Does anyone else kinda miss the days when RPGs were actually unforgiving and challenging?
I feel that most role-playing games today babysit the player too much and basically explain step by step exactly how to play the game, what to do etc, and I wish they could respect the player's skills a little more, like they used to .
A very good example of a challenging RPG is Dragon Quest 2 - right from the start you are supposed to travel to this Spring of Bravery which is very out of the way, and it's up to the player to prepare as much as (s)he can in order to survive that journey - but it's vital to gain a couple levels and stock up on Medical Herbs and Antidotes, or else you are not gonna survive the long journey there and back.
This kind of merciless challenge right from the beginning is very rare in today's RPGs, at least as far as I'm concerned.
I'm sure there are still brutal and challenging RPGs somewhere out there, but I wish they were more common.