ShadowNeku wrote:Misery wrote:Not to mention so many games today are EASY AS HECK. Really, REALLY easy. Got yourself killed back there? No matter, there was a checkpoint 2 rooms back, which is 2 rooms away from another one. Getting killed ALOT? No matter, we dont have life counts or "continues" here, whatever THOSE are. Got a horrible boss to fight? No matter, just give it a couple of minutes and it'll surely roll over and show you some huge glowing weak spot, and allow you to get in a buncha hits without fighting back during that time.
But on the other hand, plenty of old school games were unreasonably difficult or expected a lot of your free time in one sitting. Games that could take up to three hours to finish, no saving and no passwords or if you were really unlucky wanted you to do the whole thing in ONE life, no continues. Thats a bit of a slap in the face if you just spent the full asking price for it, took it home and realised after a few hours that youd probably never even make it halfway through the game, let alone complete it.
The difficulty level in Modern gaming is partially designed around the much longer length in comparison to stuff on earlier consoles. Your typical FPS campaign can potentially take over 5/6 hours, longer if you choose to explore the levels and pick up the hidden "objects" on the way. Imagine if the life system was based on continues without checkpoints with dying returning you to the start of the level. You use your last continue 5 hours in and are sent back to the beginning of the game. I wonder how many people would ever bother with it again having their time wasted like that.
Difficulty level is always an interesting thing to debate. I personally dont know which side of the fence im on. I like to be challenged but not to the extent where im frustrated and no longer enjoying the experiance. Lets face it, after the 30th attempt at a boss you arent doing it out of enjoyment but the sadistic dedication to not be beaten by an AI that was probably designed to be overly cheap in the first place. In contradiction to myself though, there are times when i want that too (looking at you Ninja Gaiden Black!)
Even then though, only the oldest of those games (like on the NES for example) lack the ability to save your game. Or AT LEAST use passwords.
Most of the longer games allowed saving; those that didnt were usually pretty short, like the various Megaman titles.
Short or long though, for me those games at least hold my attention. Most modern releases..... cure for insomnia, definitely. Particularly when that 5-6 hour campaign or whatever would be only FOUR hours if it wasnt for the 1-2 hours of stupid cutscenes.
And there are games that take MUCH MUCH MUCH longer to beat....... but if you die ONCE, it's over (and no reloading saves). Roguelikes, generally..... I can think of a few very long and ridiculously difficult ones. They're a popular genre though, and there's about a kersquillion of them..... so they do prove that that kind of difficulty and absolute lack of forgiveness DOES have a place in certain types of games. Needless to say I've played quite a bunch of them myself.
Also the shmups. Can spend a damn half a year playing them non stop and STILL not beat them.
Also, I do think that difficulty is somewhat subjective. Not only that, but some games are PERCIEVED as more difficult than they really are for one simple reason: Some players (ok, MANY players) give up too easily. They just immediately assume they cant do it, so they stop trying. Wheras if they were to persist and practice..... they could not only beat it, but would probably find that the game in question is really not nearly as hard as they thought. Usually, I think of this sort of thing when I hear a modern gamer complaining about the difficulty in older games. They'll often whine about a game I'm familiar with, how ZOMG it's impossible and how is anyone supposed to beat this? When I've played it myself and think it's actually fairly easy.... but they give up and dont TRY, so yeah, they'll NEVER beat it.
Darkbynight wrote:Misery wrote:Indie games though...... SO many good ones. So very many. All of my most favorite games ever are indie titles. Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, and the recently released "A Valley Without Wind" being my faves. Among many others. Oh, and Forget-Me-Not, that game's bloody brilliant if you havent tried it already. I could try to list all of the good games I've found among there, but it'd take PAGES.
I searched for A valley without wind.... *Sighs* Every time I follow someone's directions to an indie game I have to spend another bunch of money on an awesome sounding game!
That looks gorgeous and incredibly fun!
Be warned, Valley has a high learning curve. And you're going to die. Alot. Alot of dying. Be ready for some frustration.
The game hasnt been out long, and there's some rather screwy balance issues right now. But nowhere near as screwy as some other games.
Also if it seems like there's a distinct lack of enemy variety at first it's because many more advanced foes actually have to be unlocked first; the game tries to ease you into things, as the devs are well aware that some parts are confuzzling. This includes bosses too, most bosses wont show for a time (you'll see the damn robot and the big blue blob MANY times early on)
But yeah, damn amazing game, really. It's pretty much all I've done since it released, and I've been very active in the community for it as well. Those developers..... best I've ever seen in terms of community interaction and stuff like that. I really just dont get tired of playing it.
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