Poll: Difficulty. Why?

[some random guy]

I honestly don't see the point in games being challenging/difficult. Why do developers make games difficult?
Some people say that difficult games are more rewarding and satisfying which is something I personally don't get. It may be more satisfying but that definitely does not make up for the amount of persistence and frustration that went into doing what ever the game asked you to do and the reward is usually another rock hard battle. Something like the first few missions in Mercenaries is just as satisfying as something like Ninja Gaiden Sigma simply because of how fun it is to blow stuff up in that game.
Also, the harder the game, the less I tend to enjoy it. I don't know about you but I certainly don't like being frustrated and prefer to be having fun. I've never found replaying the same bit over and over again fun. I personally found Ratchet and Clank, Tools of Destruction one of the most fun and memorable games of 2007 despite its (lack of) difficulty.
So what do you think, why do some people like games to be difficult/challenging and do you like challenging/difficult games?

 

[shatnershaman]

I like games on easy, I can do hard but then its replaces fun with work.

 

[TJ rock 101]

i like hard games, like near the end of goldeneye: rogue agent when the bad guys get one hit kill guns and they suck if you try use them...
its not that it was annoying enough to make you leave but you feel better for surviving the thing.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

I like hard games, it feels like much more of an achievement when I finally complete it.

 

[wewontdie11]

I love games that give me a challenge. I find it fun and a slight sense of satisfaction when you beat a boss that you couldn't before or work out a challenging puzzle. That's pretty much what keeps me playing some games. I don't tend to try things on easier difficulties unless there's a nice juicy achievement at the end of it, or the story is that good and the game soooo hard that I am forced to, just to see what happens in the end.

 

[fix-the-spade]

If the games too easy I may as well sit and do nothing instead, it's more satisfying.

I like challenges, I also like my brain to made to work for things. Beating a game on hard (or European Extreme) feels like achieving something rather than sitting blithely pressing X every so often. It's also more engaging.

 

[Wargamer]

Allow me to give an example of "Hard" vs "Easy".


I am currently trying to earn the Foxhound Medal on MGS4. This means I've got to do the game in under six hours (or was is 5 hours 30 mins? anyway...) and without being spotted.

This makes the game SO FUCKING ANNOYING that it has taken me a WEEK to do the first act.

Playing through normally, I can do it in an hour or so. Because the Foxhound Medal is so hard to get, having to quit and restart so often, I get totally pissed off and abandon it for days at a time.

So hard games are not really that fun. What I like is a challenging game. I don't want it to be a dull, boring cakewalk that in a retarded pre-teen Halo 3 Fanboy can do, but neither do I want to have to spend 20 hours a day mastering some obscure tactic and combo to win. Oh, and in case the team behind Mario Kart is reading; IT IS NOT FUCKING FUN FOR EVERY SINGLE RACER TO RED-SHELL ME THREE INCHES FROM THE FINISH LINE!!! I don't care if it's 150cc! If I am half a mile ahead and 10 seconds from the line, I should be UNTOUCHABLE!

 

[Fronken]

I'd say games with moderate challenges are perfect

 

[Abako]

Challenge is the only reason I play a game. There is not point (in my mind) in playing something that isnt a demonstration of your skills. For example back when I used to play halo 1 during AP programming in high school, I would put it on legendary and then play levels like the silent cartographer with nothing but a plamsa pistol, melee, and maybe the human pistol for really hard parts. The other people in the class found it impossible to even do some of the levels with full weaponry. Why? I dunno I guess I was better. But the point is its only fun when there is a REAL challenge. So yes hard games are what make them fun. Absolutely impossible games are really frusterating but if its a game I absolutely cant beat, I tend to think its the game, maybe Im just full of myself. But the point is, make a game really hard and youll have fun beating it the first time, then once you get even better, you can make it more challenging by placing limitations on yourself (like pistols and knife on veteran in CoD4 hehe)

 

[Iceman23]

I prefer games to be moderately challenging, with the option to bump up the difficulty on either the first, or second play through.

When games are too difficult even on a low setting (Ninja Gaiden 2 is a shining example of this), I tend to become so frustrated that I just stop playing the game entirely and go off to do something else.

EDIT: The same happens when games make certain parts ridiculously harder than the rest of the game. Call of Duty 4 had plenty of moments like this (The Pripyat mission, the "No fighting in the war room" part, and above them all: the Epilogue mission on Veteran.)

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Easy games bore me to death. I stopped playing Super Mario Galaxy because it seemed to be designed for toddlers. I like playing games on their hardest difficulty (provided that difficulty doesn't need to be unlocked first) because it gives me a sense of satisfaction to have done so.

It also adds some longevity to games that would otherwise be far too short-- like MGS4, for example.

 

[revolverwolf]

I play Easy modes for fun and Hard modes for difficulty. If a game is just rediculously (is that the right spelling?) hard it eliminates the fun and I quickly get bored of it.

 

[HomeAliveIn45]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

When the harder difficulty actually makes the game more challenging - I'll do it, and doesn't just make it "you die quicker, and your enemies take more hits" - it makes the game more challenging in theory, but all it really does is just pad the gameplay. Unless it's an unforgiving hack n' slash like God of War on Titan Mode, or Ninja Gaiden on...medium... then it's just a pain and not a challenge, it's more like a patience and reflex test.

Gears of War had an ANNOYING difficulty system, I swear it made you die so fucking quickly but made your enemies take two lancer clips into the face, and then they'd almost be on their knees. That's not "challenging" that's just stupid, I'm still taking cover and using the chainsaw or shotgun when up close, hell, now I'm actually just rushing and using the shotgun once I find one, all the game is doing is making me spend more ammo, not making me try new tactics, or throwing more enemies at me. Hammerburst is good but once the enemies start using Lancers it's worthless. The Boomshot would also be useful if it HAD ANY SPLASH DAMAGE! Boomers can blow you to bits with one shot but you have to do an active reload to get the splash damage more powerful then a bunny fart.

Then there's the last Boss that just won't fucking die EVER, even if you use Co-Op you'll be replaying that over and over because they made RAAM able to take Torque Bow and Sniper shots to the fucking FACE, and then one scratch from the troika, and I turn into a nice juicy GIB.

Easy games bore me to death. I stopped playing Super Mario Galaxy because it seemed to be designed for toddlers. I like playing games on their hardest difficulty (provided that difficulty doesn't need to be unlocked first) because it gives me a sense of satisfaction to have done so.

It also adds some longevity to games that would otherwise be far too short-- like MGS4, for example.

Not to mention that MGS4's diffculty level adds far more than just "you die faster and your enemies take more shots" - the AI is top-notch, ammo is scarce, there are more enemies about (so if you played on the easiest difficulty to learn the game inside out before you try it on extreme you're pretty much fucked), and if you're trying to get the "Big Boss" emblem, then you've got to be careful and yet somehow do a speed run of the game. It's a whole different experience that most people will quit at Act 3 lol. Still, worth the challenge if you don't care about the "No Continues" thing >_> Still, if you don't want the BB emblem you'll still feel like playing a completely different version of the game since so much has been tweaked.

-and in order to play SMG on it's harder difficulties, you have to get all those 120 stars, yet for some reason the designers thought ending the game at "50" would be a good idea, and for some reason would still manage to give incentive to play the rest of the levels.

 

[revolverwolf]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

The point is to have fun...It is the point of every game ever.

 

[HomeAliveIn45]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

The point is to have fun...It is the point of every game ever.

My logic is inescapable, fun is irrelevant.

 

[shatnershaman]

When the harder difficulty actually makes the game more challenging - I'll do it, and doesn't just make it "you die quicker, and your enemies take more hits" - it makes the game more challenging in theory, but all it really does is just pad the gameplay. Unless it's an unforgiving hack n' slash like God of War on Titan Mode, or Ninja Gaiden on...medium... then it's just a pain and not a challenge, it's more like a patience and reflex test.

Gears of War had an ANNOYING difficulty system, I swear it made you die so fucking quickly but made your enemies take two lancer clips into the face, and then they'd almost be on their knees. That's not "challenging" that's just stupid, I'm still taking cover and using the chainsaw or shotgun when up close, hell, now I'm actually just rushing and using the shotgun once I find one, all the game is doing is making me spend more ammo, not making me try new tactics, or throwing more enemies at me. Hammerburst is good but once the enemies start using Lancers it's worthless. The Boomshot would also be useful if it HAD ANY SPLASH DAMAGE! Boomers can blow you to bits with one shot but you have to do an active reload to get the splash damage more powerful then a bunny fart.

Then there's the last Boss that just won't fucking die EVER, even if you use Co-Op you'll be replaying that over and over because they made RAAM able to take Torque Bow and Sniper shots to the fucking FACE, and then one scratch from the troika, and I turn into a nice juicy GIB.

Gears of War on Insane isn't that hard especially on co-op. Take that Final boss fight first try on Insane with my Cousin (We had to beat it on hardcore to unlock.) We took cover at the first hedge-thing.Torque bow shot to get rid of krill,perfect reload sniper round in head, we repeated a bunch of times and killed him right in front of us wasn't hard at all.

 

[revolverwolf]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

The point is to have fun...It is the point of every game ever.

My logic is inescapable, fun is irrelevant.

Fun is irrelevent? That's not logic...that's your opinion.
What else is in a game if not the fun? Sure you can try to accomplish things but that in itself I feel doesn't actually make a difference.

 

[The Lyre]

What's the point of playing if you accomplish nothing?

The point is to have fun...It is the point of every game ever.

Many would say that the fun comes from the sense of accomplishment, and from the extent to which you are immersed in the plot - if the game is too easy and therefore ends too quickly then you get neither, meaning lack of fun; the dreaded minus/negative fun that causes disks to be broken and game develepors to be letterbombed.

 

[Solo508]

Games like Crysis and Cod4 ect shouldn't go above hard mode if you ask me. Having to repeat a sequence so many times that you eventually just beat it because you memorised the locations of every pixel on the screen are just plain annoying. Its not like I'm crap at games or anything, I can't remember the last time a game challenged me to the point of frustration. I just think challenging situations should be left to the multiplayer aspects of the game.

However, games that involve strategy such as the Total War series or most RTS games should have the serious difficulty settings. Its more fun to challenge yourself to think of strategies than it is to hurt your hand with button mashing or mouse waggling. Not that I'm saying strategy can't be incorporated into any game, its just got less limitations in those kind of games.