I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer, as much as I would like to.  I love gaming, but I don't get to devote enough time to it to get really good (although devoting money to it never seems to be an issue).  Even then, I was able to beat Dead or Alive 3 with just about every character on the normal difficulty.

So what in the heck is up with Dead or Alive 4?  Is it me, or is that game just stupid hard?  I have fun with it until the 5th fight with any given character, then it gets ridiculously hard.  It's a beautiful game (hehe...  She kicks high...  Also gotta love the "jiggle" factor!), but dang it, I want to beat it with all 16 default characters and Helena so I can unlock Spartan 458!!!  So far, I've only managed beating it with Ryu, Kasumi, Jann Lee, and Ayane.  I got owned when I tried with Kokoro, Brad Wong, and Zack.

Knowing that unlocking Spartan 458 ain't gonna happen, maybe I'll try some sour grapes rationalization.  Let's see...  Oh, how's this:  "It'd be stupid to play a Spartan in a fighting game set in the 21st century, because the Spartan program didn't exist until the 26th century."  What?  You say they explained that?  Oh.  Drat.