Poll: Why are video games getting so easy?

[Flamespeak]

If any of you really think video games are getting easier because we're getting better at them, please, go play the original Contra on the NES, or Battletoads, or hell - the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I invite you back into the days of skill, when you had a total of 2 (sometimes 3) attacks, and that was it. I've beaten all three of the previously mentioned games back when I was 7-8 - I've pulled out the old NES, blown into the cartridge, and you know what? I have a DAMN hard time getting through those games now. I used to be able to beat Contra with just the 3 starting lives, start to finish, without dying even once. Now I'm doing good to get through the first 2 levels without dying.

I'm having a hell of time with the Dam level on TMNT - yet I remember being able to get through it with no problem previously. I shudder to think of when I get back to the Technodrome!

I contend that no, we are NOT getting better at games. I would contend that we are getting WORSE at games, without a proper challenge!

I would contend that those games are considered difficult for poor reasons by today's standards. Contra and Battletoads were more about pattern memorization than anything else and the games could be downright cheap bastards at times. Still fun to play in my opinion, but not hard because of skill (even though memorization could be considered a skill, I guess).

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Games these days are going through a Michael Bay phase, where the game is 99% flash and 1% substance. The same idiots that buy MW2 are the same idiots that paid for Revenge of the Fallen and other such drek to be created.

I blame the XboX for this. Games had stayed relatively enjoyable before Microsoft had to enter the picture and make an entire console dedicated to the types of games that their computers already operated.

Hey, sometimes it's nice to just blow things up. I have MW2 and Halo, along with Alan Wake, Silent Hill 1-3, and Shadow of the Colossus. I enjoy them all.

OT: Depends on what you mean by "easy". Everyone has already listed the fact that the Lives system is gone and you can now save often. Passwords and codes are toast too. However, I still find games like Ninja Gaiden beating me into the ground (anyone hear tried those Team Missions in Sigma 2? ARGH!!). And beating Call of Duty 2 on Veteran was, for me at least, one of the most challanging things I've ever done. I think games are just finding different ways to be challanging.

Let's also not forget that most of us have been playing games for a while, so we're getting better and it's harder to push our skills.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I don't think easier games is really a bad thing, but I do like for my games to have a bit of a challenge to them. I've noticed I always wind up playing the game on the hardest difficulty right off the bat. The hardest difficulty is always the most fun, and I think of it like, on the hardest difficulty, it plays through like if whatever was going on in the game, was going on in real life, it would actually be that challenging. But I'm not really a hard core gamer, I just like a little challenge.

 

[Slaanax]

I never understood the interest in hard games, when I am screaming at my screen because of something its usually never a good thing. Games no longer have to be a challenge to be good or are designed to make you put quarters in it to suck money out of you.

 

[Hussmann54]

Yes they are. Some games at least are hard. But a certain website reviewed The Forgotten Sands and one of their cons about the game was...
"The difficulty is arbitrarily ramped up at the end, nearly ruining the game"
Most games at the end get so easy and is usually a bad thing. But when a game gets hard at the end...is also a bad thing...No one wins

Meh, I disagree, the end should be the most difficult. I mean, look at old Mario games, they actually had a pretty good difficulty curve going. Why should the end be mediocre? Its when the hero has to face the biggest, baddest Big Baddie of them all right? I remember saving up all my ammo/potions/arrows/whatever in anticipation of having an all out slug fest

 

[pretentiousname01]

Casuals ruin everything.

These companies are out to make money. If casuals can't feel awesome playing games they won't buy. Why sell something great when something good sells better.

large image
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/090423.jpg

 

[Aura Guardian]

Yes they are. Some games at least are hard. But a certain website reviewed The Forgotten Sands and one of their cons about the game was...
"The difficulty is arbitrarily ramped up at the end, nearly ruining the game"
Most games at the end get so easy and is usually a bad thing. But when a game gets hard at the end...is also a bad thing...No one wins

Meh, I disagree, the end should be the most difficult. I mean, look at old Mario games, they actually had a pretty good difficulty curve going. Why should the end be mediocre? Its when the hero has to face the biggest, baddest Big Baddie of them all right? I remember saving up all my ammo/potions/arrows/whatever in anticipation of having an all out slug fest

I agree with you. But G4tv's review of that game was just bad. And saying that the game gets hard at the end, ruins the game is just whining that you suck.

 

[baseracer]

In old games, when enemies touched you, you either died or got hurt. that was bullshit. Nowadays games can have more content so they don't need to be so hard.
Imagine playing, say, oblivion, but whenever an enemy touched you, you died, and had to reload back at the start of the quest, losing all of your money and weapons, you think that would be fun?

I think it's retarded that people think games are getting worse, with the introduction of 3d games, multiplayer, downloadable content etc, games are better than ever.

Oblivion is a RPG though. I don't remember RPGs that let you lose all of your stuff. The worst I've seen is putting you in the closest inn with 1 HP.

Oh, if you want to play a tough game, play Ninja Gaiden (either one will do) on Master Ninja. Holy shit.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

AC: FA was fairly easy for the most part, save for the last 2 missions on hard (1 v 3 in a tight area and 1 v 5 in a large and cluttered area for those that don't know). My blade mech whips up on most everything everywhere except there. My mech is too fast to move around effectively in the tight area, and the water in the 1 v 5 means most of my blade swipes just push the enemy into the water instead of murdering them.
Unless you mean trying to win a match online, only Japanese people lurk there and they (being Japanese) are instantly much better than any westerner.

FA is generally pretty easy with the exception of a few NEXT battles that are ludicrously hard. For example fighting Cube without the cheapshot missiles, I've never managed to kill him without them as I simply run out of ammo shooting at thin air, he's just too fast.

AC4 hard missions were painfully difficult though (and a few of the 'normal' ones).

 

[CheckD3]

They really are, back in the day they didn't care as much about the money, keyword as much. But nowadays it's become such a buisness that they care only about the money and the difficulty curve is fucked seriously up the ass for those who want the challenge and those who are starting out. Making games either super easy, or too hard for even a vet. gamer to do on the first try...challenges this day are having the patience to try the trial and error aspect that is the only way to beat the hard and expert modes now a days

 

[The3rdEye]

I dont know why but it seems like all the games i play these days are getting easier then before, I dont really have a good example because all the games I play are super easy. even when i play L4D2 and expert its easy

1) How are you not just getting better at video games? And if all you play is one genre from one market and/or you spend a substantial amount of time on them...
2) Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, ect. Those games deliver on what John Romero promised.

Luckily I'm playing armored core at the moment which is like being hit in the balls with a sledgehammer on every mission.

Fighting another NEXT? Bazookas/Bazooka arms.
Fighting mindless hordlings? Assault Rifles, possibly with a bazooka on your back.

Mind you I love the series, it's just easy to exploit certain things.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Fighting another NEXT? Bazookas/Bazooka arms.
Fighting mindless hordlings? Assault Rifles, possibly with a bazooka on your back.

Mind you I love the series, it's just easy to exploit certain things.

Good luck hitting a fast NEXT like White Glint or Cube (especially cube...) with bazookas or assault rifles. The only missiles capable of hitting them are one certain back mounted launcher which in 1.00 has insane tracking.

 

[CK76]

Switch for me was when it went form challenge to story.

You beat Mega Man to brag about it to friends, you beat Assassin's Creed to see the story unfold.

I think place for both in gaming.

 

[rastlin1985]

Video games are getting so easy because we're getting better at them.

indeed. i'd be suprised if anyone who had barely played a game before found L4D2 expert easy.

completable games, yes please. all those stupidly difficult games are still there you know...

 

[Skylants]

Because people are stupid. It's got nothing to do with appealing to the younger audience. I had a Mega Drive (Genesis to you yanks) when I was 5 years old. and I'm pretty sure a lot of kids my age had Mega Drives and NES/SNESs.

It's because the current generation (anyone under 18 years old, in my opinion) is stupid.

 

[Tellgraith]

That Picture will haunt my nightmares for years to come O_O'

Regardless the only new game that's really given me trouble, excluding playing FPS online, is ninja gaiden 2.

 

[C117]

I think it is because of a combination of your own skills increasing and that games of today are meant to be beaten by everybody.

I'll show you what I mean; in Super Mario Bros., I can breeze through the first 6 or 7 worlds nowadays, whereas when I was 8 or so, I was lucky if I made it to world 3. So obviously I have improved. But I still can't make it through the very last world, because it's so darn hard. And if I really, REALLY wanted to beat it, I'd probably have to patiently play it over and over again five hours nonstop, in order to get even better.

But I don't have that patience, and neither do a lot of people. They want to beat the game, without having to train all bloody time in order to make it across a difficult gap or whatever.

 

[Drakstern]

Wow, there's a lot of nostalgia in this thread.

Let me start out by saying that, yes, games have gotten easier. There are several reasons for this, but the primary one is that most people do not like the difficulty of old nintendo games. An extremely hard game is made for a niche market.

There's also the fact that many people who've been playing games since the Nintendo era have simply gotten better at games. I blew through Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3 on normal, hard, and Dante Must Die. I love the difficulty level of God Hand. I play bullet hell games for fun. However, I've been playing video games for 23 years. I got my start on the Commodore 64 when I was 4. I've been playing for a very long time, and since I have diverse interests, I have strong general skills in any sort of game. I don't demand that companies cater to my wish for difficult games, because I know that's not what sells.

That said, 'easy' does not equal 'bad.' Okami is one of my favorite games, and I blew through the game without dieing once. A hard game can be frustrating and completely unfun, while an easy game can be a joy to play.

The best solution is the inclusion of difficulty settings, but often times you just get the 'enemies have more HP, you get less ammo' solution rather than 'enemies get smarter/get new attacks'.