Difficutly or Style?

[Vires Vox]

After seeing some of the reviews come out for the new PoP game I was thinking about whats more important in a game. Is it whether im challenged by it or that simply the experience is a good one?
Generally speaking the two things are not mutually exclusive but which do you prefer? Would you rather be challenged and have a sense of satisfaction when you beat the game or simply have enjoyed the ride?

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

The experience definitely. One of my favourite games is TLoZ: The Windwaker, and that's an incredibly easy game, but it's awesome. I wish it was longer though. :\

 

[ZeroMachine]

It all depends on my mood. Sometimes I like a good, easy game that's a great experience so I play through Metroid Prime or the Megaman Zero series. Then I'll be in a mood for a challenge, so I'll play through Half Life 2 on a tough difficulty, or I'll play Fire Emblem.

To be honest, though, with the exception of Metroid Prime, those are all also great experiences as well as difficult...

EDIT:

The experience definitely. One of my favourite games is TLoZ: The Windwaker, and that's an incredibly easy game, but it's awesome. I wish it was longer though. :\

Seconded. Except for the "longer" part. I think with all the sidequests and everything, it was long enough.

 

[goater24]

The experience definitely. One of my favourite games is TLoZ: The Windwaker, and that's an incredibly easy game, but it's awesome. I wish it was longer though. :\

Seconded and Mario Galaxy goes the same way too!

 

[Combined]

I like a blend of both when possible (E. Arcanum), but I'll take style over difficulty any day. Even if the game is easy, I'd rather have a great, at least semi-unique experience.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I don't like "Hard" games, as long as I don't feel like my hand is being held the entire way I'm cool with an easy game. Drakes Fortune had "easy" platforming that looked cool and I was totally fine with that.

 

[Rezfon]

I like the experience more however I don't like games that ramp up the difficulty for the purpose of making the game longer.

 

[Shellsh0cker]

Style. If I want difficult, I'll go play an online shooter.

 

[Fragged_Templar]

I have to say that style is most important, that said however I also like games that are challenging.
let me clarify that, a game that you can just cruise through on auto pilot is no fun but then again a game that turns out to be "an exercise in controller snapping frustration" is no fun either because sometimes you fail the exercise and snap your controller.

 

[Saskwach]

Tough question. I think I prefer style at a base pleasure level, but intellectually prefer the challenge - as long as it's not cheap tricks.

 

[Burld]

Isn't enjoyment the most important thing? It depends on whether you can enjoy yourself without challenge. I don't think there are many people who can enjoy a game purely because it is challenging though.

 

[Sennz0r]

Some games do both great. I enjoyed the ride of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath and some of those sections were hard enough to make me have to repeat them a couple times.
Also Morrowind was very nicely done, had tons of quests to keep you busy but did have the means to challenge you if you weren't skilled enough to pull something off.

In other cases it depends on my mood as well. Sometimes I want to feel awesome and I grind some hard episodes on N+. Other times I want to have a nice story laid out before me and I play Rayman 2 or something.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Style. If I want difficult, I'll go play an online shooter.

Agreed. And what makes those challenging has less to do with the actual gameplay than it does with the 12-year-old smacktards that populate them.

 

[tendo82]

It really depends on the game. Games that focus purely on gameplay need to have some kind of challenge or some interesting feature that takes time to learn.

With games that have strong presentations, I only demand that the gameplay enhance the experience. And in those cases quite often a challenge only hinders my experience and ability to enjoy it.

 

[santaandy]

Style is better than difficulty. I'd prefer a challenge, just an achieveable one. I don't want to grind the rest of my life away, you know? Fun > Hard.

 

[Danny Ocean]

On easy, I really shouldn't die. Except maybe in boss fights.
On normal, I should die a few times.
On hard, if I play the same way as on easy or normal, I should die a lot.


But I prefer style. COD4 is just as fun on easy as it is on hard.

 

[Shellsh0cker]

Style. If I want difficult, I'll go play an online shooter.

Agreed. And what makes those challenging has less to do with the actual gameplay than it does with the 12-year-old smacktards that populate them.

The more optimistic among us say that it comes from the challenge of playing against actual humans. But yeah, that too.

 

[Silver]

I'd take style any day. I like challenging games too, but I haven't had a single game do challenging well, it's often just make stuff more obscure, put a timer in or put more enemies in, which is just not fun in any way.

No matter how hard a game is you shouldn't have to die, I think. It breaks the flow, and breaks immersion. If a game is hard you should be forced to retreat, rethink and try a new approach, but not to reload and try the same thing again, this time pulling the trigger a little bit faster. If that could be accomplished in a game, it would be a much, much harder choice. But I still think I'd go with style.