken and Hand of Fate (if that counts).

And most embarrassing of all - I got stuck at tutorial combat in Styx: Master of Shadows.