Poll: Are They Getting Easier?...

[MarxonSR1]

I don't know my knowledge of the difficulty of older games is limited. But I remember if you can count this, Star Wars: Power Battles insanely hard to complete in fact I still haven't completed it actually, excuse me for about five more years.........

But I suppose there are always more difficulty settings and it has been made easier to make to more accessible to the wider audience and bring more people in.

 

[TZer0]

If it isn't hard enough, then play it on a harder difficulty... like Mile High Club from CoD4 on veteran.. now that's hard (on PC).

 

[A random person]

Of course they're getting easier. Older games had ridiculous jumps, enemies, and obscure hints at what the hell you are supposed to do, if any hints outside of Nintendo Power. Games are easier nowadays with reasonable enemy strength and numbers, there being something to help you with somewhat ridiculous tasks, sometimes you are saved in a cutscene (even if it isn't that hard; that bridge with several enemies in the final dungeon of Twilight Princess is something I could have taken care of), and getting rid of the lives system leftover from arcades. And you can save. Hard as hell games still exist in sizable numbers, however; Mega Man 9 kicked my ass.

 

[Iron Mal]

When people say games are easier they really mean games dont have near impossible bullshit walls that old games used to have because they were designed off of the arcade mentality of making people eat up quarters...those things were'nt fun. I dont want to go back to those days.

This, back in the day most games often had a protaganist who could only take one hit before dying, enemies who damaged you with mere contact and a limited number of lives before you had to start all over again.

Due to advances in technology and gameplay we now have health metres, checkpoints/save games and not everything in the world can kill us by brushing up against it.

The extra 'challange' the older games had was somewhat artificial, you weren't expected to complete the game (hence the fact that most of them had horrifically crap endings).

 

[vede]

Yes, new games are easier than older games.

And I'm glad for it. Why would I want games to force me to stay out of certain content that I'm interested in experiencing just because I'm not good at the game? I wouldn't. I would rather my games fit my skill level, instead of forcing me to attain theirs.

That's just me, though. Some people play because they like accomplishing things. I play because I like the experience.

 

[Sanaj]

*Points at A random person and Iron Mal* Yeah pretty much what they said...=P

I would definitely say that the normal difficulty on most FPS games is quite a bit easier that it used to be.
However, most of those FPS games include a harder difficulty setting that will satisfy many players.

Scaling back the difficulty curve is just a method game developers use so the more casual
players can still play through a game without being overwhelmed.

As for comparing how the difficulty level progresses with sequels...that isn't always necessarily a valid point.
Certain game sequels are only very tangentially related to the previous game...

Sometimes it's a very different game with a familiar stamp on it.
I can see why some developers do this, it's quite simple ...
Many people like to buy things that are safe and familiar.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

Most games are being developed for the masses, thus they must be made so that the nearest bag of hammers will be able to pick up the game and play it, especially in the case of large profile games.

 

[Flour]

Games have been getting easier since the N64. Mainly because games became more expensive to produce and a difficult game will not be bought as much as an easy game.

If it isn't hard enough, then play it on a harder difficulty... like Mile High Club from CoD4 on veteran.. now that's hard (on PC).

That's not a real difficulty. It's hard, sure, but it completely depends on luck if you get to the end of the level. Real difficulty is fun.

 

[chuckman1]

Of course they have.
Now I have to start every game I get on the hardest difficulty setting that's not locked,
(yes some say I'm a masochist but I like challenge).

 

[Pimppeter2]

yes their just less bullshitty, not that thats a good thing

 

[Gizmo]

Depends if your playing on uber easy then its useless i play it once through on easy so i know what i'm doing then crank it up to max.

 

[quiet_samurai]

I vote no, because most games have difficulty settings.

Go play the original Far-Cry on realistic mode, it's damn near unplayable.

 

[pieeater911]

I dunno, there are few games nowadays that give me any real trouble even on the hardest difficulty setting.

And then I go and play The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, and I'm getting my ass handed to me on normal setting.

 

[Dys]

Yes they are easier, it's to appeal to a larger audience and I can't really fault them for that.

My biggest complaint is that "Hard" mode often isn't hard at all, make easy mode easy, make normal mode easy if you want, but please god please make HARD mode HARD.

Yeah I second that. I'm ok with you making baby modes, but I don't want the hard difficulties to be locked or a re-release of the easy version where there are just more enemies. Make them (the enemies) tougher/smarter/stronger etc, changing stats isn't generally that much work, so why isn't it done better?

I vote no, because most games have difficulty settings.

Go play the original Far-Cry on realistic mode, it's damn near unplayable.

Play the second, you'll find it's there's onle one difficulty that poses even a remote challenge.

 

[Jakkal]

To me, it seems that with the gaming industry being dominated by whiny 9-year olds who stop playing a game whenever they get killed (even with the new magically regenerating health), so companies are making games that appeal to them more.

 

[Jonny The Kay]

You know games are getting easier when one of Megaman 9's major selling points was it was hard.

 

[balimuzz]

Dear lord, please use the search button. Some games are getting easier, such as Wii games, and some are staying difficult, such as Ninja Gaiden. Either way, as long as it's fun, I don't have any complaints.

 

[keji]

This is going to sound extremly biased but, First person shooters are noticeably becoming easier due to consoles.

Not because I hate consoles ( I have a 360 and enjoy it quite a bit), but just because developer's don't seem to be taking the time to develop them for the two different systems, just porting.

I don't know no about every genre, and I don't want to be that guy that says CONSOLES ARE RUINING GAMINGZORS, ALL HAIL THE GREAT PC GAMING...but going from the CoD series alone, the multiplayer has gotten progressively easier (not worse, imo..just different styles) as the series has progressed....Battlefield too...after BF2, it seemed to get quite a bit easier.

Singleplayer is hard to say, I don't play much SP, mostly singleplayer, and if I'm playing an SP game it's going to be for enjoyment not difficulty....though sometimes this goes hand in hand.

/endrambling.

 

[gsf1200]

Most games are easier now, mainly because if I get stuck, I can find strategies or entire walkthroughs on the internet. I liked the harder games. If single player gets too hard, I can find cheat codes to finish it. If the game is too easy, there's not much reason to replay it.