Are modern games "too easy"? (Essay warning)

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Did you forget our private conversation?Where I gave you those list of horror games that don't do over the shoulder and use the classic static camera or dynamic camera angles of Resident Evil and Silent Hill? I hope you've been paying attention or playing that big list I gave you. You have no excuses at this point.

The list is done and im not satisfied with these games . Those are okay but not really the Bulls-eye im searching for . Atleast i had some distraction till completion while searching for the real deals that should and could wow me easily .

Or do you have more of them horror indie timewasters ? Atleast my steam-list gets a bit more fuller than now .

 

[BrawlMan]

The list is done and im not satisfied with these games . Those are okay but not really the Bulls-eye im searching for . Atleast i had some distraction till completion while searching for the real deals that should and could wow me easily .

I gave you a really long list in that super large hours videos in that playlist. Whatever itch you're trying to scratch, is like that first high when it comes to drugs. You're never gonna reach that same high again.

do you have more of them horror indie timewasters ? A

You're on your own. At this point it's just all you.

This is to those who feels gaming is "too easy", but I have a solution that's really simple....

I will be blunt about this: instead of wasting time on here, wangsting and lamenting, just go out and play these games and have fun. There's plenty of challenging stuff out there, but if you want that exact challenge, in the exact same way you had as a kid or teenager back between the 8 bit days up to early 360 era, where nearly everyone and there mama were doing it, then you might as well keep on dreaming. That said, there's plenty of stuff out there, but are you blind by nostalgia, and/or in your own head constantly with the self pity? I know it's not the exact case for others, but it's pretty clear to a few of you here just want what you exactly had as a kid, teenager, or early 20s something. Y'all, do whatever you want, but that's not gonna stop me from enjoying life and playing games people like to make. I love my favorite genres, but I don't mind experimenting or trying new things every once in a while. I don't need everything to work for me, but just be good, regardless if I agree or disagree with whatever gameplay mechanics and et cetera.

There's no point in me on this thread, because I already found what i'm looking for and I got plenty of it that makes me happy. If I want my challenge, I know exactly what to do, where to go, and what difficulty modes I like.

Indie and AA got me covered for days, and there's always something new and good around the horizon. Especially for indie. The men, women, and all that rainbow in between have done more than enough to give us the games we played in our youths, or in the past. You can say whatever quality, there is to each of these games, but there's clear passion and care, and not just cynical and mindless corporate greed from most of these small and medium creators. More passion than a majority of AAA (Western/USA especially) have not done pretty much over a decade now.

I like going back to play old games as well, but that's not the only thing I want to play. It's called live life and enjoy it. Value those precious memories but never be blind by them and learn to step and move forward.

Peace out. Because after this and work, I'm going to do more train rail grinding and crazy flip tricks in this over the top courses in this awesome Dreamcast era/early life PS2 game.

 

[PrismRed]

Not really, to me personally old games are harder due to it's limitation at the time, like bugs, glitches and stuff, did you know a console as "modern" as PS1 has 2 to 3 frames of input latency on the original console?

Of course there are some subjectively hard modern games out there, but the most well known ones (e.g. soulslike) were also hard, but I'll say it is only hard because you were deliberately being put in a disadvantage most of the time, most bosses if being fought on a neutral ground, with adequate equipment and stats, no bullshit or gimmick attached, is going to be easy.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

after 2018 really started to become way too handholdy

nah this became more and more of a thing in the late 10s; ill even say the late 00s.

 

[Tsukishima]

But overall these are bounded to preferences instead of problems or simply tribalism . We need developers that make games that satisfy the Challenger-crowd in gaming too while other developers can go into other directions of more balanced and even casual gaming to give the other crowds what they want .

Not in all directions lies the huge mountain of cash on the ground but without these focused game-studios gaming doesnt innovate further .

While i agree that there are indies that make more challenging games , their designs still has huge flaws that doesnt satisfy the heart of the challenger how exploits and abusable META strategies can easily be found and cant be entirely fixed because its so ingrained in its design that the whole game must be changed from the ground up . Perfection is impossible to archieve but atleast trying to be near it should be the actual goal .

And a high challenge shouldnt be build upon tedium ( like Damage-sponges , Armor-fetishists and Hitbox-deniers ) but in mechanics that makes it hard to get the two hits on the enemy to kill it which was easier in lower difficulties but stays on the two-hits HP-pool .

I would rather wish that gaming becomes more individualistic in its designs to give any people their niches instead this disgusting caserol of games and its mutating genre-mashings of everything that is made for everybody but appeals to no one .

I just want a good horror-game .

Not another third-person-shooter with cutscenes so long like a whole visual novel combined with all LotR-movies , added stealth mechanics and a crafting system spiced up with RPG-mechanics of percentages and bland elemental damage with toddler puzzles on the side , tortured with an pendatic hardcore backseat-gaming ear-plug demon that whispers me the whole META on silent moments AND ..... infinite healing options every 2 meters ( american-metric bullying right there !!!! And im not ashamed of it . )
that leads me to have almost infinite money carrying a whole pharmacy on my back .

I want to be spooked not coddled god damnit !!

Graves, I'm sure getting recommended indie-horrors is the last thing you want right now (and I'm not privy to the recommendations BrawlMan gave you) but was you ever aware of Signalis? I personally believe the team behind this one achieved perfection in a very close way, but I'd like to hear your experienced eye on this

 

[Fietto!]

They’re more approachable but it still depends on the dev’s skills/intentions.

 

[Moldark-Wyrm]

Yes modern games are to easy. Like Beach I can hold my Pinus my self you don´t need to hold it for me.
Like QUIT WITH THE AUTO heal when your are out of combat or hide beheind a corner.

All this hand holding are so damn insulting. THE WORST CRIMINAL offense isw does RED FUCKING DOTS telling me here you pick up new loot or you got a new skill.

It is okey if a game is hard all games does not need to be for every one. When people asked for difficulty slider in Elden ring im glad Fromsoft said no.

If the game is to hard then the game is not for you learn to live with you damn STUPID C word that need red fucking dots telling you how dumb you are because you don´t play more than fucking phone games.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Graves, I'm sure getting recommended indie-horrors is the last thing you want right now (and I'm not privy to the recommendations BrawlMan gave you) but was you ever aware of Signalis? I personally believe the team behind this one achieved perfection in a very close way, but I'd like to hear your experienced eye on this

Nothing against recommended stuff . Im rather open for new underrated games that tries something different or have a great premise overall .
Signalis was very cool . And how the lore expanded with every playthrough was the best decision they ever made . Not quite the horror that i really craved but the eldritch horror and the hints to it are very well done . The Artstyle had that taint of Metal Gear : Ghost babel feel to it which i like very much .

 

[Tsukishima]

the eldritch horror and the hints to it are very well done

Too real. I really craved a hardcover copy of the King in Yellow after seeing it taunting my eyes in playthroughs. That part was especially gripping, including the opening statement of H.P Lovecraft they used in the prologue. It was so tantalizing and it's the type of quote that sticks in your mind as the madness only descends with the narrative.

 

[Soma_Shotgun]

nah this became more and more of a thing in the late 10s; ill even say the late 00s.

I'd say after 2018 it became even more so with yellow paint and characters constantly hammering in your head where to go and what to do even tho you also have markers and tutorial popups.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'd say after 2018 it became even more so with yellow paint and characters constantly hammering in your head where to go and what to do even tho you also have markers and tutorial popups.

There was already yellow paint or yellow orange light before back during the seventh generation. Or obvious signposting with red and blue. Or the waypoint finders in any Call of Duty or Gears clone.

• Alan Wake
• Shadows of the Damned
• DmC with red and blue
• The Sabotuer
• Dante's Inferno with its grapple hooks, which are taken from God of War anyway.
• El Shaddai, but that game mainly uses glowing white.
• Mirror's Edge used red, but same difference.
• Bioshock with the optional yellow arrow.

I can go on all day. Lets not forget that plenty of games during the fifth and sixth generation had really obvious signposting. It may not be yellow paint, but it was pretty obvious. Or a difference in the environment art to let you know if you were on the right track or not.

Players get lost a lot in games. | John Hopson

Players get lost a lot in games. People who argue against “yellow paint” style signposting haven’t spent the hours any games ux researcher has watching the joy drain from players’ eyes as they wander around aimlessly looking for an exit they already passed and didn’t recognize. This picture is...

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You can hate yellow paint all you want or it substitutes, but not every single person is Darkside Phil, but people get lost easily. This has been proven true no matter what era of gaming, you go towards. Disliking obvious, sign posting a yellow paint, don't make you better than everybody else, nor exactly smarter.

Almost nobody complained about obvious sign posting until the so called hardcore gamers during seventh generation. Even before all that, Capcom, SEGA, Square, Konami, and Nintendo had no problem doing obvious sign posting in their games during 5th & 6th generation.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

The whole yellow paint shit is just downstream of the desire for ultra-realistic graphics that's unfortunately plagued gaming for close to 20 years now. The obvious solution to this is how people got around it in the 5th, 6th and early 7th gens; genuinely inspired/stylised art directions, but unfortunately most gamers still fall for the "better graphics=better game" propaganda, even though pretty much every game that has these problems are almost always the (IMO anyway) uninteresting, uninventive, tasteless cinematic games.

A lot of gamers are their own worst enemies at times, but that's getting into another topic entirely.

 

[BrawlMan]

lot of gamers are their own worst enemies at times, but that's getting into another topic entirely.

You are more than correct and hit the nail on the head. There is a lot of relation between the two. Even though there are more than a few that want to deny it or are insecure about it.

 

[Ikagura]

A lot of gamers are their own worst enemies at times, but that's getting into another topic entirely.

I'd argue that another issue is that even harder games are being optimised like hell because of techniques and easier ways to tell how to make better builds.

Never underestimate the abilities of gamers to optimise the fun out of games.

 

[Shaddycat]

I'd argue that another issue is that even harder games are being optimised like hell because of techniques and easier ways to tell how to make better builds.

Never underestimate the abilities of gamers to optimise the fun out of games.

This is also definitely something to be considered.

It's especially apparent if you look at competitive video games. I'm a big time Dota 2 player, and if you compare the average skill of a player in 2012 vs now, it's night an day.

I'm willing to bet a mid-ranked team of randoms from today could probably beat TI winners of the first International.

But to be fair, this is happening with everything, sports included. Do we really think Babe Ruth would be as successful today as he was back in his prime? Hell, he probably wouldn't even get drafted!

 

[tht009]

Yes, most modern games are too easy, because they're designed for people with neither intelligence nor patience. I'm fine with quality of life features, but you shouldn't be guaranteed to see the end of the game just because you bought it; that privilege should be reserved for people with determination and skill. At least for games that intend to challenge you, that is; casual farming/slice-of-life games can be easy because they were never meant to be difficult and the lack of challenge is part of its charm and comfort.

Some retro games go too far in the other direction due to things like rentals or quarter munching, but that's mainly applicable to arcade games and their home console conversions, many of which give you an arbitrary number of lives and continues when the arcade version would be a breeze as long as you pumped enough quarters in. That's not fair challenge as much as poor balancing and "pay to win" before that term was popularized.

I think the perfect balance is when the game respects your intelligence without brutally ass raping you until you like it. (Although I do enjoy some Dark Souls.) Morrowind is a great example, because the world is hostile and certain areas will kick your ass if you go in too weak, but it never feels unfair. I am in the camp of preferring directions to quest markers. The problem with turning off the quest markers in later games is that they aren't built around giving directions like Morrowind. If you turn them off, you just have no way of knowing where you're supposed to go. I would be fine with quest markers being an option as long as the game is built to work without them, but once they were added in the developers got lazy about the quest dialogue. In Morrowind, every quest comes with verbal directions to the location. In Oblivion/Skyrim, they know you have a quest marker so they don't bother giving you usable directions.