Random Gaming Thoughts

[Raging Justice]

I feel like there is a strong difference between unintentionally hard and intentionally hard games. A lot of NES games seemed hard at first, yet you can find youtube channels today showing you all kinds of tricks that make many of those games a cake walk like u can beat video games or Let's Play with Brigands. Some games also only seem hard because of unusual design or a strange control scheme.

I don't mind games like that. I do hate games that are clearly trying to be as obnoxiously hard as possible and it's why I generally avoid Souls games, rogue likes, etc. I also hate a lot of old school arcade games because they were designed to be cheap as hell to get you to keep pumping in those quarters.

That said though, no matter how difficult a game is there is always some wiz kid out there that can own that game. I mean, I've seen insane things like someone playing two shooters at the some time or someone playing the speeder bike levels in Battletoads blind folded. If someone is passionate enough about a game (or just complete masochists) they can overcome whatever insane challenge it poses with enough dedication along with probably months and months, maybe even years of practice.

[Anapan]

I don't remember which Japanese Famicom game it was - Taito or Konami game; The guy who did the translation to USA tweeted that he'd intentionally made the game harder specifically to make it unbeatable in a single rental.

[o.pwuaioc]

I don't remember which Japanese Famicom game it was - Taito or Konami game; The guy who did the translation to USA tweeted that he'd intentionally made the game harder specifically to make it unbeatable in a single rental.

Isn't this also the story behind Ninja Gaiden III?

[Markies]

I know that was confirmed recently for The Lion King on the Genesis/SNES.

Disney themselves didn't want people beating the game on a rental, so they kept asking the programmers to make the game harder.

[RCBH928]

I don't remember which Japanese Famicom game it was - Taito or Konami game; The guy who did the translation to USA tweeted that he'd intentionally made the game harder specifically to make it unbeatable in a single rental.

Thats why I give those "retro" games a pass when it comes to difficulty. I saw speed runners completing those in like 40-90 minutes (due to hardware restrictions). People will not be happy if they pay $60 and get only 60 minutes of play time from a game. So the only answer was to make it more difficult so people can "get gud" on it until they beat it.

That being said, I played the original Zelda on NES I do not remember it being difficult nor did I feel it was too short

Although there was a confusing part where you had to go north of the map twice to get to a level. That kind of thing frustrates me. Thanks to the internet I learned how to continue the game

[RCBH928]

I think re: difficulty we also need to keep in mind that different people respond differently to difficulty. Anything that demands super-tight reflexes is always going to be a hard barrier for me, but confusion or memorization I can eventually work my way through.

Yeah the areas where you have to a long session of tight reflexes is stressing but I categorise that in the "frustrating" category. Still can't get past Lion King Snes monkey level.

That said though, no matter how difficult a game is there is always some wiz kid out there that can own that game. I mean, I've seen insane things like someone playing two shooters at the some time or someone playing the speeder bike levels in Battletoads blind folded. If someone is passionate enough about a game (or just complete masochists) they can overcome whatever insane challenge it poses with enough dedication along with probably months and months, maybe even years of practice.

Maybe these people take it on themselves as a challenge to beat that game. For me , and I think most people, they want a pleasurable activity. If you want to take a serious challenge, pick a real life thing that has a real life benefit that is worth spending so many hours on it but if beating a difficult game is what gives you thrills in life.... you do you.

[Ack]

Heh, apparently it is possible to beat Resident Evil 2 without ever taking a step:

https://www.destructoid.com/og-resident ... ngle-step/

Basically the animation for raising a gun moves the character forward slightly, so by raising and lowering your weapon, you can actually navigate the whole of Resident Evil 2.

[MrPopo]

Sounds like the low% run of Twilight Princess, that uses a bug in the loop for an animation of opening a chest to move you forward a pixel every cycle and phases through walls. It takes many many many hours.

[ZRofel]

Maybe these people take it on themselves as a challenge to beat that game. For me , and I think most people, they want a pleasurable activity. If you want to take a serious challenge, pick a real life thing that has a real life benefit that is worth spending so many hours on it but if beating a difficult game is what gives you thrills in life.... you do you.

Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel too. I like games to be a little challenging, because if I'm just pushing a button to win, that's boring. But if, in order to "get good" at a game, I need to put in the same amount of effort that I'd need to put into developing a new skill in real life, I give that game a hard pass. I mean, I love video games and everything, but at the end of the day, they're literally just games. I'm playing them to have fun, not prove something to myself or develop a skill that is absolutely useless anywhere else in life.

Although, for the record, I actually don't think the Souls games are that hard. Or, rather, I should say I don't think they're as hard as their reputation or some of their more vocal fans would have you think. I think the issue is more what MrPopo said, that folks approach them with the wrong mindset. They look like 3D action games, but their rhythms are much more like 2D action games. Playing them, I find if you pay careful attention to your environment, move through new areas slowly and methodically, always carry plenty of supplies, and know when to retreat, most of them really aren't that bad. If you start to get into trouble in an area, just retreat back to the nearest checkpoint (bonfire, lantern, Site of Grace, whatever). Sure, the enemies will all come back, but you'll keep all the items and experience you gathered, plus you'll know where any of the tricks and traps are, so the next attempt you make will go much smoother. And even if you die, as long as you were paying attention during your first run, you'll usually be able to make it back to the same spot and recover your dropped souls, so you won't really have lost anything. There are definitely a few places across the series where I think it crosses the line from pleasantly challenging to frustrating, but I definitely feel like I've played plenty of other modern games that I would absolutely categorize as harder, including most of the Souls knockoff games made by other developers that don't understand the pacing and just ratchet up the difficulty. But that's just my two cents.

[Raging Justice]

I don't mind challenging games in theory, I just don't like the douchey approach that some games have towards doing it. Like I'd rather play a game that is tough because it is forcing you to do new things or learn new skills than one that just feels rigged or cheap.

I treat video games these days like I would a potential girlfriend. Do you want the one who is sweet and fun to be around? Or the high maintenance one that complains about how you're not good enough and wants you to take her to only the most expensive restaurants?

Fuck off Dark Souls I'm gonna go hang out with Astro Bot and actually have a good time