Poll: Difficulty in games is changing.

[roguetrooper96]

I find new games way too easy these days... oh wait I keep setting them to beginner mode, mystery solved!

OT: I do find games far too easy, although there was a point in MW2 where the player was supposed to wait for a computer (Windows 95, the slowest computer on the face of the earth) to copy over some files and I hate protection missions so I tried it a good 20ish times but in the end I just gave the hell up coz it was ridiculous.

 

[Tharwen]

I don't like to be told I can't play any more simply because I failed once. I want to be able to learn and improve and succeed because of that improvement without having to redo the things that I already showed the game I can win.

 

[TrevHead]

I like both hard games and easy games depending on what mood im in.

Ill just say this to all you ppl who hate hard games, In all my long years of playing video games nothing could beat the feeling of playing my first shmup 2 years ago (blue wish resurrection) and beating it using a single credit.

Every gamer needs to climb their own little VG mountain http://shmuptheory.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-credit-completion.html

EDIT: I think a reason ppl hate hard games is because they dont like been told they suck

 

[Biodeamon]

I know the difficulty has been changed alot.
either you've got the games where you kill everything with a flick of a button for the newbs or games that frustartingly difficult for the people with hard-ons for hard modes.

I mean you either unlock easy or hard at the end of a game these days.

 

[squid5580]

Old games weren't difficult. They just required you to memorize the patterns. Once you did that you can beat almost any game with a single life no problem.

New games can be just like old games if you desire them to be. Don't like checkpoints? Too many lives for you? Unlimited continues got your knickers in a bunch? Set your own rules to the games you play. There is nothing stopping you from punishing yourself for failing. Die 3 times in a level restart the level yourself. Die 9 times before the end well restart the whole game and delete it from your memory. With everything most games track you can give yourself extra lives by doing certain things. Get creative for that old school feel. But don't ask devs to take money out of their own pocket to appease you.

 

[Choppaduel]

How about old difficulty and pacing with the modern ability to save wherever you like?

I like it.

I only play very old games on emulators because there's a save state function. Its a shame those ROMs are kind of, not exactly "allowed." However, that's the only way I'll play something with a lives system.

Save state: it removes the "punishing" in "punishing difficulty"

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I am glad as glad can be that the old "lives" system is fading out of platformers. I'm all for difficulty, but being given a limited number of tries just makes it frustrating and irritating. Super Meat Boy was just a blast to play, I loved it, it had no lives system, and it was spine bendingly difficult at the same time.

 

[Kahunaburger]

How about old difficulty and pacing with the modern ability to save wherever you like?

I like it.

I only play very old games on emulators because there's a save state function. Its a shame those ROMs are kind of, not exactly "allowed." However, that's the only way I'll play something with a lives system.

Save state: it removes the "punishing" in "punishing difficulty"

Yeah, save states are what it's about

Always reminds me of this video on the particularly hard parts haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2OytHzZ72Y

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Having said that games are far easier now to lower the bar for entry. More gamers means more money. Old games killed you far more often than new games ever do.

But the new kids kill me far more than the old ones do

 

[thisbymaster]

I just don't have the hours and hours to waste on that stuff anymore, I just want to play the story and be entertained. I don't want to work any harder than I have to, I already have a job. Don't make the games I play another job, that got COMPLETELY burnt out of me by Wow.

 

[GrimHeaper]

Having said that games are far easier now to lower the bar for entry. More gamers means more money. Old games killed you far more often than new games ever do.

But the new kids kill me far more than the old ones do

Mainly because there are far more of them and the old don't care as much.

 

[Bostur]

Old games had far more variety than new games so its hard to say something conclusive.

Try comparing the difficulty of Civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_%28video_game%29

With the difficulty of Delta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlwgAzgK7ws

That comparison wouldn't make much sense, but both were pretty hard in their own ways.


Completing Delta was far more difficult than completing any of the CoD games, so in that way maybe Delta was harder. But people didn't expect to beat action games back then. Beating the game meant it was over so no fun in that. Now we don't expect games to last long, we expect to be able to complete them. It's a very different mindset that is partly caused by having a storyline in the game.

 

[Sean951]

I don't mind a lives system... but I think what Zelda:Ocarina of Time did was a far better system. Unlimited continues and lives, but it tracked your deaths. I suppose people might take some sort of masochistic enjoyment out of replaying levels over and over and over because they can't figure out some trap at the end of a half hour segment of game, but I would rather face a 5 min section, which gives me the same amount of challenge, but let's me actually work on what I'm having trouble with instead of getting stupidly good at level A because I just can't beat level B.

 

[WorldFree55]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2454-Easy-Games

That is all

 

[7777777777444]

Yeah, I personally think that older games are harder, just by default. Seriously, if you played the Original Super Mario Bros, than played one of the ones for gamecube, which one will be harder?

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I'm not that fond of the bland gaming medium games seem to be rushing into full-heartly because more people will by it. Which is probably true NOW but they will eventually alienate their fans and in the end be fucked. As an example: this is kinda where I fear Bioware is heading. Fun for all (questionable?) and easy to use (too easy?) but they may be going TOO far.
^ and this ^ all includes the difficulty too, so pffffft.

 

[Gigatoast]

If you think a game is too easy, then just play in hard mode. If the game doesn't have difficulty settings THEN there's a problem. Why is the difficulty of normal mode even an issue?

 

[Judgement101]

I like older RPGS. You know the old "An adventurer approaches you......the adventurer stabs you....YOU LOSE!" ones.

 

[Iron_will]

Old Game: Long levels, few checkpoints, limited lives.
New Game: long levels, many checkpoints, unlimited lives.

First off, the bolded aspects are what is called "Fake Difficulty" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty].

I can't understand why people seem to completely miss that about a lot of older games.

 

[zefiewings]

It's definatly an odd sort of toss up isn't it? The old games are definetly "harder" in the "punishment for failing" way, but to be honnest they, the really old ones at leased like Adam's family(SEGA)and Sonic and Mario are, essentially, about hitting the JUMP button at the right time. The new difficulties are gennerally more "skill" related. I do really feel that the no-harm no-foul attitude of the modern game leaves something to be desired, the Prince of Persia game with that new prince in it for example. Sure you "died", alot even, falling off clifs every few jumps or so. but doing so has about the same consicences as blinking, she just pulls you back up again. At leased in the older games you had to try and be carful with your "re-do's" because you ran out of sand.
I feel that the new games go so well with story line and over all gameplay that I can't go back to most older games. That one aspect I do belive is taking a turn for the worst. It is moving to the point that there is just no losing a game at all is there?