Today's RPGs are too easy

[*Laurelindo*]

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.

[NeoCracker]

In hindsight, I don't know if there is actually a difference in volume of challanging RPG's across the ages.

NES days probably had the most. Get to SNES, the hardest games on that were FF IV, BoF 2, and Ogre Battle in terms of RPG's. The only real consistantly hard RPG series I can think of is Dragon Quest. Otherwise it's just the occasional difficult RPG, and bunch of moderately challanging RPG's, and some easy RPG's.

[*Laurelindo*]

In hindsight, I don't know if there is actually a difference in volume of challanging RPG's across the ages.

NES days probably had the most. Get to SNES, the hardest games on that were FF IV, BoF 2, and Ogre Battle in terms of RPG's. The only real consistantly hard RPG series I can think of is Dragon Quest. Otherwise it's just the occasional difficult RPG, and bunch of moderately challanging RPG's, and some easy RPG's.

Sure, though my impression is that they seemed to assume a lot more that the players would figure things out on their own in older RPGs, and I like that.
It might be convenient to have in-game tutorials, but it becomes a little too easy when the game starts telling you step by step what to do in order to progress, IMHO.

[Pete for President]

Dark-Souls_Wallpaper7_1920_1200.jpg

It is all you need.

[NeoCracker]

In hindsight, I don't know if there is actually a difference in volume of challanging RPG's across the ages.

NES days probably had the most. Get to SNES, the hardest games on that were FF IV, BoF 2, and Ogre Battle in terms of RPG's. The only real consistantly hard RPG series I can think of is Dragon Quest. Otherwise it's just the occasional difficult RPG, and bunch of moderately challanging RPG's, and some easy RPG's.

Sure, though my impression is that they seemed to assume a lot more that the players would figure things out on their own in older RPGs, and I like that.
It might be convenient to have in-game tutorials, but it becomes a little too easy when the game starts telling you step by step what to do in order to progress, IMHO.

I don't think most games have that problem actually. FF X certainly did. But games like Mana Khemia and the Shin Megami Titles simply have to many mechanics and oddities to just expect a person to figure out without getting frustrated. Megami explains all of it's systems and mechanics in good detail, but doesn't stop the game from utterly kicking your ass.

Oh, and a pre-emptive piss off to Mirage. The games are legitamely challanged.

(SPOILER)

[Pike]

A lot of old RPGs were difficult mostly because they had weird bizarre mechanics or something. Or because the controls were terrible. (Daggerfall I'm looking at you.)

[Formalhaut]

To be honest, FFX did hold your hand throughout much of the first portion of the game. Even then, it was still easy.

I quite liked FFXII's way of doing it. From near the beginning, you could go really quite far into the westersand, where rare game like Fideliant and Dustia can completely own Vaan.

[*Laurelindo*]

A lot of old RPGs were difficult mostly because they had weird bizarre mechanics or something. Or because the controls were terrible. (Daggerfall I'm looking at you.)

I don't think poor controls would make a typical RPG that much harder; the worst thing that could happen would be that you accidentally chose the wrong command during battle due to unresponsive controller buttons.

But, of course, it would've been much worse for more action-oriented RPGs, e.g. Star Ocean: The Second Story (although there were no problems with the controls in that specific game).

[Pike]

Well Daggerfall was in first person and it takes like a half hour to figure out how to swim so... xD

[Mirage]

Oh, and a pre-emptive piss off to Mirage. The games are legitamely challanged.
(SPOILER)

In some cases, yes, they are. In other cases, they are just derp.

In either case, try Disgaea!

[CimminyCricket]

I've found a lot of more recent RPGs are super easy story wise and put all the difficulty in the additional dungeons or DLC. Take Mirage's example of Disgaea: the story mode is a joke, but it's the addition post game bosses that destroy you, your hopes, your dreams and your grandchildren, all in one turn.

[Del Murder]

What 'days' are you referring to? Other than the 8-bit era, I've never found RPGs to be that challenging. NES games were pretty unforgiving though.

I think the reason you may find today's games less challenging is the fact that you can adjust difficulty in many RPG series. Games like Mass Effect or Kingdom Hearts may be easy on the standard difficulty, but crank it up all the way and it's hardly a cake walk.

As mentioned, Dark Souls is a good example of how RPGs can still be painfully challenging.

[DownDiagonalLeftA]

In FF1, you had to spend 60k for a spell that you had NO idea what it did. You also had to hope you could kill a boss, because there were no save spots in the dungeon.

In FFX, you get straight up told "FLYING ENEMIES ARE WEAK TO WAKKA".

Yeah, i'd say they got a little easier.

[Yar]

Older RPGs may have been harder, but that doesn't mean they were any better. Many times, the only solution to challenge back then was just to grind. Grind and grind and grind, rather than strategy trial-and-error.

But yes, RPGs are much easier today. I often avoid new games anyway because they are often condescending and will hold your hand the entire time. No thanks.

Games have come a long way. So have gamers. Stop being so condescending to us and let us play the damn game. Change trout up and let players learn on their own which strategies work the best.

Also, cut it out with the walkthroughs and guides. They are another reason games are getting too easy. Heck, I know a few people that will read the damn guide as they play their first playthrough. :rolleyes: How is that any fun?

[Bolivar]

I would like to see a turn-based, menu driven RPG with that NES level of difficulty and I should probably try some of the few that do still exist out.