Games Aren't Getting Eaiser!

[Timberwolf0924]

I've often thought the same thing that everyone does.. "These damn games are getting easier and easier!" But then I see people who never play games get a hold of the controller and make a total mess of things. I've came to the conclusion that games are not getting easier, but we, as gamers, are getting better.

Think about it, Final Fantasy VII was hard for us because most of us were 11-15 when it came out. (1997 for those who don't know) And it was so hard!! I had the hardest time grinding levels to get past one of the cities where you had to run through a patch of water and you could see the giant snake come after you, he killed me a bajillion times. But now, I can sit down and level up enough in Midgar to go out and kill things all over the place. I mean, Super Mario Bros used to be hard for me, I couldn't beat it, I got SM3 for the Wii and beat it in like 30 mins without dying.

tl:dr ver 1.2

Games aren't getting easier, we're getting better as gamers.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

tl:dr ver 1.2

Games aren't getting easier, we're getting better as gamers.

Disagree, slightly. We aren't getting better, we're getting smarter.

When you're playing Painkiller for the first time, and you come across a big gun, two stacks of health and a load of ammo...what do you do?

You already know this is a "Heal up for Big Boss Fight" room, and that Big Gun is to be used on Big Boss, so what do you do?

Sneak into the next room with your least powerful weapon, scout until you feel you're at a perfect ambush point, step forward slightly, backpedal firing infinite ammo weapon, switch to chunky weapon if they get close, wait for Boss to arrive, aim for the eyes/underbelly/flashing bits of boss with big weapon.

Equally, "Here's a very well designed area with no special function"..."Ooh, it's a special treasure trove with powerups".

There's also a lot of cross-game pollenation. Circle-strafing is as useful in Tomb Raider, Team Fortress 2, M.D.K. and Zeno Clash despite being very different games.

There's also the "SHOOT WITH BUTTON B HERE" bits that get tacked on instead of tutorials.

tl:dr; Better, no. More adept, yes.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

tl:dr; Better, no. More adept, yes.

So when you become more adept are you not getting better?

If you become more adept at shooting a rifle at 100+ yards, doesn't that mean you a 'better' shot? If you become more adept at an online game against others doesn't that mean you've gotten 'better' at it?

 

[Hollock]

to the statement "games are getting easier", I present Catherine.

 

[NegaWiki]

Games aren't getting easier, we're getting better as gamers.

Uh... OK, I guess. I still suck at every single game I play.
Things from your youth will always seem harder from the time you first played them, nostalgia and all.

 

[somonels]

Games have gotten easier, mostly because the design has become solid.

 

[lord.jeff]

The other thing to point out is that modern games punish you less, old games: limited lives, no saving, modern games: limitless lives, saves, level selects. The only reason you had a hard time finishing Megaman, Mario, or whatever else is that you got bored of the dozen times that you had to reply the first level.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

to the statement "games are getting easier", I present Catherine.

I played through the demo, it wasn't extremely hard, it was challenging yes, refreshingly so, but I haven't gotten the full game.

Games have gotten easier, mostly because the design has gotten solid, since the NES days.

I donno, the base design has, but there's always something that will change, from side scrolling and top down views to first person views and multi-axis games

 

[Liquid Paradox]

I must disagree with posts one and two, because I frequently play older games. Some are fairly easy, I agree, and were tough when I was a lot younger. On the other hand, however, some are still really. Really. Freaking. Hard. Akjbbdfbfdb. Legend of Zelda (original as well as "The adventures of link), Grabbed by the Goulies, Castlevania, Metriod 1 + 2... freaking hard games, even now. In fact, every time I let Nostalgia take control and go play the old ones, I only play for about an hour, asking myself "How the hell did 6-year-old/10-year-old/14-year-old me ever get through these games? Sometimes I wonder if the years of progressively easier games have made me worse at video games.

Then Dark Souls. Suddenly, I remember how.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

I'd maybe agree if the subjects most commonly presented in favor of the "games are getting too easy" argument weren't of the "press X until it dies unless it's a boss", "you can't fail unless you simply stop playing", "everything is plainly explained to you (though to be fair, some games let you turn this off)" and "you're given way too much of way too much to succeed" variety.

 

[Hollock]

to the statement "games are getting easier", I present Catherine.

I played through the demo, it wasn't extremely hard, it was challenging yes, refreshingly so, but I haven't gotten the full game.

The demos like the first level to help you get a hand of thing. Towards the end, I would have to take a day off of playing to kind of reset my brain so I could find a different apporach to getting up them damn blocks.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

tl:dr; Better, no. More adept, yes.

If you become more adept at shooting a rifle at 100+ yards, doesn't that mean you a 'better' shot? If you become more adept at an online game against others doesn't that mean you've gotten 'better' at it?

What you're doing is getting better at shooting a rifle at 100+ yards. You're not becoming a better shot because you're not getting better at firing a rifle from 50-100 yards.

It's a concentration of learning, not a overall benefit.

For instance; I'm used to high ping servers, so weapons that lead their target, like the Huntsman, mean I can pull off some exceptional shots.

I'm not fast reactioned though, so changing targets every second would defeat me.

So if you gave me a game where I have to lead the target into different areas, I'd be as bad as someone who first started.

Adept, not better

Examples: I Wanna Be The Guy beaten. Super Meat Boy beaten. BattleToads, still not beaten without cheats (AFAIK).

 

[Soxafloppin]

A lot of the "Games are getting easier" thing comes from memories of the Arcade i think, Those things where designed to take money off you!

Play MK2 from the new Mortal Kombat Arkade Kollection and then play a home port of MK2, they are completely different.

 

[DazZ.]

Depends on the types of games you play.

Roguelikes are certainly getting easier if Dungeons of Dredmor is anything to go by.

 

[Zeckt]

I don't know, games back then were only 1-2 hours long if you play through it but that was after practice and practice. I remember spending alot of time on contra alien wars on hard progressively getting better.

Now? try Saints row 2 last ultor mission after the download patch. Helicopters that spawn out of your sight and shoot you with heat seeking missiles before you can even SEE them? check. That was HARD!!! especially considering you can only take 2 of the missiles and 95% of the time the first helicopter to spawn hits you before you can even take off!!

 

[iFail69]

Disagree. Crash Bandicoot 1 is a hell of a lot harder to 100% complete than any of its sequels.

Tomb Raider was admittedly dumbed down since the first one.

There is some degree of agreement to your statement though, OP. Whilst I disagree with the fact that games aren't getting easier (because in my opinion, they are), we are also getting better at games as we play through the years. Also, difficulty settings. A lot of older games didn't really have them, whereas now you usually have 3 or 4 different settings at least.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

tl:dr; Better, no. More adept, yes.

If you become more adept at shooting a rifle at 100+ yards, doesn't that mean you a 'better' shot? If you become more adept at an online game against others doesn't that mean you've gotten 'better' at it?

What you're doing is getting better at shooting a rifle at 100+ yards. You're not becoming a better shot because you're not getting better at firing a rifle from 50-100 yards.

It's a concentration of learning, not a overall benefit.

For instance; I'm used to high ping servers, so weapons that lead their target, like the Huntsman, mean I can pull off some exceptional shots.

I'm not fast reactioned though, so changing targets every second would defeat me.

So if you gave me a game where I have to lead the target into different areas, I'd be as bad as someone who first started.

Adept, not better

Examples: I Wanna Be The Guy beaten. Super Meat Boy beaten. BattleToads, still not beaten without cheats (AFAIK).

I'm sorry, but if you're becoming more adept at shooting at 100 yards, you're getting better. anything you do for along time, putting effort and desire and drive into, you're going to get better. I have a grouping of about 16 inches at 40 yards with my pistol, I can let my friends use it and his grouping is at 4 inches, he's much more adept than I am.. and I'll also say he's better, too

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Yes most games have gotten easier go play Contra and tell me that isn't hard and punishing for no good reason other than to be insanely hard? People do get better but there has been a massive decrease in difficulty whether or not that is a good thing is a different matter. I think it is a bad thing as they aren't using difficulty settings right then. Halo 3 is a complete joke compared to Halo 1 difficulty wise same as most other games. Go play CoD 1 on Vet as well and tell me that isn't harder than CoD BO on Vet.

Also FFVII was not hard or rather it shouldn't have been hard. You could get through the whole game just by not skipping random battles and without much thought in strategy you might need the odd level or tactic here and there but nothing compared to some other games in the series.

 

[LordRoyal]

Tomb Raider was admittedly dumbed down since the first one.

The first game was simple as fuck.

The last time I tried playing it I went "Wow... no wonder the second game became one of the best selling PS1 games of all time instead of this one". The Second and Third games were way more complicated in terms of gameplay.

Now if your talking about the newer generation ones then yes they are dumbed down.