Difficulty Level of Games

[Sarcastic Assassin]

I saw someone else's thread about having problems with one's PS2 (Luckily, I haven't experienced that problem, but I know friends that have). The topic was "Game Difficulties", so I thought it was about whether games were hard or not. It wasn't, so I just decided to start my own thread. Anyway, I'd just like to talk about the difficutly level of games. I think it has dramatically gone down since the "good old days" of SNES and Genesis, and even before then (anyone ever play a rom of the first Zelda?). Also, with the advent of the Internet and GameFAQs, along with the overall popularity of games (you can ask your friends for help with a game), the overall difficulty of games has gone down, but the quality (story, plot, graphics, etc) has definitely gone up. However, I think that games are, in general, fairly easy, or at least they can be made to be that way. Of course, one of the more recent, fairly notable exceptions is Ninja Gaiden. Though I don't own an Xbox, I have heard horror stories (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-03-08&res=l). Your thoughts?

[PNT510]

Personly I don't care that games aren't as difficult. Animal Crossing is a game with zero difficultly but it's fun as hell. I don't care about graphics, story, sound, and difficulty, as long as I have fun. Although all those things can help make a game better.

[Heald]

Personally, I hate games which make you learn the attack pattern of a boss in order to beat them (Banjo-Kazooie/Metal Gear Solid II anyone?). They are just repetitive and annoying.

I hope someone is working on a mod for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow to add 'Extreme Difficulty' i.e. where Sam Fisher walks around with one of those one-man band kits stuck on his back (you know, with the drum that beats when you step and the hithat that claps when you step?). That would be awesome.

[Imhere4u2die]

Well, I think the difficulty of games is hard to adjust. I, like many gamers, am only good at certain genres, and suck at others. For example, I own at FPS games, and can almost always easily beat even the hard parts of some games. RPGs, however, are killer hard for me. I find myself reloading after even easy fights. Maybe this is because I have good hand-eye coordination and reactions, but not too good at the skills required for a more slow thinking, like chess also. I am sure many people are the exact opposite. This makes for a chalenging job for the game creators. They musst make it hard enough for the average player to have some difficulty, but also to have it apply to less skilled types.

[classy_cat18]

I'm the opposite of...the last guy. I suck at FPS or FPA (for Metroid Prime fans) but I'm pretty good at RPGs. Somehow I'm also good with driving and adventure games (the exploration, the fun). I don't think the games got easier; I think that I just got better. I played games like Sonic the Hedgehog and the Donkey Kong Country series after I couldn't play my Super Mario Bros. 3 anymore. When I finally got my hands on the GBA port, the levels seemed so much easier and shorter. I'm nowhere near a hardcore gamer, so people just love to mop the floor with me with Halo or any other shooter.

By the way, Banjo-Kazooie's boring compared to Banjo-Tooie. I love the way the levels are linked together sometimes. Darn you, Microsoft.

[The Muffin Man]

Difficulty is fine, as long as it doesn't replace fun. I was playing the demo of Ninja Gaiden when I realized...I wasn't having fun, like I was telling myself. I hated it. I was loathing the difficulty with any weapon but the massive-combo flail. I was aggravated by the simple XXXXY combo being either the exact same thing as the XXXY combo or failing...I couldn't tell, because they give you no example...I just realized...I wasn't having fun. It sickened me. They took out any fun I might be having and replaced it with a combo system and constant enemy flow. CHEAP enemies too. They all have unlimited shurikens. I know you do too, but it's not fun fighting off 8 guys, then a 9th spawns because one died, and throws shurikens at you, ending your combo and leaving you open to 30 hits from 9 guys...and I won't get into the "Lesser healing" potion being a misleadingly named "No substantial healing" potion.

[Dark Scizor]

i thnk that some games are getting alot easier nowadays (A perfect example being James Bond: Nightfire as a friend and I completed it within 1 hour and a half or less since it was this time last year).

I agree that some games could do with a higher degree of difficulty, but then again it could be because we are getting older and these things aren't new to us anymore, so to get the hang of things within a game is easier.

Then again as long as it excites the casual gamer, i don't think that game companies will really care lol

[PhatZapdos]

i guess it depends on what type of gaming u do. i am (admintidly -_-; ) a hardcore gamer in some aspects. i look for challenges in every game i play, which is y i stick more to online gaming/competition. i love racing/FPS, my 2 best right ther. i play halo like im addicted to crack, i attend lan parties and tournaments as well, and i have been able to reach a national status, i am better than far many ppl, but ther are many that are better than me, this gives me a challenge whenever i get so far into a tourny. i also play UT online, very fun, when ur playing others online.

[DarkTemplarZ]

Difficulty's good, but, as was said before, fun is the most important thing. Look at Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, it's difficulty level is mediocre to low at best, and yet back in 2002 it was probably the most popular game, because it's got incredible replay value and it's really fun.

[Dean]

lol @ The Muffin Man not being able to beat the first level in Ninja Gaiden

[Fai D. Flowright]

That was me that originally posted that thread about "Game Difficulties." Sorry it wasn't what you were expecting... ^_^;

My opinion about the game difficulties now is that they are the same as before, but they seem a lot easier to us because most of us have played them a couple of times in our lives (much more some thatn others, mind you).

We get used to how a game functions, then, when we start a new one, we can quickly familiarize ourselves with the new controls because there seems to be a button standard for each system.

Example: For PS2, X is usually the confirm and action button, /\ is generally the cancel button, O typically does some sort of action, and square has some side effect for screen activity.

When I first started playing Sonic Heroes, I kept messing up in the main menu screens because I would press X instead of O to confirm. SH controls for the menus are all screwed up compared to the standards. It drove me up the wall until I finally got used to it (which wasn't very long, 3-4 days ^_^).

Like I said though, the game difficulty hasn't decrease, it's our skill at playing them that has greatly increased.

[Strider]

In my opnion, the difficulty level of games has been toned down a bit from what it was years ago. I suppose developers keep in mind that there aren't as many people around who would put up with hard games, so they make them more forgiving. Also, it seems some Japanese developers didn't think US gamers were up for harder games, so they were either made easy or the difficulty level was toned down before being released stateside (take a look at Final Fantasy USA, AKA Mystic Quest, and Final Fantasy IV Easy-Type).

But there is a good share of tough games, of course. Examples I can think of at the moment are Ninja Gaiden 1-3, Shinobi, the Contra series, F-Zero GX (mostly the story mode), TimeSplitters 2, the R-Type series (particularly R-Type Leo), and the arcade version of Gradius 3.