The rocket barrels in Donkey Kong Country Returns. I can do those levels just fine, but I NEVER enjoy them. Would be extremely hyped for the Wii U game...but sure enough, rocket barrels return. Sigh.

I don't know if it's a gameplay mechanic, but the 3 "battles" against The Imprisoned in Skyward Sword prevented that game from being otherwise utterly perfect in my eyes. To this day I often have a desire to replay SS for a 3rd time but the thought of those encounters usually makes me decide not to.

Kirby's Epic Yarn was WAY too easy, but really is a pretty good game...EXCEPT for the train sections where you have to point with the Wiimote to "draw" the train tracks.

Finally, the "Thing" stickers and really just the entire "one-use sticker" battle system of Paper Mario: Sticker Star. That game looks great and sounds great and while it's been neutered of charm compared to the first two Paper Mario games, it really wouldn't be bad at all if it weren't for the battle system. Particularly the boss fights.

The last helicopter piloting class I couldn't get a gold rank on.  Helicopter controlled like ass.  It controlled like GTA4 except you couldn't keep it steady on GTA5.

Combination of both I guess.  Dabbled with it on the Gameboy Advance for awhile but never could get into it.  Been playing through HD 1.5 reMIX right now and was hoping I'd finally be able to get through it to fill in some of the story holes I've been missing.  But after beating the first game and immediately going to Re:CoM, the switch to card-based combat just seems so frustrating, plodding, unnecessary, and simply not fun compared to other series' entries.  Also, I usually walk through KH games with ease, but I find that re:CoM is insanely difficult (unless I'm just not grasping the system well enough).  So I'm a few worlds in and have been struggling to stay motivated to continue. 

I'm my experience Re:Com can be either extremely easy (even on Proud) or extremely hard, it all depends on how you make your deck. I'm playing it as well, so far up on floor 8 and having a rather easy time, thanks to how my deck is built (have all attack cards at 9 or 0 Premium) which allows me to pull 8 sleights in a row from the start of the battle (2 Sonic Blades, 2 Fire Raid, 2 Blizzard Raid and 2 Blitz) plus have a couple of Hi-Potions and 6 Cloud cards to pull 2 Omnislashes (Boss killers). 

It takes a while to build such a deck (farmed a lot of moogle points on Agrabah) and you have to prioritize CP in exchange for HP, but HP won't be that much of an issue once you can Card Break efficiently, which is the hardest mechanic to grasp in the CoM games, especially if you jump from regular KH. 

The story of the game is rather good, especially once you do the Rebirth storyline, but I agree that the gameplay itself can be frustrating to the point of completely giving up on the game (like I said, I gave up on the original CoM).

finding some bonfires in the first playthrough of dark souls

combat in remember me

CAF + hawkcontrollayout in starhawk

Drawing.

No, not Scribblenauts.

I'm on the fourth floor.  I definitely have not been prioritizing CP, I almost never use sleights, and I have a few premium cards, but I haven't gained an understanding of what they actually do.  Going into this game with little to no knowledge of the battle system, I find myself rather overwhelmed and under informed.  The mobs are easy enough but I find the bosses to be incredibly difficult.  I love the characters and world lore but obviously I'm doing a lot wrong and it's not nearly as easy to just pick up and play as the other games... I'll have to do some major grinding to try to build up some CP points, but I was at the point of shelving the game completely and you've reignited some interest, so my hat off to you good sir.

You'll reach a point in the game where the only thing you'll use are sleights, even if it's just to speed up the constant battles that the later floors throw at you. Bosses are hard to decipher, especially those with Gimmicks, like Ooogie Boogie, Trickmaster or Ursula, since you'll have to rely on breaks or High numbered cards to be effective against them.

Oogie Boogie actually forced me to create an exclusive deck for him, composed only of attack cards, four Hi-Potions and Cures, because anything other than that is pointless against him, even Sleights. 

The game really does a pretty poor job at informing you or at least throwing you some hints in the right direction and the difficulty spikes between floors really don't help in that department. It's only when you build a good deck and get a good grasp of the system that you really start to enjoy the game. Glad I could give you a renewed interest in it .

Edit - I completely forgot. Since you're on Floor 4, Roulette Map cards are going to be your best friend. Premium Map cards have a higher chance to spawn on Roulette on Floor 4 and 5, as well as Calm Bounty cards too. Just get a few of them, Premium most of your cards on Floor 4 and you'll have a large CP requirement drop on your deck pretty fast

I was able to struggle my way through Oogie Boogie with my non-existant battle strategy lol then Hades steam-rolled me multiple times and I was ready to frisbee the disc.  But you've talked me off the edge so I'm gonna take some time and level a bit and try to get some decent cards.  I'll let you know how it goes :).

Also just learned that premium cards can actually be reloaded with hi-potions... early in the game I had premiumed a bunch of my best attack cards, thinking it would be positive, and then cursed repeatedly when I discovered they disappear after being used and I had no idea you could get them back.  Thanks for letting me know, game designers!

I ended up googling the swipe directions on that boss, it was the most BS ending to a game Ive ever played. And half the time it fealt like it wast reading my swipes