Difficulty is fun lol
Discussion
I am an old school gamer, been at it since the Spectrum, Amiga days.
And I am finding this endless difficulty is fun garbage very tiring.
I know it works for some people, God knows why but being endlessly killed in stuff like Bloodborne and Dark Souls (repeat endlessly since) is apparently challenging and fun.
I do not, I find creative game design to be fun and challenging, not just upping difficulty to an insane state. Yes that is harder to do and takes more time, but the reward is right there, Half Life, Fallout, Skyrim, GTA, Red Dead, Destiny series etc etc. Games that were hard if you wanted them to be, but were mainly story based and long
It also rather stupidly tosses people who play casually on the dirt pile and is basically elitist. "You are not good enough, you are not welcome you might aswell uninstall this"
OK thanks, that was my plan. What kind of developer would do this and NOT try and include as many people as possible? it works for Nintendo and so many other people, why not try and make every game like this?
Difficulty should be a scale, but increasingly it seems to start at madness and go on to ever more insane levels. And developers think just because a tiny minority can complete this, that means we have to make it harder!
And I am finding this endless difficulty is fun garbage very tiring.
I know it works for some people, God knows why but being endlessly killed in stuff like Bloodborne and Dark Souls (repeat endlessly since) is apparently challenging and fun.
I do not, I find creative game design to be fun and challenging, not just upping difficulty to an insane state. Yes that is harder to do and takes more time, but the reward is right there, Half Life, Fallout, Skyrim, GTA, Red Dead, Destiny series etc etc. Games that were hard if you wanted them to be, but were mainly story based and long
It also rather stupidly tosses people who play casually on the dirt pile and is basically elitist. "You are not good enough, you are not welcome you might aswell uninstall this"
OK thanks, that was my plan. What kind of developer would do this and NOT try and include as many people as possible? it works for Nintendo and so many other people, why not try and make every game like this?
Difficulty should be a scale, but increasingly it seems to start at madness and go on to ever more insane levels. And developers think just because a tiny minority can complete this, that means we have to make it harder!
I understand it is appealing to some.
And I do like a challenge, but sometimes it goes too far.
The Souls stuff, Monster Hunter etc I do not understand this largely Japanese trend for making games bloody impossible and basically forcing you to die endlessly to l;earn patterns and how a boss does what he does.
Is that fun? Is that challenging, in a way yes but it is also very forced.
It happens in all sorts of games, I have found it in sims, where you just get these impossible challenges and opponents just to unlock something very mundane, and eventually there are endless clips on how to do it etc.
If game design is so bad it takes other people to even show you how, that is just that, very bad game design. Often I will be standing there and have no clue whatsoever what to do or how to do it, that is pure laziness in my eyes.
I appreciate games are like art, some will hate what some will love, but I do think this difficulty is fun epidemic is starting to appear everywhere and it is not a good thing.
I also blame streamers, these people are doted on endlessly because they often make their living playing games and doing things only very few can achieve, devs love them as they show content and have thousands of subs.
This not hot to market a game, it IS how to do it for sod all, but it should NOT form the way the game is built, these people are very unique and do not represent the vast majority of people who play.
And I do like a challenge, but sometimes it goes too far.
The Souls stuff, Monster Hunter etc I do not understand this largely Japanese trend for making games bloody impossible and basically forcing you to die endlessly to l;earn patterns and how a boss does what he does.
Is that fun? Is that challenging, in a way yes but it is also very forced.
It happens in all sorts of games, I have found it in sims, where you just get these impossible challenges and opponents just to unlock something very mundane, and eventually there are endless clips on how to do it etc.
If game design is so bad it takes other people to even show you how, that is just that, very bad game design. Often I will be standing there and have no clue whatsoever what to do or how to do it, that is pure laziness in my eyes.
I appreciate games are like art, some will hate what some will love, but I do think this difficulty is fun epidemic is starting to appear everywhere and it is not a good thing.
I also blame streamers, these people are doted on endlessly because they often make their living playing games and doing things only very few can achieve, devs love them as they show content and have thousands of subs.
This not hot to market a game, it IS how to do it for sod all, but it should NOT form the way the game is built, these people are very unique and do not represent the vast majority of people who play.
boy seven lol man alive I laughed out loud for that.
Do you remember getting tiny screwdrivers to adjust the head?
Waiting for the 63rd time time you saw blue and yellow instead of red and blue, and the delight of the loading screen being drawn!
Man alive the joy, great memories!
And let me be clear I have no issue with Souls type games, they exist for a reason.
The problem I have is the same as loot boxes, it is devs for all sorts of other game types who just say "oh hard is fun" when it either does not suit their game type or is blatantly obvious. And thankfully the loot box thing was quickly stopped.
let me give you an example
I loved Dirt Rally as a game, it for me is the best rally sim ever made, I played it to death initially, it was a basic hotch potch of a rushed title but it felt amazing to me. But it was damn hard, you had to put the work in to get time back, you basically had to learn rally stages which is ridiculous in itself. That is what a Dark Souls player feels like, work at it to get the reward, fair enough.
Circle back to DR 2.0. Same basic design and game (enough said about the DLC debacle of being charged extra for stuff form the old game helloo no wonder EA bought them), but little things start appearing, stage finishes in places they would Never even be in a real rally, very unsafe etc to try an catch you out right near the end. Finish boards literally made of stone and right on the line so you are almost obliged to hit them and incur damage, awful wet weather grip that made cars almost uncontrollable, stages of endless hairpins when you might only get into 4 th gear for a few seconds. This is all designed to make an already very difficult game harder, it is totally unnecessary, it is rallying, it is the hardest form of high level motorsport. An example of a developer "souls" ing a title that did not need it.
Do you remember getting tiny screwdrivers to adjust the head?
Waiting for the 63rd time time you saw blue and yellow instead of red and blue, and the delight of the loading screen being drawn!
Man alive the joy, great memories!
And let me be clear I have no issue with Souls type games, they exist for a reason.
The problem I have is the same as loot boxes, it is devs for all sorts of other game types who just say "oh hard is fun" when it either does not suit their game type or is blatantly obvious. And thankfully the loot box thing was quickly stopped.
let me give you an example
I loved Dirt Rally as a game, it for me is the best rally sim ever made, I played it to death initially, it was a basic hotch potch of a rushed title but it felt amazing to me. But it was damn hard, you had to put the work in to get time back, you basically had to learn rally stages which is ridiculous in itself. That is what a Dark Souls player feels like, work at it to get the reward, fair enough.
Circle back to DR 2.0. Same basic design and game (enough said about the DLC debacle of being charged extra for stuff form the old game helloo no wonder EA bought them), but little things start appearing, stage finishes in places they would Never even be in a real rally, very unsafe etc to try an catch you out right near the end. Finish boards literally made of stone and right on the line so you are almost obliged to hit them and incur damage, awful wet weather grip that made cars almost uncontrollable, stages of endless hairpins when you might only get into 4 th gear for a few seconds. This is all designed to make an already very difficult game harder, it is totally unnecessary, it is rallying, it is the hardest form of high level motorsport. An example of a developer "souls" ing a title that did not need it.
Edited by LukeBrown66 on Friday 24th March 11:52
I did not really mean that, I meant the format of the game has remained the same though about 10 or so versions now, it has changed subtly, but not changed much, even with regard to tracks and the like. Still the same sorts of cars, the same licences, it is a very tired form at but you cannot blame them, it sells by the bucketload so much so that people like Fanatec even licence a wheel for it, it is beyond crazy, and also that game is largely responsible for the import Japanese car market initially, that was the place you got to see the cars in some kind of detail. Nowhere else could you unless you bought Japanese magazines etc.
A lot of other stuff is either linked to a series, or a style of driving. Then you get stuff like Beam NG which is very unique or the truck sim games or Mudrunner, very unique games that get a cult following
Amazing really that there still is no WEC game,
A lot of other stuff is either linked to a series, or a style of driving. Then you get stuff like Beam NG which is very unique or the truck sim games or Mudrunner, very unique games that get a cult following
Amazing really that there still is no WEC game,
Have admit to only taking a passing interest bin JB these days, the "look how many cars I have bought and how much stuff i get for free and how many cars I have raced" got a little in your face for me. Which is a shame as journalistically the lad has the clout, but he is so hesitant of annoying people and losing his lifestyle, as are more streamer,s they also ruin games for me hence why I have no interest in following them these days. As devs basically use them for free marketing and tailor games to them hence the difficulty is good thread.
I think really people are in two or three camps.
Those like me prefer an easy route, they will probably try a harder skill lever and bail after becoming frustrated and try an easier version.
Some like the difficulty, bring it on, I do not understand this at all, but each to their own.
And finally the learners, those that do not like dying a lot, but will persevere, die even more, respect what is going on and work it out.
I think all games would be made to be accessible to all, but that is harder to develop and program, which is probably why it does not happen!
Those like me prefer an easy route, they will probably try a harder skill lever and bail after becoming frustrated and try an easier version.
Some like the difficulty, bring it on, I do not understand this at all, but each to their own.
And finally the learners, those that do not like dying a lot, but will persevere, die even more, respect what is going on and work it out.
I think all games would be made to be accessible to all, but that is harder to develop and program, which is probably why it does not happen!
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