Why Easy Games Fail Yahtzee's Game Theory

[NamesAreHardToPick]

See, now my problem is that Dark Souls isn't important- and it certainly doesn't represent anything new. In order to provide the lofty challenge adult gamers got used to when they were kids, it was purposely designed like an old, archaic NES game. Think about it, lack of instruction, or purposeful orientation (oh, you wanna go into the graveyard first because you figure that skeletons have got to be the most piss-weak enemies in the game? Have fun with that.), useful items (such as the drake sword) that would be almost impossible to find accidentally, and game lengthening tactics such as forcing you to start from the bonfire after losing to a boss, rather than getting to attempt it again immediately- these are all hallmarks of older games. I see these traits as quite a bit like old movie techniques. Is it understandable why these traits might be somewhat endearing? yes, but that does not make them superior to newer techniques, snappier direction, and more well explained mechanics.

A more apt comparison would be a real vocalist vs auto-tune, or food from scratch vs TV dinner.

Dark Souls makes you actually be an awesome gamer. You're going to fail and fail and fail and hopefully quit and save yourself a lot of time and heartache unless you are truly creative, curious, persistent, etc enough to see yourself through all the traps and monsters.

Call of Duty takes you by the hand and has you follow and watch a bunch of squadmates who do all the strategy and tactics and tricks and hit the rough parts an awesome gamer would. All you have to do is not get shot in the face twice in a row while spectating.

Real vs fake. It's as simple as that.

 

[Aitamen]

This is why I'm a speedrunner: I can seek my own challenge in games that are on the border of easy, or further a challenge by learning the insides of the game.

I didn't like darksouls/demonsouls mostly because I couldn't really find something in it that appealed to me, and control of it felt slow or laggy... but I beat them both, and it was somewhat rewarding.

Not nearly as rewarding as running a sub-hour Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night run, though.

 

[Drakey]

You used to drop queer jokes in large abundance. I offer you thanks for thinning it out. Perhaps its something that will never truly catch hold on you, but 'Gay Jokes' just aren't that funny. Sure it is to the viewer base that still considers racist jokes funny, and other flat out ignorances. You often cleverly place these 'touchy' subjects as the focus of the joke rather than making the joke out of raw ignorant materials. Resident evils african safari for example. But when is it that we will no longer see you hurt your own funny by saying stupid like 'Ninja Gay Den'?

Catch up. I love your work. Ive braved the ignorance littered throughout your humor so that I can enjoy the genius that lies within.

Just be aware man. Your awesome.

 

[gadjo]

Teknoarcanist,

I simply must thank you for your courteous and logical reply, I was honestly expecting a super-flame. To respond to one of the points you made, I agree on the impressiveness of the setting of the game, I liked the notion of a band of undead survivors, trapped in an endless cycle of strife and rebirth, all of them slowly succumbing to madness and fighting to end this tortured cycle. My complaint comes from the fact that, much like an NES game, it was mostly setting with a few paltry sprinkles of story in between. I wanted the hero to have a personality of some sort, to make friends and fight the depths of the cursed land and his madness. Instead, the game took an interesting story and squandered it on the rather weak storytelling tropes of the NES.