Often integrated with the aforementioned turret sequence, the area defence mission requires players to defend an object or zone from wave after wave of enemies. This differs somewhat from the generally liked horde mission, in that it asks players to preserve something other than their own character's health. As a result, these missions are often quite taxing and can require numerous attempts even on normal difficulties. There's nothing problematic about a mission being difficult - the success of Dark Souls has shown us how much gamers relish a challenge but when we're forced to go through the same waves of enemies each time, the difficulty and repetitiveness begins to grate. This is not helped by the slow progression that these missions often employ, which can make them unbearably time-consuming. The gameplay mechanics rarely change either, meaning that while you might be given a few toys to play around with, you'll likely be relying on the game's core combat system to see you through each wave. But let's not also forget that there will likely be a timer, or worse still, a health bar, to remind you how your doing at any given moment. Combine all these and you have a by-the-numbers recipe for a particularly irritating mission.
