video games these days too easy

[Lynx]

have you noticed that the games these days are alot easier then the ones that were on the older systems.

so what do you think are games to easy these days or is it all about playing the right game?

[Jowy]

Incorrect.

Play Devil May Cry 3 or Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and not want to throw a controller or entire system. ;)

[Ender]

I think they are generally a lot easier.

The very earliest video games seem to have taken the "arcade game approach" that it didn't really matter if you were able to finish the game. It's probably somewhat appropriate given that many early video games were ports from the arcade.

Somewhere along the line it was determined that when given essentially unlimited time to experience a game (that is, when the players owns the game), that players wanted to see the whole game. Eventually it became a lowest common denominator-type thing...making a game so that "everybody" could beat it eventually.

BTW, I'd love to see exactly where the industry switched...what was the first serious game that clearly demonstrated it was intended to be beaten by any player committed to playing it long enough?

[Dreddz]

True, its not such a problem, if a game is to easy, then Ill up the difficulty, even the easy games can become difficult if you want them to be. Im like this mainly when it comes to fighting games. I played Street Fighter II a whole lot back in the day, now I can beat the game at a 10 star difficulty easily. So when I picked up Soul Caliber 2 for the first time, I was in shock how easy the game was. Only after the first fight I had to up the difficulty. Although in the case of SC2, the game is still to easy on Extremely Hard.

[jubjub13]

have you noticed that the games these days are alot easier then the ones that were on the older systems.

so what do you think are games to easy these days or is it all about playing the right game?

I agree 99.9%. Have you guys ever played Metroid Fusion or Metroid Zero Mission, and then play the original Metroid. That game is hella hard, unless you cheat.:p

I disagree .1%. There are many game that are just as hard as the old games just because of the way they are made. For example....I can't think of any right now but I know there are some.:D I'll get back to ya on that.

[KentaRawr!]

Definitely easier than before, but I am a youngling and I am conditioned to that, so I don't mind.

The immense ammount of easiness is probably because of the following:

Reason 1: When sequels are made, they just have to make sure to keep the basics of the game the same. So instead of thinking "We have to make this as good as it can!" they will think "Enemies placed in (insert pattern here) pattern... check."

Reason 2: With the jump to 3D, they didn't have the technology to give enemies complex fighting patterns. Now they do, obviously, but instead of trying to make these games as hard as computer pong, the 3D games from the beginning of the 3D age set the norm for 3D games.

Reason 3: Whether reason 1 or 2 is true, it's un-deniable that now, if a game is at least as hard as those older games, they would be considered too hard. Now they have to follow the norm that has been set.

[Lynx]

Incorrect.

Play Devil May Cry 3 or Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and not want to throw a controller or entire system. ;)

haha that is actualyl oneof my points the last time broke a controller was for the super nintendo but somewhere down the line i will try these games and see how much is broken :p



BTW, I'd love to see exactly where the industry switched...what was the first serious game that clearly demonstrated it was intended to be beaten by any player committed to playing it long enough?

i dont know but my first realization that games were getting easier was when i beat FFVII and i just thought they gradually got easier from there.

[Ashley Schovitz]

Ultimate Ghosts and goblins are hard, it's about finding the right game, and most of those that are hard are terrible games, Rule of Rose had an interesting story, but the combat was too sloth and horrible that I didn't dare rent it again to try and beat it, they expected me to kill an imp with a fork!

[Rocket Edge]

KHII.

[The Last Ancient]

Why don't more rpg's have difficulty settings like most action games have and solve this problem?

[Shoeberto]

I don't know about you guys, but I, personally, like to be able to, y'know, progress in video games, without destroying controllers in absolute frustration.

So I'm going to sit back here and enjoy what the game is throwing at me instead of playing the same annoying part of a level over and over and over again until I finally get past it just to find another annoyingly difficult part. Then run out of lives. Then out of continues. Then have to start all over again.

[Dreddz]

Some ( like me ) dont actually like stupidly easy games. Im get more fun out of something thats giving me a challenge.

[Necronopticous]

The drop in difficulty from games in the 8-bit era has a lot to do with the fact that those games had horrible game mechanics due to the limitations of the technology they were running on. I appreciate a challenge, but not one due to bad game design.

[Shoeberto]

Some ( like me ) dont actually like stupidly easy games. Im get more fun out of something thats giving me a challenge.
Challenge is one thing. Insane difficulty bordering on impossible is another. See Necro's explanation.

[Dreddz]

Yes, of course. The line has to be crossed at some point. I wouldnt say that many 8-bit games were insanely impossible though.

[Necronopticous]

You didn't play many 8-bit games, apparently.

[Araciel]

games are a LOT easier these days.... i'm older and more co-ordinated.

[Lynx]

KHII.

KHII was wayyy too easy i beat sephiroth on lvl 65 on hard mode. levleing up games are the easiest because if you can't beat it at a low level level up and then beat it. so i try to counter that with beating everything on low levels.

i beat star ocean till the end of time on lvl 56 then went on to beat ethearial queen on lvl 150 on galaxy mode. Freya is wooping me though.

supuer ghouls and ghosts if thats what its still called was an insanely hard game i got to the end and couldnt beat it. even useing a cheat of saveing at anytime by the press of a button and returing with another button i still couldnt beat it.

and hey the original arcade pacman come on near impossible only one person ever to beat it.

old games = harder

[Zeromus_X]

What difficulty level?

Oh, you should try VP2, without the funky power-leveling uber equipment. Now that's a challenge. And for an RPG!

[Eiko Guy]

the easy way to solve this is to be like star ocean and make the player use his/her eyes and common sense to figure out problems instead of the heavy hinting that is in most games
Wrong way
Random NPC:"oh my i left my necklace in the haunted caves . could you go fetch it for me

Main Character" really i will go check it out" if shes so weak why did she ever go there

Right way
Main character: enters town and is about to leave when a woman comes and tells him her friends have disappeared and more thugs are around. The game ppl will have scorch marks in the field that will lead him to a volcano

subtle hints make games better and more realistic

[Lynx]

the easy way to solve this is to be like star ocean and make the player use his/her eyes and common sense to figure out problems instead of the heavy hinting that is in most games
Wrong way
Random NPC:"oh my i left my necklace in the haunted caves . could you go fetch it for me

Main Character" really i will go check it out" if shes so weak why did she ever go there

Right way
Main character: enters town and is about to leave when a woman comes and tells him her friends have disappeared and more thugs are around. The game ppl will have scorch marks in the field that will lead him to a volcano

subtle hints make games better and more realistic

i agree for the most part

that more improves on the "what do i do next" difficulty but not so much on the battles are so much of a challange that i need a better stratagy.

"the what do i do next" makes the game more fun to play and overall harder but what i want is where half way through a one sided battle you figure a way to win and are on the edge of your seat hopeing you can pull it off.

my idea of a hard game is where stratagy is the key to winning not power. which is how i like to play games.

ff7 battle against ruby weapon that was a battle where you needed stratagy but i want to see that type of stratagy neccesary for beating the game itself. not just side quests.

[fantasyjunkie]

Oh I like easy. I love video games but have a bad heart. The stress from overly difficult video games would be really bad for my health. That's why I like Oblivion with the difficulty slider.

[Rainecloud]

They seem harder to me. Maybe I'm just getting old. :p

I prefer easy, long games.

[Markus. D]

eh, dont forget you are also more skilled then the last game you played...


and its also most likely that the game is more fluid, as it evolves.

[Mirage]

I just think we're just all smarter and better now than we were back in the day.

[Nominus Experse]

I still find Blaster Master NES, which is my favorite game of all fucking time, difficult to beat without dying though...

But then again, that game is difficult to begin with.

:sophia:


But for the main topic, I think games may seem easier due to the fact that games are much more intuitive than they were in their early 8-bit era (usually...). More options, better graphics, etc...

Although, Ninja Gaiden was merciless in many ways.

[RiseToFall]

I don't know about you guys, but I, personally, like to be able to, y'know, progress in video games, without destroying controllers in absolute frustration.

So I'm going to sit back here and enjoy what the game is throwing at me instead of playing the same annoying part of a level over and over and over again until I finally get past it just to find another annoyingly difficult part. Then run out of lives. Then out of continues. Then have to start all over again.

I have to agree. I love just sitting back and relaxing while I play my games. Sure, I do enjoy a good challenge once in a while, but too many difficult games will just frustrate me.

[JKTrix]

Finally, someone mentions Ninja Gaiden.

I think the main reasons that games seem to be easier now is that we're older, more experienced, and more skilled than we were when we first started playing games. Another reason some games seemed too hard (back then and right now) is because of just plain bad game mechanics.

Ninja Gaiden was incredibly difficult. The first boss in that game is harder than final bosses in most other action games, and it's a very simple battle in essense. You have a sword, he has nunchuks, just hit each other till one of you dies. No other gimmicks like some enormous monster about to take destroy the world, or some crazy magic wielding villain. Just a guy who is really good at using nunchuks.

The challenge comes when you realize that you can't just attack him blindly. He will block most of the things you just throw at him, and will punish you painfully for it. You have to dodge, run on walls or whatever you can to avoid his attacks, then use your skills to strike at the right time. It's a game of pattern recognition and skill, and you won't be able to progress far if you suck. The game is rated M for mature, so they expect you to be '17+' when you play it, which should be old enough to have fairly good digital dexterity honed from years of gaming.

Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins is another very difficult game, but it does have some bad (or maybe intentionally cruel) design decisions. When you get hit, you get launched backwards. Sometimes, especially on your first few playthroughs, it's impossible to evade some of the stuff that just comes up out of nowhere. Now, there are certain areas where Arthur is on a fairly small platform, suspended over a vat of lava or acid or some other instant-death pit. If you get hit by some random thing that pops up, you get launched backwards, off the platform, and into the pit of burny death. Maybe it really is intentional instead of flawed design, but it sure as hell is frustrating.

Most games now make the controls easier or more intuitive as someone mentioned. This could potentially make some parts of games more bearable. Example: If double jump were to work in Ultimate Ghouls and Ghosts in the knockback situation, one could at least save themselves from burny death if they reacted fast enough. Difficulty needs to come from the A.I. now, not from limitations and flaws in the game system.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I don't know about you guys, but I, personally, like to be able to, y'know, progress in video games, without destroying controllers in absolute frustration.

So I'm going to sit back here and enjoy what the game is throwing at me instead of playing the same annoying part of a level over and over and over again until I finally get past it just to find another annoyingly difficult part. Then run out of lives. Then out of continues. Then have to start all over again.Serious. I have absolutely no problem with games not kicking my ass.

[BizarroSephiroth]

Incorrect.

Play Devil May Cry 3 or Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and not want to throw a controller or entire system. ;)

Oh boy DMC 3 is the definition of hard. I tried on Easy and am still stuck on the Gate Guardians

[Dreddz]

Finally, someone mentions Ninja Gaiden.

I think the main reasons that games seem to be easier now is that we're older, more experienced, and more skilled than we were when we first started playing games. Another reason some games seemed too hard (back then and right now) is because of just plain bad game mechanics.

Ninja Gaiden was incredibly difficult. The first boss in that game is harder than final bosses in most other action games, and it's a very simple battle in essense. You have a sword, he has nunchuks, just hit each other till one of you dies. No other gimmicks like some enormous monster about to take destroy the world, or some crazy magic wielding villain. Just a guy who is really good at using nunchuks.

The challenge comes when you realize that you can't just attack him blindly. He will block most of the things you just throw at him, and will punish you painfully for it. You have to dodge, run on walls or whatever you can to avoid his attacks, then use your skills to strike at the right time. It's a game of pattern recognition and skill, and you won't be able to progress far if you suck. The game is rated M for mature, so they expect you to be '17+' when you play it, which should be old enough to have fairly good digital dexterity honed from years of gaming.

See, I still dont know why people had such difficulty with Ninja Gaiden. It was harder than most games but it never got so hard that I stopped playing it. After getting used to everything, I was skimming through the game, dying on the odd occasion.

The same goes for DMC3, more so in fact.

[Zeldy]

I found Another Code on the DS really hard :( but far too short.
But Im a girl, I find all videogames hard.

[JKTrix]

Being fairly serious fighting game afficionados (I wasn't at the time I started playing this game), Ninja Gaiden wouldn't be so much of an overwhelming challenge. If you can pull off reflexive moves in some of the better fighting games, reflexive counters wouldn't be too challenging in Ninja Gaiden.

One thing is for sure though, after playing Ninja Gaiden I was a *lot* more skilled in most similar games.

[Reine]

I found Another Code on the DS really hard :( but far too short.
But Im a girl, I find all videogames hard.

Gender really doesnt have anything to do with it :p

I get schooled and surpassed by girls in video games quite a lot, and im not exactly useless :D

I find games easier these days, yeah. I both welcome it, and dont welcome it. Action goames like DMC im not very good at, so I like it when they are easy. Hence I will probably never buy DMC3, the first was impossible, and I only just managed to beat DMC2 with both characters on Normal. RPGs, I like them to be a challenge, but sometimes it gets a little too extreme, like in SMT: Lucifers Call, I still cant get far in that game due to the difficulty.

[Lynx]

well some games are a challange of course i havent played the new ninja gaiden but i played the old ones for NES and i found them very very hard. Ninja gaiden is my only reason to ever buy an X box. i think one problem is there are too many hints and helps in a game.

just for example zelda. zelda link's adventure. aka zelda 2 for NES. you pretty much have to figure out everything on your own. you get small hints if yoiu talk to the right people in town but there wasn't ever a little fairy flying around by your side telling you what you need to do next. and in orcarina of time Navi fills that spot. dont get me wrong i loved orcarina of time and it could be challngeing but thats what i mean by hints and help in a game.

now as for skill im going to have to agree i should realize i am older now and my motor skill are a lot more developed then they were back when i was a little kid. but maybe i just want each generation of games to be harder and harder. i know i have played games whre i was like omg this is impossible. but then after i complete the game i feel quite succesful.

right now im finding star ocean till the end of time somewhat difficult mainly becaus eim trying to beat Freya at lvl 150. instead of 200+ as usually suggested.

[fantasyjunkie]

I found Another Code on the DS really hard :( but far too short.
But Im a girl, I find all videogames hard.

Oh, I'm a 39 year old man and I also find all video games hard. :(