Do you think games today are too easy?

[DragonBlade64]

So, this is a question I've been thinking about for awhile. There are a few games I used to play all the time years ago when I was younger, but when I go back to play them, they seem a lot harder than I remember. There are even certain parts of games that I remember being really tough and, as a little kid, I could have gotten through them just fine, but now, I find some of them near impossible to complete. What I'm thinking is, have games today just been too easy?

With last generation (mainly with the Wii), I think it's no secret that a lot of games toned down the difficulty for a more casual audience (although I could be wrong). I mean, a lot of games seemed to let you play through them without offering too much of a challenge along with things like in-game hints and generously placed save points.

What do you guys think?

 

[moist teabag]

I'm no expert but I found Dark Souls pretty tricky

 

[windlessusher]

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that games were deliberately made to be ball bustingly hard to make them last, or had the arcade mentality of stealing your coins.

So with both of those becoming less and less the case with games lasting in other ways and arcades sadly dying out, the typical game nowadays is easier to the typical game back then.

As for modern games being "too easy"? I wouldn't say so from my experience, games on normal difficulty settings still give me a rough time in later stages.
Now whether that's because I'm getting rusty or not, I dunno.

 

[Ryu Shimazu]

Honestly there is no black or white answer to this. SMG2 on the Wii is far easier than Mario on the NES, sure. FF1 is... by far the hardest FF (the NES one, I mean my gawd its hard)

I think.. older series have gotten softer, but not gaming as a whole. For example, newer series seem to retain some difficulty. Dark Souls being a prime example.

Games like Pokemon, Mario, Zelda (Especially this), have waned in difficulty over the years. It's almost as if out of fear for the series to die they make it easier to get more sales, where as newer game IPs are already risking it so why bother.


So my answer is; Old Series Yes, Newer IPs not so much.

An oddball by the way would be Monster Hunter. A lot say it's gotten easier, but go fight MH4U Teostra. Dat Slime claw is no joke, bro.

 

[Atrabilious]

I'd argue games have been getting more and more forgiving as time has gone on. Starting off as ridiculously-punishing exercises in masochism in an attempt to devour every cent/penny you had in your pocket at the arcade back in the day, and then over the years slowly developing into a form of home entertainment and leisure that were supposed to be more of an experience rather than a frustration. I mean, for the most part people aren't going to buy your game nowadays if it's so hard that it's not fun. Checkpoints, auto-saves, even if you lose you still win/gain exp/unlock stuff, etc. it's all stuff meant to smooth out the experience and be more forgiving to the average person so the game sells better.

I'd argue that the one of the biggest indicators of gaming being 'easier' in terms of difficulty nowadays is the ever growing and incredibly dedicated fanbase for the Souls games. They are extremely well put together games, but they're so popular because they are essentially throw backs to an older style of gaming that doesn't pull punches in an environment filled with games that like to hold your hand a lot. They stand out because most games just aren't like that anymore (bar a few exceptions every once in a while), and it's why they're becoming ever-more popular as more iterations go on. If games weren't getting notoriously easier as time goes on, the Souls games probably wouldn't stand out from the crowd as much as they do.

For the record I don't think the Souls games are as hard as people (or Namco) make them out to be, and definitely not as hard as some of the ridiculous money-devourers that we used to have years ago. But I do think Souls games straddle the line between challenge and fun expertly, like a well balanced middle point between old and current day gaming. They're all very good games, and well worth playing.

 

[Foxus]

It depends on the game really, the accompanying plot and the steps it takes to complete the game.

I consider Smash to be one of the most difficult games I've ever played since taking up gaming in 1996. I still haven't cleared all the characters on Classic Mode in Melee or Brawl. But games like Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Mario Galaxy I could easily complete in a days time, because in my eyes they're not challenging at all.

I really like a video game that the difficulty increases with each level, because it challenges your skill and makes the environment more engaging than just the same difficulty throughout the whole game, even in battling the boss near the end. I'm not that big of a gamer as I am a musician, or a fan of fitness, but I know what video games fall right in the center of the Goldilocks Belt. Not too soft, not too harsh, has the right mixture of increasing levels of difficulty, and so on.

One of the best parts of a video games difficulty is when the player thinks "Oh yeah, I got this" then the next level or objective makes them question that skill.
And btw, I've never heard of Souls.

 

[Xavix]

Although most games have gotten easier, I have been consistently reminded of the difficulty of gameswhen they WANT to be. I'm currently playing through the FNAF games 100%, and literally every night after 5 (and in the case of 4, NIGHT 5) has been absurdly difficult.

 

[finalark]

Something that gets constantly overlooked in the new games vs. old games discussion, especially when regarding difficulty, is that almost every singe modern game has a verity of adjustable difficulty levels. If you find modern games just don't give you enough challenge, then playing on hard and above is always an option.

 

[windlessusher]

Something that gets constantly overlooked in the new games vs. old games discussion, especially when regarding difficulty, is that almost every singe modern game has a verity of adjustable difficulty levels. If you find modern games just don't give you enough challenge, then playing on hard and above is always an option.

And let's excuse those who then use "But it makes the game cheap" as an excuse to not do it.

 

[EZdelFresco]

There are still some difficult modern games and there are retro games that can be beaten in under an hour without hacks and glitches. It's all about what games you are playing.

 

[lordmud]

wayyyyyy too easy

 

[Powerman293]

I don't think games have gotten easier, but they've adjusted for so many skill levels thanks to various options/modes. NES games are hard for all the wrong reasons, but games now offer such a wide pallete of difficulty levels and different types of difficulty you can't really compare.

 

[oZzIIgk]

As someone who plays almost exclusively multiplayer games, I would say that some games have become harder in ways that older games couldn't begin to fathom. Think about the sheer amount of content someone needs to memorize before being competent/good at DOTA/LOL. There's hundreds of items to memorize, a hundred or so heroes/champions to learn/understand, and so many more elements that NES games would never begin to parallel.

 

[Izanagi97]

NSMB on DS: I managed to speed run the final castle undamaged.

GBA updates of the SMB games: Lost so many lives on the final levels.

 

[Nona]

Yes and no.
Shin Megami Tensei (IV). Even on Normal you're probably gonna get wrecked a lot. Then there's Persona 4.

The numbered Resident Evil games are getting increasingly easier (and less scary), but Revelations held up really well on the default difficulty.

Dynasty Warriors is braindead easy now.

Then there's games like Dark Souls which I've never played but heard stories of.

I guess it's subjective?

 

[windlessusher]

And a case by case basis.