today's world
take MGS4 for example. Im lost, or don't know what to do, I call up Otacon or somebody.
circa 1989
Legend of Zelda-im lost or trying to find something, well hopefully I find a friend that knows something, get nintendo power, or dial some 1-900 number
Depends what you call difficult, I dont think having trouble finding your way in an action oriented game is part of its difficulty, its a fault in the game that the designers did not address properly, on the other hand if it was some sort of maze or puzzle and finding your way was part of the challenge then it would be.
Personalyl i think their getting easier, more and more games have very little punishments for death, in RPGs I just have to either load a save or my character is regenerated with the loss of perhaps a small amount of change. Diablo had a fairly interesting system whereby on higher levels you lose exp if you die and the hardcore options gave some challenge.
I think bosses are getting too easy, In most games I feel the only work done on the boss is not the encounter difficulty itself but more on the graphics and effects to make it seem impressive. I feel sometimes the typical opponents are sometimes harder than bosses. Especially so in God of war games.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for instance, Jesus J. Christ, I got stuck in the Water Temple, never could figure out wtf I did wrong, and had to restart my game. WW and TP, nothing remotely similar.
Metroid Prime 1, was...INCREDIBLY hard to navigate IMO, 2, not so much.
Ever since you no longer needed difficulty for longevity- as games can be either very big or very replayable these days- it is debateable what business games have being actively difficult, as all it means is that the average gamer won't see much of the game.
This gets down to the question of what gaming is for- is it a test or is it a leisure activity?
Final Fantasy is a good game to analyse here. It's almost impossible to not progress in those games from VII onwards; there might be the odd tricky boss but generally the game is more about the experience of going through the storyline than it is some massive gaming challenge.
But then they also tend to put in the stupidly difficult extras to also please the hardcore crowd.
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Last edited by Ushgarak on Mar 3rd, 2009 at 04:28 PM
I think the newcomers to gaming affect the difficulty and quality of gaming these days
so honestly, as ush said with FF..., I feel that todays games are more leisurely, with the "hardcore" content tacked on as an afterthought
I'd personally like an insanely hard game where the enemies are just as smart as the human player... (notice I said smart, and not cheap broken A.I. that reads your controller inputs -_-)
most games are getting easier. And, in turn, make the gamers that play them worse. Playing online is a different story, as it usually consists of pros and people with no lives(jk)... which would be very good at the game. So if most games have an online function and people keep playing online as much as they do now... then i dont care how easy the game is, online is pretty much learn how to play or look like an ub3r n0oB , and most people pick the former.
__________________ -thanks scythe, you make some great sigs
It's all the way you play your games. I like experience, and atmosphere and that crazy ninja who can kill me in a second is not an experience, its torture for me. I don't mind difficult sections, but a game like Ninja Gaiden is ridiculous in my mind.
Considering I don't want to, or have the time to practice a single player game for a week just to past the half way mark of the game is too much. I rather spend that playing TF2.
I think they are easier. I seem to remember on the first Hitman games if you failed an important objective the level would just end and you'd have to re-start. It used to annoy me but it made the game a lot more challenging in retrospect. Although it is fun just throwing the rule book out the window and being allowed to go on a rampage.
Just because on some missions you folllow the exact process in killing the targets the level can end very quickly and you get no sense of achievement.
Have MLB 09: The Show. Playing on rookie, with the sliders all the way up for hitting, and pitchin, and the sliders all the way down for hitting and pitching for the AI and I still only get 3 runs a game and usually lose.
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Mar 2nd, 2009 07:01 PM
, and most people pick the former.
-thanks scythe, you make some great sigs
