When video games were still a new thing, they were very challenging, and entertaining (super metroid, DooM on nightmare.ect) but these days games are just getting too easy. Only a few stand out as at least reasonably challenging (FarCry: could get killed in only a few shots, even on easy, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.ect). So, what does everyone else thing, are they getting too easy? or is it just me?
I wouldn’t say that they’re getting too easy, but that changing difficulty levels isn’t exactly “advancing” with the rest of the game.
Like, going from “normal” to “hard” on most games will mean something like enemies do more damage, you take more damage, just as it was in games many years ago. My idea of a harder difficulty level is smarter AI (for example, they take cover more often, have better use of grenades, etc.) and I just don’t see enough of those kinds of changes in games.
Yes and no. Design is getting better in some respects, which makes games easier because they require less trial and error. That’s generally a good thing. They’re also being dumbed down to the point that the game tells you everything to do, gives you regenerating health, etc. That’s bad.
I understand the rationale; gaming is a business and they need a broad customer base. But if designers would add a “hardcore” mode to the games, I think they’d be pleasantly surprised with what that did to sales. There are a lot of people who like their games challenging and deep.
yeah, but what i mean is look at games like MW2, ive completed it on hardest with no problem, some designers just make it easy to attract more ragequitting whining little kids that quit and tell there games, and people on forums NOT to buy the game because it “sucks”. All because they got killed, or because they cant solve a simple puzzle. :meh:
I’ll say videogames are getting too easy when we have a button that lets an AI take over and beat the game for you.
Oh wait.
Game designers have to sell games to make money to finance more games. Games costs millions of dollars to make these days. Yes it sucks, but you’re going to have to come up with a solution better than limiting their appeal by making exclusively harder games. That’s not economically viable. I thought my suggestion was a good compromise, and it’s amazing to me that more devs don’t try it.
To russilker: I agree, but even though everyone on here loves to take a big shit on Bungie, that’s exactly what happens when you up the difficulty in Halo, which is why those games are so much more fun on the harder settings. So it’s not all the major developers, just most of them.
I’m beating Uncharted on Crushing difficulty and it’s making me insane.
Most early video games were hard by really cheap methods; aspects of the levels you needed to memorize rather than respond to, working off of glitches or tiny/big hitboxes, etc. I think the fact that games are easier isn’t bad at all; as long as people are able to have fun. I do also think that there should be an appropriate level of challenge and progression; I’ve always had the mantra that every boss fight should kill the player once or twice before they succeed.
The Deus Ex demo (+mission 2 
), but that’s partially because I almost always set it to Easy because I’m kinda lazy.
Halo on Mythic is essentially childbirth, several hundred times in one sitting.
True, but I think a big part of the rewarding (and therefore fun) experience of gameplay is overcoming challenges. Can you imagine playing System Shock 2 if there was ammo and health all over the place and having nearly as much fun? There’s definitely a balance to be struck, but I think where games of the 80’s erred on the side of being too difficult, nearly all modern games are lacking in real challenges for serious gamers. Though there are exceptions.
The excellent social commentary book “Everything Bad is Good For You” has a whole chapter devoted to defending video gaming from its critics in which it raises some very good points about why challenging games are good for the mind AND can be more fun. It’s definitely worth a read.
It depends what game you play. Mass Effect can be a challenge, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and Cave Story if you’re into platformers… It’s the better designed games that are challenging when you change difficulty levels, obviously. MW2 lacks a good SP campaign, let alone the atrociously dumb AI.
This, too.
try Quake 2, it is FULL OF MEDKITS
they are around every corner, and masses of them are down every corridor
Medevilae, yeah the AI is stupid, me and my friend played through most of the spec ops missions on veteren, first time, just by running through spamming flash nades and spraying
XD we got through the “breach and clear” mission with about 0.32 seconds to spare XD
First of all, I was severely disappointed when Quake 2 when it came out, especially the single player portion. But since I’m in the minority on that, I’ll grant that it didn’t suck for the sake of discussion.
It’s still not easy. In fact, it’s one of the more frustrating games I’ve ever played. The backtracking to solve puzzles along with some very challenging enemies make it really tough to play on the harder settings. I mentioned the health and ammo in SS2 because the lack of those things is specifically what made the game difficult. That’s not the case in Quake 2.
As far as I’m concerned, retro games were just too hard. Its not that they could not be beat, it just required endless repetition that made the games just plain boring. I can honestly not think of a pre 1990 platformer that I ever enjoyed like a modern game.
One thing that we also have to take into account is that we all have years of experience as gamers, so its probably just that we have gotten more experienced at video games and that video games have simply stayed at the same difficulty. That’s just my opinion.
I agree.some seem too easy,but apparently,some developer apparently said that one of their games was too hard(it was <.<) Maybe that’s why,some people who can’t play or suck at it are getting games that are easier,which isn’t fair ;~;
I’m in total agreement - I remember playing certain old school games for hours (like, for just one example, “Strider” for Sega Genesis), getting to about the 3rd or 4th level every time I played, and then throwing my controller and going to play outside…
Games that difficult are infuriating. It’s like there’s just one perfect way to play it through - absolutely no room for error - and if you don’t know how to play it in this exact way, you’re fucked.
Consolification is making them too easy. Not because of the controls, but because mostly raging kids play with consoles, who suck at difficult games.
In some cases pc fags can mod them harder, like they did with fo3, tough I still find it too easy even with lots of realism mods