We’ve all had it happen before; a tricky level we just can’t seem to get the hang off, a puzzle that doesn’t seem to have any solution, a boss that seems nigh invincible. Sometimes we hurl controllers across the room, taking out our frustration on our poor walls. Sometimes we just curse under our breath and turn the power off, refusing to even acknowledge our seething anger. More often than not, the game in question will end up in a dusty, forgotten pile, never to be looked at again.
sometimes, though, we can’t forget about them. We feel them calling to us, mocking us; forcing us to never forget our failures and taunting us to try and overcome them. These games are our nemeses – the games that haunt us.
For me, one title in particular comes to mind instantly: Panzer General 2.
I first played Panzer General 2 in the year 1994, a little after it first came out. I had recently become enamored with SSI’s hex-based strategy games, and PG2 took all the best elements of their previous titles and seemed to improve upon them. The graphics were better, the music was better, and the game mechanics in general felt more solid. I was also a sucker for WWII games, as this was still back in the day when WWII was reserved for strategy titles and not every single other FPS that came out.
PG2, in its easiest campaign, puts you in the shoes of a young German commander out to make a name for himself. You start off assisting in the Spanish Civil War, and from there take your place directing parts of the Warmecht in various operations across Europe (and elsewhere, depending on how you do…). Each mission consists of a series of objective points you need to capture, and the faster you do it, the more “prestige” you earn. Prestige is what you use in place of money to purchase new units, as well as ressupply and reinforce existing units. Your core army is persistant from mission to mission, and units gain experience and special abilities the longer you keep them alive. A double-attacking, aggressive maneuvering recon vehicle is far more useful than a fresh-off-the-factory-line one you have to purchase if the veteran gets destroyed.
In addition to earning more prestige, finishing missions within the various time limits determines where you are sent next. Finishing missions slowly means you might have to stick around in France a little longer to wrap things up, whereas constantly overwhelming opponents means you will be thrown up against tougher missions sooner. Do well enough, and you can even change the course of history, conquering Britain, Russia, and US.
Or, in the case of me, you pretty much follow history perfectly, leading to the defeat of the reich…
When you load your troops into trucks for transport, it magically summons the Allies to drop 5000 tons of bombs on them. True story.
When I first played the game, it was a lot to take in. Figuring out exactly what was going on beneath the hood of the combat calculations was a first step; making sure I understood exactly what all the stats attached to each unit meant, how terrain came into play, and all the other random little factors that could make or break a battle. I played the first few missions over and over again until I got the hang of it, and then moved on from there. In that first year or so, I started the game over several times, getting a mission or two further each time before getting stuck and deciding I couldn’t get any further. Inevitably, I would get hung up on a mission eventually and bang my head against it for a long while before finally deciding it was unbeatable. The game would go back in its case and back onto the shelf; gone, but not forgotten.
After some time had passed (sometimes a matter of months, sometimes a matter of years), I would see something that would remind me of Panzer General 2 for whatever reason. Once that little memory sprouted in my brain, I just had to pull it down off the shelf and give it another go. Truthfully, I would start to do better each time. The vicious trap here is, as mentioned above, that the better you do, the faster PG2 throws you into the harder missions. More success meant more challenge, and more challenge meant running into a wall sooner or later.
I have repeated this cycle with Panzer General countless times over the past decade; most recently right after the Christmas holiday. Once again, things were going tough but manageable for a few weeks, and now I find myself bogged down in the Russian countryside with my forces getting blown to bits by wave after wave of Russian artillery. The sad part is, I know I’m nearing the point where I’ll be shelving it again unless I have some sort of amazing breakthrough. Once that happens, the cycle will resume as usual. Even worse, this is only the first of four campaigns in the game. I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m ready to tackle any of the other three.
One of the early missions. I’ve played it. A LOT.
The key thing to realize here is that PG2 is a great game; I love playing it. It’s a very difficult game, and I could be better at it, but I know that the roadblocks I hit are my own doing, not the game’s. There’s a difference between games that are unbeatable because they cover poor design with incredible difficulty and games that are difficult, but ultimately well-designed. Those put the onus on the player to get better; not on the player to cheat or give up. What games have you run into that have turned into your nemeses? Have you ever managed to overcome one properly?
January 28th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Joel, a couple come to mind. HACKER for the C64 and Shadow of the Beast for Amiga. No, I never got far into them, despite REPEATED attempts.
I’d like to add another question to your discussion topic: Do they still make Nemesis-quality games?
Some may roll their eyes and say “oh rummy is having another ‘get off my lawn’ moment.” Nevertheless, I think there are several points worth considering.
-Have games become easier? Do I conquer them before they reach “nemesis” status? Is this in order to appeal to a mass market? Have games progressed so close to movies in the “games as art” debate in that they sacrifice challenge in order to enhance the narrative?(Bioshock, I am looking at you). Was greater difficulty a crutch used in simpler times to enhance replayability, and this perceived value?
-Have I become a better gamer as I have gained more XP (euphamism for I wasn’t born yesterday)? So I can see the faint hint of a changed texture that betrays a secret wall. So that I can smell a backstab or doublecross long before it happens?
-Have I lost the motivation to stick with a challenging game long enough to find out whether or not it is a nemesis? Back in the day, I stuck with Jumpman long enough to scratch it off my nemesis list. …Is there more selection? Also, these days, if I get frustrated with a game can I more easily move on to another (happened with No More Heroes)? Or, can I just google a walkthrough if I am semi-interested in the story but bored with the gameplay as to not stick it out? In short, is there more choice leaving to less incentive to play through a tough spot?
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January 28th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Heh, I have a similar experience with Advance Wars. Great article as always!
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January 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am
@rumsfald
I do happen to think that, in general, games have gotten easier. Part of this is, as you say, simply that most of us have gotten better at them from years of experience. But, more importantly, I do think a lot of designers have “dumbed down” many games to keep their market appeal high. Bioshock, like you say, is a prime example of this. Yes, they had a story to tell, and yes you can argue that the Vita Chamber mechanic allows them to tell this story without the pesky game getting in the way, but the lack of challenge really takes something away from it. Playing Bioshock made me feel like I was simply moving from set piece to set piece, and everything in between was inconsequential. I do understand the urge to want the player to experience your story to the fullest, but, at the same time, the games that stick with us most are the games that tell us what they want to tells us while at the same time giving us a sense of achievement in getting there.
I guess one example of this would be the original Half-Life – the game was for me, at the time, relatively tough, especially in some sections. But I could tell that the problem was with my skills, and not the game, and I really wanted to get further so I could find out what happens next. That’s the real key; if you aren’t having fun, or you aren’t engaged with the game, there is no reason to stick around. My gaming time is limited these days, so it’s an even more acute issue. You mention No More Heroes, and that’s a good example; it just didn’t grab me enough either to make me want to stick with it when it got tough. Perhaps a lot of designers these days are simply afraid they haven’t made interesting enough games, and so they make them easier to make sure people don’t lose interest?
Easy access to FAQs and forums and such can make games easier, but that’s up to the player to resort to them. I know people who play Final Fantasies with a hint guide sitting next to them on their first playthrough, and I don’t think that’s a particularly fun way to do things. But, to each their own.
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January 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am
@Pig Mask
Advance Wars has always been on my list of nemeses too, but I’ve eventually been able to conquer them all. Well, all except Days of Ruin. I still can’t beat that last friggin’ mission…
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January 30th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Funny your nemesis is an SSI game. Mine is too. Fantasy General. I think I hurt my neck nodding in agreement to everything you said. I pick the game up every six months or so and say “Now is the time.” Fantasy General becomes merciless about half way through. If you don’t play perfectly, keep every unit alive, maximize units’ xp and upgrades, balance your army perfectly, the AI destroys you.
One day, one day…
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January 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
@Austin
Hah, Fantasy General is on the list directly behind PG2. Since I just got stopped up in PG2 again, I just pulled out Fantasy General last week. Like you say, it’s all apart army balance and keeping you veteran troops alive; no unit can be a throwaway in that one…
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January 30th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
@Rummy, Joel
While I do think games have gotten easier, developers do put out things that are actually challenging, but not hard for hard’s sake so to speak.
Megaman 9 comes to mind as something recent that was difficult for me the first time through, but after which, I can run through it in about an hour to an hour and a half, similar to the way I’m able to do something similar with Megaman 2.
If the game gets “easier” as your skills improve they did it right, if you get better at it, but still have the same level of frustration something is wrong.
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January 30th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
The Mega Man games are great examples of nemeses games. A couple of them were on my unfinished list until I recently got the 1-8 anniversary edition for my PS2 and played until my eyes bled. Stupidly I realized later I could have just used my PC emulator and saved at crucial moments instead of pre-approved save points.
Some of those Dr. Wiley levels were brutal – if you failed on the last leg of a stage you got booted back to the beginning.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
i “beat” panzer general 2, though it didn’t feel like much of a victory. the germans and i, we make it to england. the raf destroys my aforementioned seasoned soldiers, but we meekly manage a ‘tactical’ victory (an outcome nigh impossible to live down with high command). i am then sent from england (never knowing the outcome of the larger battle there) to russia, where i command then entire eastern wermacht. i stop the russian advance, recapture the territory we’ve lost, and am congratulated for my service. i am left guessing that we (the nazis) achieved stalemate on all fronts and left the allies to sue for peace. i guess. a victory far from the shores of north carolina, a la the screenshot that has taunted me from the back of the box since i was 14.
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March 29th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
[...] the combat system around some of the concepts of the Panzer General series of wargames (which, if you recall, I am a big fan of) and you can quickly see those influences at play when looking at the system. [...]