History ThatOneLevel / RPG

** The "Lost in Dreams" portion of the Circle of Magi quest, in which [[spoiler: a Sloth Demon sends you to the Fade, '''which you cannot prevent by any means''''', and you have to fight through a sprawling, backtrack-heavy area with dull environments, barely any dialogue, and tons of fighting with very strong enemies, and the Final Boss himself goes through about [[SequentialBoss 5 different forms]] before he dies.]] There exists a fairly popular mod that does nothing but skip the entire sequence.

** The most unpopular example by far is the Taris swoop race, a ''mandatory'' UnexpectedGameplayChange into an exceptionally cheezy racing minigame.

** The Ocean View Hotel qualifies on the second and later playthroughs. The first time around, it's creepy and atmospheric. Subsequent runs through the hotel reveal it to be an overly long linear crawl through a haunted house comprised entirely of tired horror movie cliches. This one's especially interesting because, in spite of the game's strong, long-lived cult following, the only major awards it ever won was for "best level" for the Ocean View Hotel. And while one of the things that makes the game special is its abrupt genre shifts (in this case into survival horror), anyone who's played the Ocean View Hotel more than once thinks of it as "that place where I can't die and where I have to do a lot of tedious up and down maneuvers."

** Rapax Rift and Castle. Rift has lava in which you can accidentaly fall and get scorched for your trouble. Both have very frequent enemy encounters with dangerous oponents in large numbers, notably with Rapax spellcasters. While single Noxious Fumes from them won't do much, ten of them in a row are different matter. They also can cast same buffs as you to reduce your combat efficiency, so every battle will take a while. Lastly, both places are extremely difficult to navigate for first timers and completing whatever quest you want to do there is needlessly complicated.

* As mentioned in its own section, ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has its infamous poison swamp levels such as Blighttown, Farron Keep, and the Profaned Capital. [[https://www.pcgamer.com/elden-ring-has-multiple-poison-swamps-because-i-cant-help-myself-miyazaki-says/ In an interview]] prior to the game's release, Creator/HidetakaMiyazaki was kind enough to let the fans know that he knows how they feel [[NintendoHard and put several into]] ''VideoGame/EldenRing''.

* The ultimate/penultimate dungeon in ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' is the House at the End of Time, which has swarms of incorporeal enemies, WildHunt members that make immunity to gaze attacks, a near-useless defense otherwise, suddenly crucial, and is actually two near-identical maps laid on top of each other with no visual difference to indicate which layer you're currently on.

*** The Second Kalpa deserves special mention just for the fact that the whole thing is one massive DifficultySpike. The first floor has a gigantic maze which is a pain in the ass on its own, but then you jump down a few holes and stumble into what seems to be a large, empty room. Hope you like navigating mazes with invisible walls! But the Cursed Zone there really takes the cake. You lose half your health every couple of steps you take, there's a lot of one way doors that exist solely to get you turned around, but it's the random encounters that'll really get you pulling your hair. The demons you fight here are level 65, ''at least'', and know a variety of horrible moves ([[StandardStatusEffects Dormina]] + [[OneHitKill Eternal Rest]], anyone?). And you're probably around level 40 by the time you find this place.

** Okumura's Palace is crawling with DemonicSpiders Arahabaki and Girimehkala, random encounters that reflect physical and gun skills, which forces the player to expend SP to get rid of them. Its corridor and room design makes it difficult to ambush enemies, and it has [[ThatOnePuzzle an annoying airlock puzzle at the end]].

* ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureThe7thStandUser'', for the most part, is a game with EasyLevelsHardBosses... with one exception, the Arabian Mansion. It's crawling with enemies, you need to run around it several times to get everything you need to leave, and there is a stone that is [[AdvancingWallOfDoom constantly moving towards you]], which causes a game over if you touch it. Think you've outrun it? It'll probably just spawn near you in the next room. What's more, you can accidentally make it ''move faster'' if you [[spoiler:talk to Silver Fox, regardless of what you choose to do with him]]. The difficulty is mitigated a bit by the fact that you have an extra character for this dungeon, but said character is AI-controlled.

* ''VideoGame/{{Uplink}}'' had the LAN levels, which threw a LOT of people. Though it was fixed in a patch, certain LAN levels (they're randomly generated) were UnwinnableByMistake, you needed one hell of a computer just to competently attempt them (at minimum, you generally have to run 3 bypasses and usually almost all of your LAN tools, plus the standards like trace tracker and password crackers/deciphers at proper moments. If you never learned how to manage your processes in that game before a LAN popped up, you learned then.), and what's worse is that logging into the mainframe always alerted the sysadmin to your presence, starting a countdown to get the job done, which was a real killer if the mainframe was right next to the main gateway, giving you about 20 seconds to crack the password/encryption, get into the system, complete your mission, and log out before you get booted by the sysadmin.

** The "Pinnacle Station" {{DLC}} has one in the form of the subterranean survival map, in which you must survive for over 2 minutes and 20 seconds against an army of rocket launcher equipped geth, including [[DemonicSpiders Geth Primes]] which you only encounter a couple of times in the main game and always appear when you can use the environment to kill them. This time you have to kill them the old fashioned way.

The gold-plated clusterfuck that is the [[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Quarry_junction Quarry Junction]] north of Sloan. Let's see... [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]]? Check. [[MamaBear Mother Deathclaw]] and her brigade of lil' [[GoddamnBats bastards]]? Check. '''Deathclaw [[PapaWolf ALPHA MALE]]?!''' Check and mate. The entire area is rather clearly meant to serve as a BeefGate to prevent players from taking the north road; higher-level characters can pull it off, but it requires either top-level equipment or slowly plinking them from an unreachable area.

** [[DeadlyEuphemism Peaceful Rest Valley]] is the game's first major DifficultySpike and a nasty introduction to the game's more dangerous status effects, with every enemy being a [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned Bat]] or [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Spider]]: the Mobile Sprouts with [[MookMaker the ability to make more Mobile Sprouts]] as well as [[HealingFactor heal themselves]] and [[ManaDrain steal your magic]], the Li'l [[FlyingSaucer Li'l UFOs]] and Spinning Robos that can give you [[DamageOverTime colds]], the Ramblin' Evil Mushrooms can nail you with Mushroomization that also inflicts InterfaceScrew (that can't be cured via PSI or items), and the [[ActionBomb Territorial Oaks]], where the [[TimeDelayedDeath rolling HP mechanic]] first becomes the difference between life and death. Worse still is right around this point is when Ness's "Homesick" status ailment may pop up for the first time [[GuideDangIt with no warning]]: imagine trying to battle your way back to a save point to recover with a 12.5% chance that you'll waste a turn. Even ''worse'' is Ness is your only party member at this point: you'll need at least three or four Teddy Bears absorbing enemy attacks to make it through in one piece.

** How about the Fourside Department Store after the lights go out? You've temporarily lost your BlackMagicianGirl and the store is choked with a {{Demonic Spider|s}} of every kind: Musicas can hit multiple times per turn with Thunder and [[ForcedSleep put the entire party to sleep]], Mystical Records hit hard and can [[MookMedic heal other enemies]], and Scalding Coffee Cups also dish out heavy amounts of Fire-based damage. Getting massacred by records and ''coffee cups'' never ceases to be humiliating. You'll likely need revival items to get past it the first few times through... the catch is, once the department store has turned into a dungeon, you can only buy them in Saturn Valley, which is a ''very'' long trip.

** Mt. Itoi personifies this trope and DisappointingLastLevel. It's not only ''long'', but it swarms with DemonicSpiders that give minimal experience when defeated ''and'' the random encounter rate is beyond sadistic. In fact, when asked about the difficulty of Mt. Itoi, the game's creator said that the game was too close to its scheduled release date and there wasn't enough time to properly balance it. '''And it shows.'''
** Duncan's Factory is another example. You go here after getting Lloyd in your party to fire a bottle rocket at a rock blocking your path. Unfortunately, the place is a maze full of enemies who are quite a bit stronger than anything you've faced so far. The worst part is that Lloyd is only level 1, and in order to progress you NEED to keep Lloyd alive when you reach the end of the dungeon.

** If you decide to tackle the Milky Well dungeon in from the moment it becomes accessible, watch out, as [[DemonicSpiders mushroom enemies]] roam the grounds, capable of inflicting the Mushroom status effect, which functions as a combination Confusion + InterfaceScrew effect, leaving you susceptible to the attacks of the other difficult enemies roaming the area. Thankfully, the boss at the end is easily handled if you have either certain PSI or items. [[note]]PSI Flash Beta. If you don't have it, pray you have Fire Beta, Freeze Beta, and saved Jeff's Big Bottle Rocket. [[ThatOneBoss If not...]][[/note]]
** There are also the mines. Basically, you have to find five giant moles. Each one is similar and ''will'' take some sort of magic to defeat [[note]]PSI Freeze Gamma[[/note]]. However, the place is a maze, teeming with Ropes (tie up your characters and waste turns), Mad Ducks (drain PP), and, worst of all, Thirsty Coil Snakes and Gigantic Ants (loaded with poison attacks).
** Speaking of underground, the dread monkey cave in the desert. You wander a cave of monkeys guarding doors, who will only move if you give them an item they demand. Said items are available in the cave, but thanks to your very limited inventory space (made worse by how you have only two party members at the time) expect to do lots and lots and ''lots'' of going back and forth, all the while listening to [[EarRape very obnoxious music]] -- we advise you to put the game on mute unless you like hearing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hpJMIl1qoc someone beat a bird to death with a synthesizer]] while you try to solve a horrid puzzle.
** [[DeadlyEuphemism Peaceful Rest Valley]], anyone? Home of every annoying status ailment ever with every enemy being a [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned Bat]] or [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Spider]]: the Mobile Sprouts with the ability to make more Mobile Sprouts as well as heal themselves and suck away your PP, the Li'l [[FlyingSaucer UFOs]] and Spinning Robos that can give you colds, the Rambling Evil Mushrooms can nail you with a debilitating status ailment that also inflicts InterfaceScrew (that can't be cured via PSI or items), and the [[ActionBomb Territorial]] [[WhenTreesAttack Oaks]][[MadeOfExplodium ...]] If you face two of these four at the same time, you're in for a world of hurt. Worse still is right around this point is when Ness's "Homesick" status ailment will pop up for the first time [[GuideDangIt with no warning]]: imagine trying to battle your way back to a save point to recover with Ness not being able to act in battle most of the time. Even ''worse'' is Ness is your only party member at this point: you'll need at least three or four Teddy Bears absorbing enemy attacks to make it through in one piece.
** How about the department store in Fourside after the lights go out? You've temporarily lost your BlackMagicianGirl and the store is choked with DemonicSpiders. Getting massacred by records and ''coffee cups'' never ceases to be humiliating. You'll likely need revival items to get past it the first few times through... the catch is, once the department store has turned into a dungeon, you can only buy them in Saturn Valley, which is a ''very'' long trip.
** The segment in between trapping all the zombies in the tent and reaching Saturn Valley is a nightmare. You have to go through the Threed tunnels, which contain only three unique enemies barring the boss, but the Zombie Dog is very powerful and the Zombie Possessor is one of two enemies in the whole game who can possess a character with a Tiny Li'l Ghost, which either attacks you for 1-10 damage or stop you from attacking for one turn. The boss, the Mini Barf, is nothing special, but then Grapefruit Falls comes, where you have to make your way through multiple enemies that can put up a fight and possibly deal with the Tiny Li'l Ghosts preventing a critical character in whatever strategy you're using from moving for a turn, letting the enemies brutally murder your party. The kicker: there is no phone in either of these areas. If you die, you start back at your last save point, most likely the Threed Hotel, with the only bit of mercy being that the Mini Barf isn't there any more if you decide to continue.
** The Stonehenge Base. It's a long base, the monsters are a step up in difficulty from anything you've faced, and the [[RandomDrop 1-in-128-drop-chance]] Sword of Kings is here. It's difficult even if you're not trying to pick up the sword. And, if you finish the boss of the dungeon, say goodbye to finding the sword. At least if you're patient enough to grind yourself stupid looking for the Sword of Kings you'll become so over-leveled that you can practically sleepwalk through the rest of the game without much of a problem.

** Mt. Itoi personifies this trope and DisappointingLastLevel. It's not only ''long'', but it swarms with DemonicSpiders that give minimal experience when defeated ''and'' the random encounter rate is beyond sadistic. In fact, when asked about the difficulty of Mt. Itoi, the game's creator said that he just wanted to finish making the game and didn't bother to balance it. '''And it shows.'''

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun 2'' has Air's Rock, the rest of the rocks are annoying, but Air's Rock takes the cake, it is hard to figure out even WITH a guide.
** 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 ''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.

*** To add even more insult to the injury if you played the first game, the plot-centric skill that you learn here was one you were taught for free in a town in the first Golden Sun.
** The Sea of Time. You're navigating currents, with your only clue on what to do being [[spoiler: the song from Yallam that Yepp wrote.]] The controls are irritating, it's difficult to get out of the whirlpools once you're in them, and the music is little more than ominous drums, which quickly goes from 'atmospheric' to 'SHUT IT UP'. Also, one slip will send you back to the beginning. It also finishes with ThatOneBoss, and if you didn't have the foresight to save before fighting it, you're going through the Sea of Time ''again.''

** The first one has Altmiller Cave. Not only is it long and filled with nasty enemies, but it's also completely dark. The only light you get is from torches and the standard little bubble around yourself. You either have to bumble around rock mazes, trying to remember where you have and haven't been, or waste Ivan's PP and use Reveal constantly. And, to rub salt in the wound, the bottom floor has an ''infuriating'' puzzle involving memorizing a riddle you heard at the start of the dungeon, unless you cheat and [[GuideDangIt use Reveal to see the colors of the rocks]].
** Another aggravating part is Lamakan Desert. The dehydration mechanic wouldn't be so bad, if your characters would just '''[[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper shut up]]''' about the heat. It also doesn't help that the boss of that area, Manticore, is the first boss that can move twice per turn, so you're not likely to be ready for it.

** Gives us the Dead Sea. It features 1) a confusing area peppered with tough battles (including the Tragediennes -- and you'll ''want'' to fight them to get [[DiscOneNuke overpowered elements]]), 2) ThatOneBoss (the infamous Miguel), and 3) the point where the plot infamously collapses in on itself with all of the navel-gazing and {{Shocking Swerve}}s.

** Speaking of underground, the dread monkey cave in the desert. You wander a cave of monkeys guarding doors, who will only move if you give them an item they demand. Said items are available in the cave, but thanks to your very limited inventory space (made worse by how you have only two party members at the time) expect to do lots and lots and ''lots'' of going back and forth, all the while listening to [[EarRape very obnoxious music]].

* The very first level of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''. You build your character, expecting to use guns, to be handed a spear and told to go kill dozens of giant ants. If you don't have Melee or Unarmed as tagged skills, you'll probably be hitting about one in every four swings. To boot, the only medicine hurts your Perception (and ability to hit), you have to blow up a door which can backfire, and when you think it can't get any worse, the boss of the level must be fought hand to hand. Betcha can't guess what the boss's specialty is, can ya? Oh, and traps are everywhere. That said, simply dashing through the level and ignoring all enemies is entirely feasible (and basically recommended).
** Each of the three premade characters has an easy way to beat the boss: you can fight him, convince him to back down, or just steal the key. This suggests part of the CombatDiplomacyStealth playstyle the series is fond of. Now, if your three tag skills are Energy Weapons, First Aid, and Gambling... good luck.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', there's Old Olney. Old Olney is simultaneously one of the easiest areas of the game and one of the hardest as it is crawling with Deathclaws, giant lizards with machete claws that rend even higher level players with ease. Deathclaws can be easily taken to more manageable levels by using a Dart Gun to cripple their legs but they still can take a beating. The sewers are marginally more difficult, because you can't outrange the inhabitants. The Deathclaw Sanctuary is much, much harder, since you're fighting in tight corridors and the Deathclaws there can ambush you.
* At least in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' you get a dart gun. ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is not so merciful, which brings us to the gold-plated clusterfuck that is the [[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Quarry_junction Quarry Junction]] north of Sloan. Let's see... [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]]? Check. [[MamaBear Mother Deathclaw]] and her brigade of lil' [[GoddamnBats bastards]]? Check. '''Deathclaw [[PapaWolf ALPHA MALE]]?!''' Check and mate.
*** That's actually not so bad if you've got the YCS/186, anti-materiel rifle, or the fully modded holorifle (though the latter has the issue of being a HardLight shotgun). Dead Wind Cavern, on the other hand, is an absolute nightmare. It's even worse than the Deathclaw Sanctuary, although you do get the blessing of night-vision chems.
** Really, any high level critical based weapon and a little stealth will work, provided you clear the entrance decently. Most Deathclaws will fall to one sneak attack and the Deathclaw Alpha Male will die in two. Or you can glitch the game physics and stand in a location where you can kill Deathclaws, but they can't kill you.
** There's also several very convenient sniper perches in the Quarry. As long as you can clear out the two or three Deathclaws that surround it, Quarry Junction becomes a mere exercise in patience.

** On New Vegas, the ENTIRETY of the ''Dead Money'' DLC. To start off, you're stranded in a dark maze-like city with NONE of your equipment except for some food and a holorifle with only 20 shots. The ghost-like enemies you find will just get back up if you shoot them, there are large sections of the city with poison gas that drains your health quickly, and there are barely any stimpaks or beds around to heal yourself. It gets slightly easier once you get to the Sierra Madre casino (mostly because there is an easy to find supply room with Stimpaks, ammo, some armor, and a couple police pistols)... but then you run into holograms which you obviously can't shoot but can kill you in a second if they see you. And that's not getting into the speakers all over the resort and casino that cause the bomb collar strapped to your neck to explode if you hang around them to long, killing you instantly. It's all worth it though for the end where you can [[CatharsisFactor murder the guy who locked you here in the first place.]]

** ''Fallout 3'''s ''Point Lookout'' is That One ExpansionPack, being populated by super-tough tribesmen and mutated hillbillies with weapons that are haxed to bypass damage resistance. Especially the first quest at the Calvert Mansion, where you will expend your supply of Stimpaks like popcorn. SaveScumming is mandatory.
** Back in New Vegas, another DLC. The ''Lonesome Road'' DLC gives us "The Courier's Mile". Ground zero for a nuclear missile, radiation levels can climb above 25 rads per second, and it is filled with Irradiated Marked Men -- which practically require one hit to kill due to the radiation healing -- as well as Irradiated Deathclaws which deal radiation damage. The one good thing? The deathclaws have zero damage threshold and resistance. Not that it matters much since they'll still have 500 health, ''at minimum''.

** Keyblade Graveyard's Twister Trench in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. There aren't any enemies here, just massive, multi-colored tornadoes, that ''chase you all over the map''. If you're caught by one, you're thrown into an alternate dimension with several waves of giant Unversed. Although after you beat one it goes away, it's so hard to dodge the next that it's really simpler to just fight them all.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} 8'': The Trynnie/Rattkin tree, more for annoyance factor than for real difficulty, even though there are still many ways to get killed. First, it's high above the ground and not all paths are guarded by rails, making it very possible for you to fall off for a possible TotalPartyKill unless you have Valkyrie in your team. Second, it's full of narrow pathways and plenty of NPC which makes it damn near impossible to pass around them and they also get occasionally stuck in the gates, forcing you to rest so they can go away in the meantime. This makes also any battle taking place here last ages as you see five enemies and twenty trynnies defending/moving/attacking each damn turn. Enemies here include status-spamming plants and faeries that keep maximum distance from you while spamming blind and AoE magic attacks. It does not help that two main-quest items are located in Rattkin part of tree - the most far-away bough. Apparently the creator of Wizardry Reforged mod hated it so much he just removed the level with in-game explanation being that [[KillItWithFire the tree burned down]].

** VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'s ocean level. You've got to make your way across the bottom of the ocean to [[MushroomSamba Tanetane Island]]. Obviously, you can't breathe underwater, so you have to get air by [[HoYay kissing mermen]]. If you run out of air, you wash up at Tazmily Beach again, and have to do the whole level over. In addition, there's also a good deal of excellent items down there (including an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Awesome Crown]] for Lucas) that you can only get by going through long caves with nowhere to replenish your oxygen supply, meaning it's pretty much suicide to get it. Also, there's a surprise HeadsIWinTailsYouLose battle at the end.

* Mount Emerald in [[UpdatedRerelease the DS version of]] VideoGame/ChronoTrigger. Not because it's ''hard'' -- it's actually pretty easy, in fact -- but because in order to get HundredPercentCompletion you need to climb it at least ''five times'', and the encounters are almost all unavoidable, ''and'' there are no convenient shortcuts down the mountain, so you have to fight those same battles again on your way back. In a game that otherwise seems to pride itself on avoiding this sort of unnecessary {{padding}}, this gets boring ''fast''.

** ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} 8'': The Trynnie/Rattkin tree, more for annoyance factor than for real difficulty, even though there are still many ways to get killed. First, it's high above the ground and not all paths are guarded by rails, making it very possible for you to fall off for a possible TotalPartyKill unless you have Valkyrie in your team. Second, it's full of narrow pathways and plenty of NPC which makes it damn near impossible to pass around them and they also get occasionally stuck in the gates, forcing you to rest so they can go away in the meantime. This makes also any battle taking place here last ages as you see five enemies and twenty trynnies defending/moving/attacking each damn turn. Enemies here include status-spamming plants and faeries that keep maximum distance from you while spamming blind and AoE magic attacks. It does not help that two main-quest items are located in Rattkin part of tree - the most far-away bough. Apparently the creator of Wizardry Reforged mod hated it so much he just removed the level with in-game explanation being that [[KillItWithFire the tree burned down]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has the Core in a Neutral/Pacifist run. Despite its relative brevity, it's notorious for being a hair-puller. It has the hardest-hitting RandomEncounters in the game, and learning how to [[SheatheYourSword Spare]] them is often counter-intuitive and takes multiple turns to figure out and execute. A Neutral player can just attack... but the baddies aren't lacking in hit points and defenses either, which makes it equally as frustrating. To reach the end, you've got to decide between solving one of the hardest puzzles in the game or facing a gauntlet of three successively more difficult enemy encounters (there is a third option but it's only vaguely hinted at so not many players will realise). And after all that, your reward is a showdown against ThatOneBoss.

* The Road to Rhone in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'' definitely qualifies. It's long, inhabited by the strongest enemies in the game by this point which [[RandomEncounters attack frequently]], and features rooms full of hidden {{trapdoor}}s that send you back to a much earlier point in the dungeon if you step on them, made all the more infuriating because of the final piece to the MacGuffin hidden in a completely non-distinct tile. Even if you find the dang thing you ''still'' have to walk all the way out just to complete said [=MacGuffin=] (on the other side of the world no less). Part of the reason this game has a well-deserved reputation as NintendoHard.
** There isn't even a saving grace once you get to Rhone itself. Even ''stronger'' enemies, many of whom will [[SuicideAttack self-destruct and take 1/3rd of your party with it]], a blurry landscape thanks to all the snow, and the only save-point is in a shrine nestled in the middle of a lake far from the cavern's exit.
* The Dharma Temple/All Trades Abbey in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' fits this trope to a T, as well. Dharma Temple being the place you typically obtain new classes and skills in Dragon Quest, instead you're [[spoiler:thrown into an extremely difficult dungeon that you cannot exit while having your skills sealed away.]] Good luck if you didn't think to buy any Medicinal Herbs beforehand!