I'd just like to address this issue. I've been thinking about it a lot and I've decided to speak up, mainly to find out how others feel about it.
I recently watched Jims "Dumbing Down for the Filthy Casuals" video and I'm a little concerned by his views, mostly that they could be the majority view. I'll be honest, I just don't understand them.
Not only do I believe that it's a shortsighted view, but it could in fact be (and probably is) hurting the gaming industry (and me). I'm going to try to put my thoughts across as clear as I can, so bare with me. Since Dark Souls was the main focus of the video, I'm going to use that as the example game. There will be others, but I'll use that as the primary focus too.
(I'd like to start by saying I have played/completed the game. These are my concerns over the industry as a whole, not just the Dark Souls issue, and reflective of my personal opinions.)
The main point was that there's no reason Dark Souls shouldn't have an easy mode because it's not hurting anyone to have one and it's allowing more gamers to play the game that may not have ordinarily done so.
My points against.
1. Learn the game. It's as simple as that, harsh maybe, but true. Dark Souls, to me, was a throw back to the classics, a game you had to learn by trial and error, forcing you to adapt and to play the game smartly in order to progress. That was the point of the game. I honestly can't stress this enough. One of the game's core mechanics was it's difficulty, if you remove that, if the option even exists, it's a detriment to the experience. The tag line is "You're going to die". Doesn't that say it all? I know it's an extreme example, but I don't remember anyone asking for an easy mode for Battletoads or Ghouls & Ghosts. Let's be honest with ourselves, those games were awesome /because/ they pushed us to the max.
2. It cheapens the game and gamers. By even giving gamers the option to make the game easier you're not only cheapening the experience within the game itself, but you're also making gamers reliant on these methods. Many people might think that adding the option of difficulty allows people to adapt their skills in order to play the higher difficulties. While this is true for /some/ I disagree almost all the time. It's my opinion that it actually hinders smart thinking and skill progression because nothing's pushing you to improve. If it's too easy there's nothing to think about.
People might also say that "That's not you're problem. Why do you care if some people play it on the easy setting." That leads to my next point.
3. It does affect me. One of the main points of Jim's video and perhaps many other people is "It doesn't affect you." Well I think it does. I like these games. I like innovation. I like new, unique, varied gameplay. If the concern of the developer (or publisher) is "Well, we need to make it easier for gamers, because last time it was too hard for them." how long is it gonna be before they say something like "Hey do you want to make Dark Souls 3?" "Nah, those games were too hard, remember? We should just make a generic game that everyone can play, it'll be less hassle for us in the long run and we'll make more money." You might be thinking that it'll never happen, but it /is/ happening. I can't help but think that this "pandering to the casuals" is going to break what little innovation the industry has left.
Side note. It's kinda sickening when I look at modern games and I see how they lead you by the
hand. Every. Step. Of. The. Way. It's tedious and often frustrating. This hand-holding gameply
spurs from this exact kind of thinking. Examples; Tomb Raider (2013) I haven't played it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. But my heart pretty much sank when I found out that you could get a map that showed the locations of all the treasures/artifacts. Shouldn't those be, you know, hidden? Assassins Creed III (Haven't played) - Same thing, items/treasures displayed on mini-map. Ni No Kuni is probably one of the worst examples I've seen in a while. While I enjoyed the game, I can't help but feel it would have been immensely better without the constant hand-holding >.>
(I'd like to see you get 100% on the original Tomb Raider. -Without a guide-)
4. Older gamers could do it, why can't you? Most games in the classic Megadrive/Snes era were difficult and still are even today. But, we persevered and kept playing them. We completed them (eventually). Imagine if Sega re-released Sonic the Hedgehog and added an easy mode. Yeah, less enemies, less obstacles, less danger, less gameplay action, yeah! That's awesome right? Wouldn't you be horrified to your f****** core? When is it going to stop? When Sonic just runs across a completely flat screen with no enemies? Is that what you want? Huh? Huh?!
I could probably go on, but what I'm trying to say is that, to me, this is a complete non-issue. It should never have been brought up in the first place and it should never have even /existed/ as a problem. I'm not saying I'm some kind of super, elite, gaming genius because I can play Dark Souls and you can't, you can too. I died a lot in that damn game (and Demon's Souls), but I learned how to play it and I enjoyed that experience. I felt like I'd accomplished something and honestly, I want more gamers to feel like that. I don't think I'm alone in saying that games have become really stale and almost insultingly easy lately. Experiences like this don't come around very often and attitudes like this hurt the chances of there ever being any more.
I'd like to know what others feel about this. Am I alone in my feelings?
I recently watched Jims "Dumbing Down for the Filthy Casuals" video and I'm a little concerned by his views, mostly that they could be the majority view. I'll be honest, I just don't understand them.
Not only do I believe that it's a shortsighted view, but it could in fact be (and probably is) hurting the gaming industry (and me). I'm going to try to put my thoughts across as clear as I can, so bare with me. Since Dark Souls was the main focus of the video, I'm going to use that as the example game. There will be others, but I'll use that as the primary focus too.
(I'd like to start by saying I have played/completed the game. These are my concerns over the industry as a whole, not just the Dark Souls issue, and reflective of my personal opinions.)
The main point was that there's no reason Dark Souls shouldn't have an easy mode because it's not hurting anyone to have one and it's allowing more gamers to play the game that may not have ordinarily done so.
My points against.
1. Learn the game. It's as simple as that, harsh maybe, but true. Dark Souls, to me, was a throw back to the classics, a game you had to learn by trial and error, forcing you to adapt and to play the game smartly in order to progress. That was the point of the game. I honestly can't stress this enough. One of the game's core mechanics was it's difficulty, if you remove that, if the option even exists, it's a detriment to the experience. The tag line is "You're going to die". Doesn't that say it all? I know it's an extreme example, but I don't remember anyone asking for an easy mode for Battletoads or Ghouls & Ghosts. Let's be honest with ourselves, those games were awesome /because/ they pushed us to the max.
2. It cheapens the game and gamers. By even giving gamers the option to make the game easier you're not only cheapening the experience within the game itself, but you're also making gamers reliant on these methods. Many people might think that adding the option of difficulty allows people to adapt their skills in order to play the higher difficulties. While this is true for /some/ I disagree almost all the time. It's my opinion that it actually hinders smart thinking and skill progression because nothing's pushing you to improve. If it's too easy there's nothing to think about.
People might also say that "That's not you're problem. Why do you care if some people play it on the easy setting." That leads to my next point.
3. It does affect me. One of the main points of Jim's video and perhaps many other people is "It doesn't affect you." Well I think it does. I like these games. I like innovation. I like new, unique, varied gameplay. If the concern of the developer (or publisher) is "Well, we need to make it easier for gamers, because last time it was too hard for them." how long is it gonna be before they say something like "Hey do you want to make Dark Souls 3?" "Nah, those games were too hard, remember? We should just make a generic game that everyone can play, it'll be less hassle for us in the long run and we'll make more money." You might be thinking that it'll never happen, but it /is/ happening. I can't help but think that this "pandering to the casuals" is going to break what little innovation the industry has left.
Side note. It's kinda sickening when I look at modern games and I see how they lead you by the
hand. Every. Step. Of. The. Way. It's tedious and often frustrating. This hand-holding gameply
spurs from this exact kind of thinking. Examples; Tomb Raider (2013) I haven't played it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. But my heart pretty much sank when I found out that you could get a map that showed the locations of all the treasures/artifacts. Shouldn't those be, you know, hidden? Assassins Creed III (Haven't played) - Same thing, items/treasures displayed on mini-map. Ni No Kuni is probably one of the worst examples I've seen in a while. While I enjoyed the game, I can't help but feel it would have been immensely better without the constant hand-holding >.>
(I'd like to see you get 100% on the original Tomb Raider. -Without a guide-)
4. Older gamers could do it, why can't you? Most games in the classic Megadrive/Snes era were difficult and still are even today. But, we persevered and kept playing them. We completed them (eventually). Imagine if Sega re-released Sonic the Hedgehog and added an easy mode. Yeah, less enemies, less obstacles, less danger, less gameplay action, yeah! That's awesome right? Wouldn't you be horrified to your f****** core? When is it going to stop? When Sonic just runs across a completely flat screen with no enemies? Is that what you want? Huh? Huh?!
I could probably go on, but what I'm trying to say is that, to me, this is a complete non-issue. It should never have been brought up in the first place and it should never have even /existed/ as a problem. I'm not saying I'm some kind of super, elite, gaming genius because I can play Dark Souls and you can't, you can too. I died a lot in that damn game (and Demon's Souls), but I learned how to play it and I enjoyed that experience. I felt like I'd accomplished something and honestly, I want more gamers to feel like that. I don't think I'm alone in saying that games have become really stale and almost insultingly easy lately. Experiences like this don't come around very often and attitudes like this hurt the chances of there ever being any more.
I'd like to know what others feel about this. Am I alone in my feelings?