gaming Are video games getting dumber?

[Clover Heart 978]

I'm not talking about premise or anything. Some games with seemingly very stupid premises can be great games.

 

What I mean is that are games, nowadays, too dumbed down? I see a lot of videos online of people claiming that certain features in games really dumb them down and are unnecessary.

 

For example, Mike Matei's video on the white tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D World:

 

Or Egoraptor's vid on Mega Man X, highlighting how annoying it is to have instructions pop up every two seconds:

 

Mike's vid, I agreed with in the beginning. I know nothing about the game, so I thought that it would cheapen the accomplishments of gamers who didn't use the white tanooki suit. Until someone informed me that you get an accomplishment of some sort by not using it. That sorta put things in perspective for me, and I suppose in that case I don't really care?

 

However, I totally agree with Egoraptor's video. It's annoying to be bombarded with instructional messages when you're just trying to enjoy a game that you've played a dozen times before. Additionally, in writing, filmmaking, things like these, we're always told "Don't tell; show." Somehow, someone neglected to tell this to some game designers. I do think that it's appropriate for some games to give this kind of instruction. However, I was recently playing Ocarina of Time, and for every little thing, when you're just trying to get through, stupid Navi stops you to tell you what you already know is going to happen. Isn't that annoying?

 

My own example for this is the Exp. Share from Pokémon X/Y. Yes, there were other games that had Exp. Share. My personal experience with this item was in gen 1, where having Exp. Share on your Pokémon was so ineffective, it wasn't even worth using. I believe, if I recall, it splits all your experience evenly. So if you beat one guy gives you 120 exp, and you have 6 guys in your party, they all get 20 exp. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think that was how it worked, which is why I never bothered with it. It's useless. In X/Y, however, your battling Pokémon receives the same amount it would have otherwise and for those who don't battle, they receive 50% each. But it's not just that. You also get the item right off the bat, one of the first items in the whole game and it automatically turns on for you. Like, if you don't wanna do that, you can turn it off, and I've heard it's more effective for EV training if it's off, but if you're just going through the game, why would you turn it off? However, this results in quickly over-powered Pokémon and nothing's challenging for you after, like, the first gym. I guess it's good if you're playing for story and you don't like grinding, but it also makes things far to easy, I believe.

 

Do you think that games are becoming too easy and dumbed-down for kids?

 

I'm kinda divided on this. First, I do think that some games (though not all) are too easy. That said, I can't decide where I fall on this argument. On the one hand, the old, crotchety grandpa in me wants to say "Kids these days don't know nothin' about nothin'. Them with their white tanooki suit bullshit. Back in my day, we actually had to work to get through our games!" However, at the same time, who am I to tell someone how to enjoy their game? If that makes it fun for a younger kid, should I really judge the maker? They made a kid happy and the ease at which they made it through their game doesn't really affect me at all. Plus, for the most part, you don't ever have to take the easy way out in these game. Most of these features are just options for those who feel the need to use them. So what skin is it off my nose if that's what someone wants to do?

 

So, yeah, I really can't decide. I'm on the fence. What do you guys think, though?

[IcyHaze 594]

Some games are absolutely ridiculously easy...The Assassin's Creed games tend to be pretty basic...hold R1, counter, pres Square. Game over.

[AppleGearRising 526]

Whilst I would have to agree that some more modern games are lacking a little in challenge not all of the games that are from this day and age are too easy. An example? Square Enix's Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII Is supposed to be absolutely nightmarish on it's harder difficulties from what I've read. Another example; The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds released back in November last year had a "Hero Mode" that made things 4 times harder for you.

 

So yeah, some games might be too easy but there are still at least a few that try to sate the thirst of other gamers looking for more of a challenge. It's just a shame that not all of them do this :/

[man dude man 555]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO7NILnmURU this is actually difficult

[CHAOS_FANTAZY 42]

Honestly, Egoraptor's Sequelitis video was a bit misleading, because Mega Man X never does anything to teach the player they can dash off of a wall-jump, which is a very useful ability almost essential for certain parts of the game.  I didn't discover I could until very late in my game, and once I did I became frustrated because I instantly thought of every place in which it would be useful.

 

But that's not the point of the topic.

 

Yes; I would say that some series have gotten easier as time passed.  Mario 3 was hard as nails; Mario 3D World is pretty relaxed.  But as much as I love challenge (That's why I play Mega Man and CastleVania), I acknowledge that its presence or absence doesn't make or break a game.  Mario 3D World is not a hard game, but that does not make it a bad game.  Sometimes it's super fun to play a game that's not very challenging to beat.  It's physically impossible to die in Kirby's Epic Yarn, but I still liked it because it was engaging, fun, and a pleasant experience, not to mention finding all the goodies and finishing every level with a Gold Medal was still a challenge in its own regard.

 

Actually, let me revise my previous statement.  Some game series have become easier to beat as time goes on.  Back in the day, there wasn't a lot of bonus content in games, so once you beat it, you were done; that was it.  But the bonus content offered in modern games now offer challenges for the more hardcore players.  So while beating a game might have become easier, completing it one-hundred-percent can still prove as challenging as ever.

[Katana 298]

Huh? I thought I remembered mid-air dashing being something that you had to unlock from a Dr. Light canister. Even so, it's just a logical extension of existing concepts - walljumping puts you in the air, and you can dash in the air.

 

But I have to admit, while a number of difficulties in gaming have gone away, a lot of them didn't make sense. Many of them were just there to pad out a game's length, or to demand more quarters. In adventure games, it wasn't a challenge - it was designer stupidity to expect that players would think to use items in the exact combination that people cooped up in a programming office were thinking of, as well as pixel-hunting for that one item you missed on the second screen of the game.

 

And I would much rather have an easy game than one that is difficult in completely stupid ways, constantly taunting you with "Wel yo just need too lern to play beter!" So often, the best method of play is not intuitive, or is not inferred in any way through explanation. (ie, to achieve victory, you have to spam the gravity blast attack and then abuse the enemy AI)

 

Some games are still very hard, and it's important to realize that's a niche expectation now. Super Meat Boy, DustForce, Dark Souls are some examples of games known for their difficulty.

[MLP Moth 224]

They are getting dumber, but they are getting less creative which ticks me off even more. All the new games basically have the same concept, point and shoot. What happened to the Little Big Planet days?

[Cstriker 737]

We are coming out of the dumbing down. I read an article on it (Can't remember where now sorry!) covering that fans are leaning back towards difficulty, innovation, and challenge. Look at the trend of indie games and rogue likes, and newer gen games that are bringing back challenge:

 

FTL, Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, Papers Please, Xenonauts, Miasmata, Dayz

 

New games: Dark souls, X-Com: Enemy Unknown/Within, Dark Souls 2, State of Decay, Metro 2033 and last light (ranger hardcore really), STALKER series.

 

Challenge is coming back, to me even newer shooters are getting this. Look at Battlefield 4. Instead of less, they went for immersion which is important, and I love a good multiplayer which to me they nailed (IMO).

[Megas 27,541]

I still maintain that X5 is both the easiest and the most dumbed down game in the series

 

As for the topic itself, I think it's a combo of games getting easier and you getting better at them, there are a lot of games out there that hold your hand the entire time through(like a good chunk of Nintendo games, many AAA Blockbusters, and Call of "Follow the Leader"), on the other hand it might have to do with a lot of people getting better at games to the point where they can beat most easily, whether it be new entries in the series or genre's your into.

 

Of course there are still games that love to challenge the players(a good example being the recent DKCR: Tropical Freeze)

Edited February 23, 2014 by Megas75

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I believe the bigger problem with games is how expensive they're becoming. I mean, triple A games are starting to rival movie budgets with the price tag pushing over hundreds of millions of dollars. The problem with this is that videogames still do not have the movieworld's consumer-base so unless you pick on the same consumer base to bring you your budget like COD, you're going to lose alot of money from the game not meeting ridiculous expectations. As a result, those studios are trying to simplify games and involve whatever proven gimmick that will bring you loads of money, some succeed but many more do not.

 

Thus if you want difficult games, your best bet is to move away from the triple a scene and instead move to smaller games and studios like indies where their budgets are more manageable and thus they can afford to pick on more innovative ideas or even make their game more difficult to match their targeted audience's taste.

[Discordian 6,015]

Not so much that they are getting dumbed down as they are becoming more accessible. Games that were hard in the early days had a tendency to not be very efficient. Hit boxes weren't exact, enemies had basic paths and behaviors, etc.

 

If games were hard way back when, it's because they weren't balanced very well. Of course there's some exceptions to the balancing thing but they were either incredibly simple like Mario or complex like Dragon Warrior. Either way they were limited by what they had. Now that we don't have said limits it's easier to balance...a little too easy to the point where things become unbalanced again and things that might be good design on paper probably don't work so well in practice.

 

Personally I think the idea that a video game should be difficult by default to be a VERY heavy restriction. Video games are an experience and whether you have a hard time beating it shouldn't be in the equation so much as the difficulty should be a result of the design choices. Because of this I'm pretty okay with how video games are in the difficulty department. In most cases it seems developers agree with me on some level these days.

 

This post is probably kinda off-topic.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Discordian

[Nuke87654 1,849]

 

Of course there are still games that love to challenge the players(a good example being the recent DKCR: Tropical Freeze)

I still laugh at Gamespot's critical review for calling the level designs clunky when it's far more likely the game was kicking their ass.

 

One thing I love Retro is that they genuinely seek to make their games difficult to play, along with their usual awesomeness.

[Guest]

 

 

However, I was recently playing Ocarina of Time, and for every little thing, when you're just trying to get through, stupid Navi stops you to tell you what you already know is going to happen. Isn't that annoying?

 

At least you are not required to listen to her 90% of the time. Thank god.

[Cstriker 737]

Still getting Titanfall, very fun multiplayer and immersive.

[Mutemutt 773]

Ok, so I have no problems with tutorials. The average tutorial isn't very invasive these days and can often be skipped entirely. It's one of those "just in case" situations; I don't know why anyone would feel like an idiot if the game (which they've presumably never played before) includes a how-to.

 

As for difficulty, I think that things aren't doing all that bad these days. The highest difficulty setting of most games still offer plenty of challenge to any who seek it; the easier settings allow for anyone to just experience the story. Challenging games are better, but the fun stops once things get frustrating and cheap. 

 

Pokemon X/Y's exp share isn't a big deal either. That just cuts down on grind time. There's nothing hard about grinding, it's just time consuming. Those games will never be challenging in any lasting way since you just level up till you win. The level cap is well above what's necessary to do anything in singleplayer for those games; the only challenge is going against other human players. 

[Scootalove 10,689]

Most games are very easy while there are other games that are challenging, so it could go either way. The difficulty isn't really that bad these days, it depends on the game that you're playing.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

I think you people are just overreacting. There were super easy games then too.

[ParsoOfEquestria 1,490]

I remember when games never even had tutorial levels, which actually made you read the instruction manual to figure out what to do. Or help items that could be interacted with by choice. Good times

[Lightwing 12,967]

I feel something different between nowadays games and 90's games

And for the example,let's take one of my favourite games ever,Super Metroid,and an 2010's game(i'm going to say black ops 1 because i don't have more ideas now )

-On super metroid,you started with a target,but without NO IDEA about where do you have to go to complete it.In short words,you had to make your own road since the beggining

-On black ops (campaign mode) when you start,you've given instructions.Some instructions are never bad,but at that level...

-On super metroid,sometimes you had to revisit old zones to get upgrades which allowed you to go forward on the game,and most of then being well hidden(Ice beam or Varia Suit)

-On blackops,every level was like a turorial,without inciting you to explore and make your own road.

That's no good -_-

-And last of all,on Super Metroid,you have to discover for yourself certain skills(which are not named on the instruction manual) to advance farther

 

 

I'm not saying that all the games are like that,but there're many games with that everlasting tutorial mechanic.

 

So...that's my opinion.

[Vanguard 123]

It really depends what genre of game you're on about, but yeah I agree that games could be a bit harder than they are (cryptic puzzle wise) But I do find some games challenging at times, especially on the harder difficulties.

 

Games will obviously not be as difficult as they were before considering everyone has easy access to the internet and can look at the way to get past the bit that they are stuck on rather than actually have to spend time using your mind to try and figure it out. 

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Depends, but it mostly comes from the genre of gaming.

 

For example, shooters are mainly mindless as it's shoot and get to point a to be to pretty much win.

 

But games like puzzles and strategy offer more intellectual mechanics that will test you if your up for it.