gaming Is it me, or did video games get easy?

[lomk 20,663]

Well, this is what I mean, I play Wii games, and they're not too difficult to get past on the regular difficulty. The same goes for games on the PS2 and 3 and the GameCube. Now I had went into nostalgia mode and decided to dig out my old Sega Genesis from a box deep in the bowels of my closet to find it all in working order! In a moment of nostalgic ecstasy, I hooked my old Genesis up to my TV, stuck Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in the system, and, after cleaning the contact pins, the game booted up.

 

Now I got past the Emerald Forest Zone just fine. I got to Chemical Plant Zone and the first act was a little tough but I made it through without losing any lives...Everything changed when the Fire Nation--I mean when I got to act 2. 

 

That level is the bane of my existence.

 

After my seventh game over, now out of my nostalgic ecstasy and more in a fit of bitter rage, I turned off my Genesis, yelled, (CUSS) THIS GAME!!!!" and I haven't even looked at it since. I don't even want to touch it. That game is possessed. But I still wanted that sense of nostalgia so I found another system of mine: my Super Nintendo. God, I loved that thing when I was a kid!

 

Mortal Kombat II. Those were some classic times. I remember that game taught me how to swear at my father who spammed Rayden's dive attack. When I was, like, 6, I finally beat him for the first time ever and I looked up at him and said, "I kicked your ass!" My mom wasn't all that happy with it but she let it slide. After all, achievement unlocked: kick Dad's ass at Mortal Kombat. So I thought to myself that it'd bring back some memories. I remember playing that game and beating Shao Khan all the time. It became a sort of tradition for me.

 

Now I play it and it drove me to the point of insanity! I feel like I should make a Rage Quit series (but I don't think roosterteeth would like that very much) because this game is so freaking hard! I even turned the difficulty to "very easy." You know, the one that's only slightly harder than the enemy not moving at all...Still could NOT get past the first level. At that point, after raging and talking to myself (lots of F-bombs were dropped...I told you the game drove me to the point of insanity!) for about 2 or 3 hours about how much I hate these games...I began to think...did video games get EASY?!

 

I think yes. I think in game tutorials and the developers pretty much holding our hands have really lowered the standard as to what a challenging video game is. I think that a hard game today would have qualified as something in the sort of easy end back then. I mean, when I was 7, I could beat Sonic 2 and Mortal Kombat with my eyes closed. I loved playing the Donkey Kong Country games on my SNES! Now, at 20, after not playing them in nearly a decade, I couldn't beat them with cheats. I probably couldn't get to the third stage in Sonic! 

 

So what do you guys think? Have video games just become easier with time? 

Edited February 11, 2013 by ThatOneBrony

[Haven Celestii 9,385]

Actually, yes. Yes they have. I'm not exactly old enough to have experienced anything much further than N64, but I do believe myself that they have become much easier and aim for more of a general group of people rather than just those gamers who would sit and put in the time to be able to pass it.

 

The only example I have, and this is going from memory of something I heard from a video, are the old Megaman platformer games. Those didn't tell you how to do crap. You just started, and figured everything out as you went along. Of course, they weren't hard to figure out, but its just the principle. Nothing was given to you. Not to mention the levels required either good reflexes, luck, and usually replaying them over and over until you finally learned that that one specific enemy moves from platform A to platform B and you only have a millisecond to either jump it or shoot at which then you gotta avoid other enemies right afterwards.

Where as games now tell you everything you need to know about it, how to get around certain obstacles, and maybe even a few tips.

 

 

So in all, yes, I do also believe that they got easier.

[Brook 663]

Yes, because the casual gamer crowd has grown, game developers had to make games accessible, so they had to make them easier. However, there are still games that will kick the living shit out of you if you don't know what you're doing, such as Antichamber, that game is supposedly hard as balls, not for me personally because I got used to it very quickly, but most gamers will have SUCH a hard time trying to beat it if they don't try it right.

 

As a generalization, a big YES, but that's because the market has changed, not because the games are inherently becoming easier.

[PonyEcho 1,610]

yeah because companys want them to be accessible to everyone inorder to increase there sale so a incredibly easy games would get more sale then a hard ones with some exceptions (like Dark Souls)

 

honestly i don't like the idea of difficulty being a selling point for a game  

[Soundgarden 2,758]

Yeah but there are still difficult games out there. Don't believe me? Two words: Dark. Souls. It will drive you insane, you walk 2 step and BOOSH, you dead

[hakaru-x 13]

There are a lot more easy games, but there are also insane difficult games too. I think many of the new gamers prefer an easy and friendly game instead of a challenge.

[Betez 1,734]

Well, I feel like games that aren't FPS's have gotten a lot easier. I mean, the old NES games: they'd start out easy, but at the end, they'd get impossible hard. For example, Tourian in Metroid. Nowadays, I can beat a non-shooter games I can beat in about a week, if not less.

[Commander Urdnot 2,680]

Difficulty does not determine whether or not a game is good. The gameplay does.

 

If you think the game is too easy, then increase the difficulty level.

Edited February 11, 2013 by UrdiePie

[OEG5789 3]

I havent notice any games getting toned down in difficulty, infact, i find some games nowadays quite difficult.. When i play call of duty or angry birds, i always get my ass kicked... So if games back in the stone age were harder than now, then i defently im glad i didnt grew up back then.

[null123456 759]

Well, in my case. It's not video games that get easier for us. It's video games that get easier for the COMPANIES.

Now, I'll explain everything now. Since at least 70% of the gaming community enjoy shooter games, companies have it made easy. Espescially companies like Treyarch / Infinity Ward and Activision with recent COD titles. It's simple enough, make a new game, tweak it a bit, boom! Automatic profit for Activision or Treyarch / Infinity Ward. But some games still seem to be pretty creative and fun.

But still, games are really easy.

Edited February 11, 2013 by BLU Engie

[lomk 20,663]

 It's simple enough, make a new game, tweak it a bit, boom! Automatic profit for Activision or Treyarch / Infinity Ward.

 

Couldn't agree more. I don't know why my brother spends $60 for a new Call of Duty when they didn't change it much. It's essentially the same game! Does anybody even play the campaign anymore? I've heard that the one for MW3 was actually pretty good. 

 

At least there were zombies in the new Black Ops. Either way, I don't buy those. I leave it up to my brother to waste his money on those games lol I stuck with a Wii and I'll be in my living room swinging my Wiimote around with Skyward Sword

[khaine21x3 789]

@,

 

Video games made by giant corporations are totaly too dumbed down to the point that I never want to touch most of them, gotta get hard games from indie devs these days.

[Shanks 10,816]

They definitely have, alot of old school games are downright brutal and unforgiving especially in the NES era. Of course that was one of the things I loved about them, but due to the rise of the "casual gamer" alot of games are being dumbed down which is a shame. Yeah let the casual gamers have their fun but it dosen't hurt to throw hard core gamers a bone every now and then.

[Aaramus 449]

I'm looking through my steam list right now, and I cannot find a primarily single player game that I would deem to be easy. 

 

I can understand why people would think they are though, you get a lot more hints and better tutorials but asides from that I wouldn't call them easy games. What I find is actually those who played games when they were younger and continued to do so until they were older just naturally get better at playing games and find it easier to get the hang of that the games they play.

 

Difficulty doesn't determine whether the game is good or not, not everybody wants to challenge and with a lot of games being story driven sometimes having a difficult game may distract the player from the story elements. As long as the game-play feels good then I can just ramp up the difficultly if I feel I need a challenge. An example of that is the new DMC game. Currently I'm playing the game on Son of Sparda mode and I'm having quite a hard time with it, even though I'm actually pretty good at spectacle fighters. However I've already finished the game and taken in all the story elements, now I've ramped it up to get that sense of challenge.

 

So no, I feel games are just as challenging as they used to be, just we've gotten better at games in general.

 

As a side note, you cannot include multiplayer focused games into this as often the single player aspects are just added on as an afterthought, see CoD.

[Admiral Colt 61]

One thing's for damn sure. Mario Party was a lot less forgiving back then, than it is now.

 

But it depends on the game if you ask me. Mass Effect has fairly easy gameplay, but it's mostly a story driven game. But games that completely focus on gameplay, such as TES, Assassin's Creed, etc. can be a pain in the arse.

[khaine21x3 789]

@@Aaramus,

 

Strategy games def have been getting a whole lot easier since the old days, even turn based strategy games are getting super dumbed down and the only place to get real hard strategy games are indie devs.

 

Even capcom has started making dumbed down platformer games

[Aaramus 449]

@@Aaramus,

 

Strategy games def have been getting a whole lot easier since the old days, even turn based strategy games are getting super dumbed down and the only place to get real hard strategy games are indie devs.

 

Even capcom has started making dumbed down platformer games

 

Could you perhaps name some? I don't recall Shogun 2 being easy at all. Neither would I call Civ 5 easy. The same goes for the new XCOM game.

[lomk 20,663]

As long as the game-play feels good then I can just ramp up the difficultly if I feel I need a challenge. 

Much agreed with that point. I've played Skyrim on Master. I started on Apprentice but as I learned how to play with a keyboard and mouse (it was the first time I tried PC gaming), I turned the difficulty up and I have to agree it get brutal sometimes. Really, I think all games should give you the option of how hard you want the game to be before you even get started. Whether or not you can change it in-game is up to the devs. 

[khaine21x3 789]

@@Aaramus,

 

I haven't played enough civ 5 coz I don't really like the changes but combat and micromanagement is a lot easier compared to civ 4 BTS and the new Xcom is kinda dumbed down with the brand new gameplay.

 

It's like old xcom vs new xcom vs xenonauts, xenonauts would be a lot more enjoyable than new xcom to me if it was bug free and the aliens has awesome AI.

[Alex0461 33]

Most games these days have become incredibly easy, people don't like to lose/have the time to repeat stages. Of course that being said there's always an exception to the rule, The first Borderlands game is brutal to play singleplayer and Demon souls and Dark Souls were among some of the hardest games I've ever played. So while most new games are easy to walk through blindfolded others hate you and make their hatred for you known in the first fifteen minutes of gameplay lol.

[Aaramus 449]

@@Aaramus,

 

I haven't played enough civ 5 coz I don't really like the changes but combat and micromanagement is a lot easier compared to civ 4 BTS and the new Xcom is kinda dumbed down with the brand new gameplay.

 

It's like old xcom vs new xcom vs xenonauts, xenonauts would be a lot more enjoyable than new xcom to me if it was bug free and the aliens has awesome AI.

 

It doesn't make the whole game easier though, it means I can now focus on my borders being ravaged and conquered every single turn rather than getting bogged down by something. A simpler game doesn't mean an easier game. Also I wouldn't called the new XCOM dumbed down, when the bugs aren't annoying me I find the game very interesting and the game play brilliantly done.

 

 

 

Much agreed with that point. I've played Skyrim on Master. I started on Apprentice but as I learned how to play with a keyboard and mouse (it was the first time I tried PC gaming), I turned the difficulty up and I have to agree it get brutal sometimes. Really, I think all games should give you the option of how hard you want the game to be before you even get started. Whether or not you can change it in-game is up to the devs. 

 Which is what I like a lot about the new DMC game. I picked hard mode straight away and loved it! Unlockable difficulties are pretty good too. 

[Titan Rising 2,156]

The way I see it is video games are much longer now, so unless you want to spend like a thousand hours on an rpg there has to be challenges that are reasonable.  Games could be much harder back then because levels were shorter.  If a game now had the difficulty back then every challenge would feel like an impediment and you would be frustrated feeling like you're making no progress

 

Some people might like that, but I think the majority of people would feel like their time would be better spent elsewhere.

 

Personally I like games that have challenging difficulty settings giving higher rewards, and combat with steep learning curves

[Circadian 1,273]

Dark Souls is not that hard. Granted, there are a few parts that make you want to pull your hair out, but you mostly just have to be patient because dying is such an integral part of the game. You're like a Cylon; you learn and become more dangerous with each death. Plus if you know how online play works you can summon people to help you.

 

I don't think games are getting easier, you're just getting much better. I try to play everything on the hardest difficulty possible. It's way more fun and satisfying that way.

[Starstream 182]

Yes, (non-versus) games are getting easier, and for a very simple reason.

 

Back in "ye olden days" games could only be a couple of kilobytes big, but people wouldn't want to buy something that only lasted a few hours, and to lengthen the game they couldn't rely on sidequests and story padding like they do nowadays, so the obvious option? "Throw up that difficulty switch!" Make it so most people won't even reach the end of the game, that way they'll keep playing for a while. (Mind you that current gamers would consider games designed around this concept unfair games, but back then it was accepted.)

 

Another thing to note is that current day gamers are simply more skilled at gaming than people were back then. Don't believe me? Just go back and play stuff like the old Mario games. I assure you that you'll be able to get through it more easily than people did back then.

 

People over all are more used to the structure of games and the feel of controllers.

 

Lastly, current day games are developed with a ton of story mashed into them. As such they also try to make it so you can actually experience said story. You see, priorities for games over the years have shifted, where games used to sell on being different in execution from others they now sell on being prettier and having better stories than others. So developers can't make games too hard or people will never fully get to know the masterpiece that is their game.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Zhinzo

[Zygen 6,066]

Eh yes and no. I mean I think overall the difficulty of older games was in general higher, but this was back when there wasn't as much casual gaming. Now I think they've just evolved and expanded to a wider variety of difficulties and started to add in different levels of difficulties to suit the average to more hardcore gamers.

 

While not everygame now a day's is a super hard, there is still either the option or just games out there that are quite hard. They just have a crowd of people who are just casual gamers to attending to and a group of the more hardcore, and they normally try to attend to both groups by adding difficulty levels and stuff.

 

I think theres still some quite difficult games. I'm not really that hardcore a gamer though, I tend to stay on a moderate difficulty when playing games, so I'm not exactly a master level gamer, still i think my statements makes sense and seem valid.