Jimquisition: A Different Kind of Difficulty

[Jyggalag]

Best episode so far. Perfectionists know that the real challenge is completion, not surviving the bear minimum.

 

[Chezza]

An interesting theory you got there Jim. I like it. And I also respect how you openly acknowledge and enjoy unique games like Kirby Yarn something. But I have an itch...

Your persona, your intro and music have encouraged me to believe you are quite the fan of games such as the original Fallouts or FPS games like Killzone. Someone with more fond memories of the gore fest Doom over Zelda and Mario Kart. But that doesn't seem to be the case. It appears games like Kirby, Mario and some strange looking childish game titles seem to be your cup of tea... or at least majority of your positive or defensive examples seem to feature such titles...

Are you a bad arse self-obsessed Totalitarian Dictator sort of gamer or the strange cousin playing pokemon I see in the odd wedding, fiddling with his game-boy in the reception?

 

[Jennacide]

difficulty:
Minor problem with this arguement. The people that don't care about that difference are generally not the people who would whine it's too easy. Unless they just like complaining for the sake of trying to sound old school.

This is just flat-out untrue. Plenty of people are saying ?I want the core experience to be a challenge?.

I can't count how many times I will play a game normally, sometimes thinking "well that was too easy, but fun," so what is my next thought do you think? "Well, let's make it harder!" FO3 was too easy, but I love the game. Since then I never use VATS, and mod the game up to put restrictions in areas I believe were to lax, like carry weight. Now I will admit, this is a moddable game, so added difficulty isn't terribly hard. So let's instead look at another game I play the pants off of, Final Fantasy 12.


For FF12 it's easier to add difficulty, play Zodiac style. If you can't get an actual copy of it (there are english patches and instructions on how to do it, if you own both copies like me), just play like you were anyway. Follow strict job classes, and don't use any of the lame auto leveling or early item tricks.

Which brings me to another point, a lot of complaints about how easy a game is come from the same group that will use every cheap trick in the book.

If I have to bar myself from certain tactics, mod the game, and set arbitrary restrictions for myself, then I'm doing the work of the game designer. I?m not just playing the game anymore, I?m making design decisions and playtesting them.

Quite frankly, I probably don?t care enough about your game to do that. Jim is actually engaging in a common fanboy fallacy here- ?You don?t like my favorite game/movie/comic book? Well, you need to work harder at liking it!?. No, I don?t. I can just move on to something else that I do enjoy.

I like how you use the point of trying to call out a logical fallacy, and then make one yourself. You're basically saying the developer should bend to what you want to play, how you want to play, and allowing people to make it harder if they want is out of the question. Rrrrright. Not every game can be IWBTG, Super Meat Boy, or "insert ancient NES title here." There are much bigger audiences being aimed at. That's why games come with difficulty sliders. Sure, not all of the sliders are perfect, but it's an option. I'd readily wager most of the people whining about "games were harder in my day" didn't play half the hard games they quote.

Yeah, Battletoads WAS hard. For good reasons? Hardly. Same goes for Ninja Gaiden. The NG games were hard back then, but not because it was purely execution.

 

[masterbazza]

the real question is..
what kind of hardcore gamer buys 'Kirby's epic yarn'?

I resent that.....big time.

A "hardcore" gamer can't enjoy Kirby's Epic Yarn because....because what? Because it's too colorful? Because it has "Yarn" in the title?

i am sorry that was a poor choice of words
i just doesn't seem like the kind of game that a hardcore gamer would buy
it seems to me that anyone who calls them selves hardcore wouldn't buy this type of game
but this might just be me, and i am not looking for a hate fight

 

[Marmooset]

Was I seeing things, or was Kirby battling sperm at 5:23?

 

[Chezza]

Masterbazza your right. Hard core gamers do not buy Kirby's epic yarn, regardless of some arguments.

There is no official definition for what a "hardcore" gamer really is. There are only generalizations and people's perspective of it when they decide to think deeper about it's meaning.

Lets assume majority of the people out there generalize hardcore gamers rather than delve deeper into discussion. I can wager hardcore gamers are known for the following:
- Very high rate of hours into gaming
- Big on competitive online play
- Never plays campaigns on easy, medium minimum and most likely choose hard
- Generally has an ego and attempts to unlock all achievements of their Favorite games

Question me if you will, but I'm pretty damn sure those 4 points are the general public's "description" of a hard core gamer.

So does Kirby's epic yarn offer enforceable fast paced action? online competitive play? Many hours of game-play (well maybe, I'm not sure about that one). Finally, achievements... well there is little to brag to others online or proof to offer even if you avoid ever getting "hit".

Anyone can claim they are hardcore but don't match those points and loves Kirby's Epic Yarn but its not going to change my opinion.

 

[DanHibiki]

More garbage from Jim. He was starting to.... no not really.

Although hard can equal tedious, tedious does not equal hard.

Oh shut up, everyones sick of you haters, you know what your getting with jim so why bother watching? The rest of us enjoy it so just leave it

Shouldn't you be out defending the new Transformers?

Off you go, now! No time to lose, there's people hating on a Micheal Bay movie out there. Justice must be served! Don thine neck beard and off to the INTERNETS!

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

My first thoughts are "ITS KIRBY" why would it be difficult? Its aimed more for kids than adults. lol. I prefer games that make you use skill. Like with the Hitman games and getting a perfect school.

 

[IkeGreil29]

Very good video, Jim. My only complaint is that you didn't admit the elephant in the room, the fact that SOME games baby you beyond belief.

 

[Conn1496]

I have to brag. I was doing this well before I saw this video. But, as Jim said, a game can be a challenge alone, but an "easy" game can be amazingly difficult if you set yourself a challenge within it. For example: I thought Tenchu Z was easy. That was until I tried going through the game with ninja 5 ranks on all levels in hard mode and killing everyone with stealth. Never happened.

[HUGE Side note]: What happened to the days when "achievements" weren't just points on xbox to increase the size of your E-peen? Achievements used to be stuff like "100% the pokedex on pokemon red/blue, and have all the final evolutions at level 100 in your box". That stuff used to be an achievement. Nowadays, achievements aren't achievements at all, they're just another medal to add to your collection of medals for doing fuck all.
You know what, I want you all to do yourself a favour. Carry around a pen and paper, and set yourself achievements for games. Forget about getting the "start the game" achievement on the new call of duty or whatnot, and go play smash bros melee's classic mode without taking a single hit. Go on... DO IT.

[TL;DR version]: Go set your own challenges. All the xbox "Achievements" are doing is trying to tell you what counts as a challenge and not.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

Oh, come on, Jim, Mega Man isn't even that hard as a series, at least not as far as beating them is concerned. I mean, sure, if you play without using any of the special weapons, or go for nothing but S-Ranks in the Zero series, it can be more challenging...

See? I can do it too. But I suppose I've never been the sort of person to base a game on ephemeral things like difficulty or depth; I just play it based on how much fun I have with it. Now that's a revelation gamers as a whole could stand to go through; we ultimately shouldn't give a shit how X feature stacks up to X game as long as we have fun. This need to validate ourselves through something that doesn't even have anything to do with us needs to go, now.

 

[DioWallachia]

Did the Harcore gamers and Jim forgot that Megaman Zero series in the Gameboy Advance HAVE this kind of difficult? Where you have to beat the stages in a good score at the end to get the best abilities to look and do more baddasery??

I dont know what is it lately but it seems that people just forgot what happened during 2002 - 2011. They dont know why games like Unreal Tournament got replaced with brow shooters and make it look like they were there all along making the industry following their steps.

I dont even have a clue anymore.