What level/segment of a game have you played the most?

[Liam]

I was going to go with 'disproportionately more' in the title - the sections or levels that you have played in a game substantially more than the rest of the game itself. That could be due to getting stuck, enjoying the level/section so you go back to it, it being an opening level of a game you've played a lot (but rarely to completion), etc.

I ask this having played the Australian Grand Prix on Formula 1 2020 yesterday. As I tend to start a career, do a few races, and then not really play it a lot, I have played the Australian Grand Prix far more than any other part of any Formula 1 game across my history with them, whether I've meant to or not.

This one goes to the opening level thing I mentioned - Green Hill Zone. I don't often play Sonic the whole way through, yet have owned the game in various different guises across my years gaming. Therefore, I've probably thrown it on a number of times just to blitz through GHZ.

Last one I can think of is the opening transfer window (and transfer windows in general, I guess) in Football Manager. The opening one is due to the amount of times I give up a game when it isn't going well after the first few matches, though transfer windows as a whole are things I tend to dwell on as they are the most fun part of the game.

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Liam

[Gazz]

That first Goomba on Super Mario Bros has killed more people than any genocidal maniac.

[RPS]

The Binding of Isaac is a rouge-lite dungeon crawler. You basically start off a character, get some items that impact your bullets and try to get to the end of the run. I own the game on PS4 (about 400 hours), PC (358 hours) and Switch (640 hours). So I can safely say with certainty that I have probably played the opening floor of the dungeon more than any other game in my library. 

[probablyoliver]

I could probably complete the first mako reactor in Final Fantasy VII with my eyes closed at this point.

Also Yharnam in Bloodborne. I must've played up until Cathedral Ward about a dozen or so times by now, it's quite possibly the best designed opening level I've ever played. It teaches you every mechanic you'll use for the entirety of the game, teaches you that every enemy can be deadly, whilst basically nudging you in the direction of their weaknesses in every encounter. It's brilliant.

[OctoberRaven]

Off the top of my head: Ocean House Hotel in Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

[Your Mom]

The Suicide Mission at the end of Mass Effect 2

[Kaney]

Metal Gear Solid 2 Tanker section. I would still happily play that part over and over just fuckin with the guards or finding easter eggs and building up my grip strength.

[Naitch]

Doing the San Marino Challenge on FM12.

Not sure how far I got on the first attempt but I was definitely in Serie A when my laptop broke, with a promising young Sammarinese striker challenging for the first team. I've still got the second attempted save, which is at 2030 with the club as multiple time Serie A winners and the national team finally starting to show signs of challenging for tournament qualification. My third attempt was started last year as I actually really enjoy using the players who I know I can rise up from Serie C2 with. An unexpected third consecutive promotion has us sitting dead last in Serie A just into the new year with no hope of survival, so I'm thinking of starting a fourth and actively trying to avoid the Serie B promotion spots in the third season while I build my team up enough to win promotion in the fourth season and actually stand a chance of staying up the season after that.

[Azazel]

Shenmue on Dreamcast, the 2nd last fight in the game is you and an AI fighting 70 people at once (3 of them are bosses).  When you beat it (or the game, I forget which) you unlocked an option to just do the fight solo in a time trial.  I probably did that dozens of times because it was just a hell of a lot of fun to tornado kick a bunch of dudes repeatedly.

[Bobfoc]

Green Hill Zone was the first thing that came to mind. It's such a nice, easy first level with a brilliant musical accompaniment. It's been in a good few other Sonic games since the first one as well.

The Tanker section from Metal Gear Solid 2 is a good suggestion too. Like @Kaney, I loved experimenting and messing around, and I also wanted to get enough dog tags to unlock the stealth camouflage. Even now, it's remarkable how many Easter eggs were crammed into what was ordinarily about an hour-long story segment.

Thinking about parts other than opening levels, I've played the last mission of Halo: Combat Evolved a lot of times. The vehicle section at the end was something I always liked to replay.

[9 to 5]

The start of Xcom 2 and the first few missions. @Cymbols

[Kyle]

For a solid three years, I played GTA IV multiplayer basically every day. I also got rid of my single player saves at one point during that time, so I'm pretty certain I've sat through the opening "DADDY'S BACK YOU BITCHES" cutscene more than any other thing I've ever played at this point. 

[Bobfoc]

Here's another one: Chop Chop Master Onion on Parappa the Rapper. Thanks to demo discs, so many people know that level and song without even owning the full game.

[VerbalPuke]

From The Warriors, I've played the mission where you defeat the Destroyers once and for all.

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, 9 to 5 said:

The start of Xcom 2 and the first few missions. @Cymbols

Oh my god yeah this. Thing is, I also just know that I’m going to do it loads more times, too.

Another one for me is playing through the first few days with the default families in Pleasantview on Sims 2. Every time a computer dies and I get a new one, I always have to go back and start from scratch. 16 years later and I’m still doing this.

[METALMAN]

I think I spent about 4 years trying to get past the first level of Tintin in Tibet on the SNES when I was a kid. I only had two games, and that was one of them. Never succeeded. Having since watched a Youtube video of it, I don't think it was particularly hard. I just think I was an idiot.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by metalman

[TKz]

Ooof, this is like a greatest hits of game openings for me.

Mako Reactor in FF7, Balamb Garden in FF8, Shadow Moses Entrance in Metal Gear Solid, the pre-The Boss segments of Metal Gear Solid 3 are all definitely at the top for most replayed. I've done the Alliance Human Starting Zone in WoW about 20 times now and I'd still rather do that than slog through any of the others. Though I don't know if they really count as it's rare that I ever restart those games without playing all the way through.

Answers that are a bit more fitting would probably be White Orchard in The Witcher 3 - I've owned this game on PC, PS4, Xbox One, standard and GOTY and I've never been able to push past the Bloody Baron questline until recently. It's an odd one because it's got everything I could want but something always caused me to drop it before engaging enough to be hooked. I think I might have finally managed to push past that in my current playthrough, I'm definitely further than I've been before at least.

I'll also say Alexandria in FF9 because that one never hooked me the way the others did (I'm sorry!). I think it's because I could never afford it until after I'd already been obsessed with the other two PS1 FF's and I was just a bit culture shocked to go from sci-fi fantasy to regular fantasy. And definitely Rabanastre in FFXII. I've got a distinct memory of nearly beating that game as a kid but I swear I've tried revisting it so many times since only to fall off a few hours in, I think I've finally accepted it's just not for me.

And the opening of Persona 4 Golden as well, I adored Persona 5 but trying to get into 4 after playing 5 just feels so backwards. I really wish I had played it first because there's nothing wrong with it from a gameplay or story perspective, but it just feels lacking after having played 5.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Cannon Fodder.

Jools.

Jops.

1.1 The Sensible Initiation.

[hugobomb]

The first disk of FF8 and the first half of Crash Bandicoot 1.

[nihilist]

Probably Anathema, the opening level of Hitman 2.