Poll: Hard games or Easy games?
- Thread starter TrevorGruen
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A balance.
Not something that ANYONE can beat. Hate that.
But something that anyone with a certain degree of genre competency can complete.
Also, not shit like Megaman, where you have to practice for hours to beat half the game.
Not something that ANYONE can beat. Hate that.
But something that anyone with a certain degree of genre competency can complete.
Also, not shit like Megaman, where you have to practice for hours to beat half the game.
Sir Sweet was a *****, but one you figure out the pattern, all you need to do is hone your button-tapping skills.TrevorGruen said:
Playing through Prinny 2 using said skills is horrible, though. At the end of the day, I couldn't bend my arm without feeling pain. I've already beatin' the main story and Asagi Wars, though. Good fun. Now to work on the extra stuff.
I prefer slightly easier games, but not so easy I get bored. I play for escapism, not challenge, so if I'm constantly having to retry something it takes the fun out, but if I can beat the whole game without trying that's not fun either.
Dunno, is it too easy, and I can beat it in about 2 hours while laughing at how overpowered I am? Or is it impossibly hard and I give up on beating it, while swearing at my TV and selling the game on amazon?
What I like is a combination. For instance, a game which anyone can get through from start to finish, but which it's quite difficult to do seamlessly. I rather like in Bayonetta that your deaths (up to 5) count against you in each chapter, reducing your award, so you end up having a goal of getting platinum or pure platinum on every challenge and not dying once (very hard), but at the same time it's not like an old school game where if you die you're just screwed.
Dead Rising was also great with letting you restart with all your experience. Eventually you get powerful enough to handle what beats you, it's rather like being Doomsday.
Games which are easy to finish but hard to finish perfectly have pretty great replay value. That's something that games like Rock Band get really well. Anyone can play it, but if you want top score, you really have to work at it.
Dead Rising was also great with letting you restart with all your experience. Eventually you get powerful enough to handle what beats you, it's rather like being Doomsday.
Games which are easy to finish but hard to finish perfectly have pretty great replay value. That's something that games like Rock Band get really well. Anyone can play it, but if you want top score, you really have to work at it.
I feel that both can be good. Its nice to have a good challenging game every now and again but its also nice to have a nice easy and fun game to breeze through. Some times, if a game is too much on the challenge department, they soak out all the fun and replace it with frustration. While if a game is way too easy, you'll also lose any real sense of accomplishment.
So a combination is nice. However as I said above, I like a good challenging game every now and again, so I'm happy that we do have a market like that and I'm glad that they do make games simply for the challenge (Demon Souls apparently being one though sadly I've yet to play it). While I also like a nice easy game to breeze through as long as its not tedious. So I wouldn't like both difficulties forced out of the market.
So a combination is nice. However as I said above, I like a good challenging game every now and again, so I'm happy that we do have a market like that and I'm glad that they do make games simply for the challenge (Demon Souls apparently being one though sadly I've yet to play it). While I also like a nice easy game to breeze through as long as its not tedious. So I wouldn't like both difficulties forced out of the market.
I enjoy both.
I love games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where even on Very Easy difficulty (what I play on, don't laugh), it's hard as hell. Guns are still inaccurate, enemies are still snipers that were trained from age five to hit their target 100% of the time, you can still only take a handful of bullets, but damn, is it fun.
On the other hand, I also adore games like DJ Hero 2, which in all honestly, was easy. I 5-starred Galvanize on Expert difficulty on my third or so try without a Power Deck, and no other song in Empire mode took more than two tries to 5-star on Expert. Maybe this was because I played its predecessor to death, getting almost every achievement (including the much more difficult task of 5-starring every song on Expert) and mastering the game, but I still thought DJ Hero 2 was tons of fun. The music was top-notch, minus a few songs (damn you, M.I.A. and all your music), and for the most part the online play is better than ever.
I love games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, where even on Very Easy difficulty (what I play on, don't laugh), it's hard as hell. Guns are still inaccurate, enemies are still snipers that were trained from age five to hit their target 100% of the time, you can still only take a handful of bullets, but damn, is it fun.
On the other hand, I also adore games like DJ Hero 2, which in all honestly, was easy. I 5-starred Galvanize on Expert difficulty on my third or so try without a Power Deck, and no other song in Empire mode took more than two tries to 5-star on Expert. Maybe this was because I played its predecessor to death, getting almost every achievement (including the much more difficult task of 5-starring every song on Expert) and mastering the game, but I still thought DJ Hero 2 was tons of fun. The music was top-notch, minus a few songs (damn you, M.I.A. and all your music), and for the most part the online play is better than ever.
Games that are too easy lose their entertainment value while games that are too hard become overly annoying.
Myself personally the main reason I play a game is to experience the story as if I am the actor in a movie. I want to be the main character and see the events play out. If a game is too hard (like try for 5 hours to beat one part, I tend to put the controller down and it sticks with me that the game is too tough and I might not touch it again for a while because of the thought in the back of my head saying "too tough, I really don't want to start it back up only to be in the same spot for a long time.". That being said my putting down the controller is my saying "As much as I want to see what happens, it is ruining my experience and I need to stop.
If it is too easy, then I tend to get bored. If I am easily slicing through the opposition and not taking damage or just feeling like a Super human being (when I am not supposed to) that too takes away from the experience. Sure my character is all powerful but then I just find myself saying "wow I kick ass at this game....go me" instead of "I can do this, what will happen next".
It is always nice to have a median, difficulty options are great to match the player's skill (I am a fan of normal). As long as the difficulty does not take away from the enjoyment of playing and the experience (that is the most important).
Myself personally the main reason I play a game is to experience the story as if I am the actor in a movie. I want to be the main character and see the events play out. If a game is too hard (like try for 5 hours to beat one part, I tend to put the controller down and it sticks with me that the game is too tough and I might not touch it again for a while because of the thought in the back of my head saying "too tough, I really don't want to start it back up only to be in the same spot for a long time.". That being said my putting down the controller is my saying "As much as I want to see what happens, it is ruining my experience and I need to stop.
If it is too easy, then I tend to get bored. If I am easily slicing through the opposition and not taking damage or just feeling like a Super human being (when I am not supposed to) that too takes away from the experience. Sure my character is all powerful but then I just find myself saying "wow I kick ass at this game....go me" instead of "I can do this, what will happen next".
It is always nice to have a median, difficulty options are great to match the player's skill (I am a fan of normal). As long as the difficulty does not take away from the enjoyment of playing and the experience (that is the most important).
My five thoughts on game difficulty:
1) Difficulty should be a genuine test of acquired, built, or otherwise consistently displayed skill, and not just shitty controls or a time limit [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty].
2) Gaming should require effort, but be nonetheless accessible. A good example are obstacle course-type difficulty adjustments, which do a satisfactory job, and give players room to attempt higher difficulties.
3) Not all games have to be a challenge. Some are content with storytelling or other kinds of interactivity.
4) User-friendliness and outright easiness are two sides of the same coin, and should be balanced wisely. Naturally, games should make sense.
5) Pizza.
1) Difficulty should be a genuine test of acquired, built, or otherwise consistently displayed skill, and not just shitty controls or a time limit [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty].
2) Gaming should require effort, but be nonetheless accessible. A good example are obstacle course-type difficulty adjustments, which do a satisfactory job, and give players room to attempt higher difficulties.
3) Not all games have to be a challenge. Some are content with storytelling or other kinds of interactivity.
4) User-friendliness and outright easiness are two sides of the same coin, and should be balanced wisely. Naturally, games should make sense.
5) Pizza.
I think the simple solution is to have games with multiply difficult levels. That works the best for me since sometimes I want a challenge and sometimes I want to have some more simple fun without having to pay a huge amount of attention.
I can enjoy both. I'll be playing Megaman or Super Meat Boy one day and Kirby's Epic Yarn or Fable the next.
Both types of games are good.
I'll play Bejeweled or World of Zoo or something when I just want to chill out and escape life.
On the other hand, sometimes I want the challenge of Super Meat Boy, or an RTS.
It depends. And I wouldn't want developers to homogenize their games into one predetermined difficulty level. For one thing, how would you define the difficulty level? And for another, I'd suddenly suck at gaming, and I wouldn't much like that...
I'll play Bejeweled or World of Zoo or something when I just want to chill out and escape life.
On the other hand, sometimes I want the challenge of Super Meat Boy, or an RTS.
It depends. And I wouldn't want developers to homogenize their games into one predetermined difficulty level. For one thing, how would you define the difficulty level? And for another, I'd suddenly suck at gaming, and I wouldn't much like that...