Mrgrgr... (The Difficulty of Video Games)

From the dawn of video games, there have been games that have appeased the likes of all types of gamers stretching from the casual gamers to the hardcored balls-to-the-walls ones. From the NES days there have been impossibly difficult ones like Kid Icarus and Silver Surfer to modern day ones like the Dark Souls series and Catherine. However, at the same time, games have almost dumbed down games to a negative stigma; there are tutorials for almost everything now, lives are more abundant than ever, and some games have chosen to opt for a more aesthetic game than a game of video game quality. So the questions resounding are these: do you think that games are becoming increasingly more easy? Do you think that some games take advantage of the HD graphic capability of current consoles and sacrifice actual gameplay for it? What has been the most difficult game you've ever played? Do you wish games were more difficult in general?

Discuss!

Games should be difficult in their own way. Most games hardpress their difficulty on puzzles, navigating or boss battling. The uniqueness of the game should be combined with the difficulty factor, that's what makes the game exciting. The game should be really difficult for someone who first plays it, but really easy for someone who has experience with it. That's the best way to promote a game, I suppose.

On one side of the scale you have Call of Duty and on the other side you have Dark Souls. Dark Souls is one of my favorite games because the graphics are pretty darn good and they didn't opt out of gameplay in order to add in better graphics, they just did it all. I'm actually really looking forward to this new thing that they're inventing that when you play games the controller senses your heartbeat and emotions and changes the difficulty of gameplay accordingly, so if you're bored it will increase difficulty a level, and if you're raging about to throw the controller and bash the screen in it will lower the difficulty a level.

O'aka XXIII said:

On one side of the scale you have Call of Duty and on the other side you have Dark Souls.

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The exception being Call of Duty World at War, as it was impossible to progress on a Veteran level with a million frag grenades being thrown at you D:

Mrgrgr...this title is about me! >:(

I like games that are challenging, but not so much that you start to hate the game or in ways that make it cheap or unfair. I'd say the best thing to do is make it difficult to where it frustrates you, but it's enough to give you the extra push to keep trying to get past the difficult point. Makes it all the more rewarding and satisfying when you do beat it.

I'm not very good at games though, so what do I know?

I wouldn't say games have gotten easy; it's really up to you on how you actually take it. If you're not to familiar with the game's controls and don't know how to do what in and out, then yeah, you're going to be finding it a little difficult. If it's opposite, then it's going to be easy. Same goes for every game, really. As for me, games are hard only when I first get introduced to them. Once I'm used to them and everything and develop my own, personal play style, I start to become more confident in my skills, lowering the difficulty. :] What was the toughest game I've ever played? Hm, not sure… probably Call of Duty. When I was a beginner, I wound up dying in team death-matches once every few seconds.

The problem with difficulty levels is that there's a bit of a fine line between challenging and just too hard.

I like to think that part of the whole "are games getting easier?" thing is not that all games are getting easier, its that we are better gamers than when we were kids.

As for the hardest game I've ever played....first thing that comes to mind is Ultimate mode on Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1&2. I still haven't beaten Episode 2 on Ultimate mode. Episode 1 on Ultimate is still not that easy, and only 2 of my 8 characters can actually clear the Ruins on Episode 1. Am I the only one who knows the pain of this game? ;_;

Also, I'm scared to think of how hard Lunatic+ could be on Fire Emblem Awakening....

Please, I Want To Be the Guy difficulty or not playing the game ಠ_ರೃ

I always want a game to give me a challenge. Not something that is cruel and unfair, but a fair challenge. I love the feeling of overcoming a hurdle, rather than just walking through the game like a piece of cake. I know this contradicts on how I feel on grinding, and how I like to grind to curbstomp the game in RPGs. But, there is no better feeling to me when you beat something difficult on solely your skill.

Are games getting easier? Yeah. I think so. I know that I'm a much better gamer than when I was younger, but Contra 4 still kicked my ass pretty hard. I had an easier time with Dark Souls 1/2 and Demon Souls than I did with the whole Contra series.

Salt&PepperDiner said:

Also, I'm scared to think of how hard Lunatic+ could be on Fire Emblem Awakening....

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More of the A.I is cheating than "hard". Honestly, there is less strategy and more of soft-resetting so the enemies don't have skills like Counter or Hawkeye in combination with Luna+.

Honestly I'm the kind of gamer who loves overcoming a challenge. But there's a fine line between "Challenge", and "Frustration". What I mean is, I love a good 'n difficult game, but not when it's frustration. I want a test of skill. When I'm playing on hard mode, I want the enemies to be smarter, faster, and generally tougher. But I don't want frustration, where the enemies, even the weakest, do a **** ton of damage, and where it isn't really a test of skill. I don't want a cheap game, I want I challenge.

So yeah, I like a hard game. But only when it's a challenge and not frustration.

Arc said:

More of the A.I is cheating than "hard". Honestly, there is less strategy and more of soft-resetting so the enemies don't have skills like Counter or Hawkeye in combination with Luna+.

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Yeah, this is where I start to become frustrated with games D: Where you have to stop relying on actual strategy and just praying that the enemy doesn't make cheap moves. Or when puzzles are like, ridiculously hard. I like games that make me think and strategize, not pray and cry, lmao.

I also found Skyward Sword difficult, but for another reason. My Wii Motion Plus was really messed up and I could never perform the right sword movements the first time, and several bosses required really specific slashes and you only had a couple of seconds to perform the right one and I often wouldn't be able to D:

Jak said:

I like games that are challenging, but not so much that you start to hate the game or in ways that make it cheap or unfair. I'd say the best thing to do is make it difficult to where it frustrates you, but it's enough to give you the extra push to keep trying to get past the difficult point. Makes it all the more rewarding and satisfying when you do beat it.

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^ This is my thoughts.

I hate when people say that games "back in the old days" were much better because they were really hard and that only "real gamers" play hard games. It makes you sound like an idiot to be honest. Sometimes the hard games were only hard because the controls sucked. xD

Sure, you don't want an easy game either but something in between is where it should be, difficulty wise.

I'm not sure if Assassin's Creed 3 was difficult or just awkward. Sometimes the game made you fail something for no reason.

Games that are challenging are fun, but that doesn't mean everyone thinks that way. Some people like to play on a easy difficulty to explore and enjoy what the game has to offer. I am kinda between both. I love playing on a easy difficulty to explore the things the game has, but I also like to challenge myself, which results into me playing a game's story twice if need to.

Pretty much the main reasons that games nowadays are "easier" is because of the improvement in the gaming industry, newer mechanics and controls which are easier to handle makes the game much easier and controlable.