I've been thinking about the lack of challenge in many modern action games. Here are some ideas that I think would make them more challenging:
Give us an option to disable checkpoints and regenerating health.
Dynamic difficulty adjustments. If you play really good, then the game adapts by throwing more enemies at you and making them more resistant to damage.
Don't place a bunch of checkpoints in every level. Death in games should be a consequence, not simply a hindrance.
If a game has multiple lives, don't spoil us with millions of 1-ups (looking at you Mario and Sonic). 1-ups should be a reward, not given away like candy.
Those are all the ideas I have. What are some of your suggestions?
I think we should chop off your hands and force you to play with your toes. That'll learn ya.
Lieutenant Commander of the Lesbian Love Brigade
There can only be one, like in that foreign movie where there could only be one, and in the end there is only one dude left, because that was the point.
Go play Cave Story 3D on hard mo- Okay, fine. But most gamers nowadays don't want a huge challenge, so if you're looking for hard games, you gotta pick up specific games.
Go play Cave Story 3D on hard mo- Okay, fine. But most gamers nowadays don't want a huge challenge, so if you're looking for hard games, you gotta pick up specific games.
But without the risk & reward gameplay, what's the point of beating a game if you don't feel victorious? I used to love going through a game that challenged my skills, especially platformers and action games. Games like Mega Man, Mega Man X, Contra, Castlevania, etc. are the types of games you feel proud to beat, because the challenge makes it more enjoyable.
And the strategy that comes with JRPG's makes them challenging, because you have to balance item management, equipment upgrades, leveling up your characters, finding out what attacks do the most damage, etc.
After playing Uncharted 1 and 2, I realized that there are some games that give some challenge. While playing on Easy mode on both games, I died many times because I would use the wrong strategy to approach my enemies. And rocket launchers are like one-hit kills But I would re-think how I was playing and finally get through the tougher parts of the games.
If a game has multiple lives, don't spoil us with millions of 1-ups (looking at you Mario and Sonic). 1-ups should be a reward, not given away like candy.
It's not like 1-UPs even matter in Mario at this point. There's no consequences to getting a game over anymore. The time limit doesn't matter, too... have you ever played Super Mario 3D Land and ever thought "Oh man, I only have 260 seconds to complete this level!"
Time limit doesn't matter in the early levels, but try playing the levels where you have only 30 seconds on the clock, and you have to kill enemies to increase the time limit.
And that's the problem, death in games SHOULD be a consequence. You die a few times, you restart the level or world completely over again, like in Mega Man, Super Mario Bros. 1, Super Mario Bros. 3, etc.
That form of challenge is what's missing in today's games. All these features are making games easier: multiple checkpoints, autosaving, multiple 1-ups (even though every Mario game had a way to earn multiple 1-ups, you had to discover the secret and execute it properly).
If a game has multiple lives, don't spoil us with millions of 1-ups (looking at you Mario and Sonic). 1-ups should be a reward, not given away like candy.
It's not like 1-UPs even matter in Mario at this point. There's no consequences to getting a game over anymore. The time limit doesn't matter, too... have you ever played Super Mario 3D Land and ever thought "Oh man, I only have 260 seconds to complete this level!"
Time limit doesn't matter in the early levels, but try playing the levels where you have only 30 seconds on the clock, and you have to kill enemies to increase the time limit.
Those levels are easy. Only the last level was challenging.
Explain your reasoning. The old Mario and Mega Man games didn't have multiple checkpoints, and the old Zelda games didn't have save points all over the world map.
Games back then were designed around good level design, which actually required some strategy and memorization to complete. Mega Man 9 and 10 hearken back to those days, where gameplay and skill were king. You don't get thousands of 1-ups in a Mega Man game, and you have to fight your way through the levels armed only with your Mega Buster cannon. Then when you finally get to the Robot Master room, you have to figure out the enemies' attack patterns and try to avoid him while counterattacking at the same time. Each Robot Master is weak to a particular weapon, but in the beginning of the game, you don't have that advantage, you just have a puny Mega Buster cannon to work with.
Watch Egoraptor's "Sequelitis: Mega Man Classic vs Mega Man X" video. He does a pretty good job explaining those game mechanics.
Let's not go back to having no checkpoints. Bad game design is bad game design, even if you do like your Mega Mans and stuff.
Yes. You clearly haven't played VVVVVV if you seriously want games to go back to no check points. Megaman and Mario both had check points even back then btw, Tendoboy.
Nintendo has the right idea. Making the game easier for newbies who fail a lot so that other people who want to play the game without additional help can and they don't have to make the game easier for everyone.
also you're playing the wrong games, there's plenty of difficult games. Especially if you try 100 percenting games.
Games back then were designed around good level design,
No way in hell is this true. Games back then were designed around being cheap. They were cheap because they were also incredibly short in real content, thanks to limitations at the time - to make people feel like they were getting their money's worth, developers had to come up with other ways to force people to play for weeks at a time.
Pixel-perfect jumping isn't good level design. It's cheap. It takes skill to master, but it's also incredibly frustrating. Having enemies fly in from off screen and not give you a chance to duck out of the way before they hit you? Cheap, but you're right, memorising where they came from means you'll miss them next time.
Let's look at the old JRPGs next. Obscene levels of random encounters and massive difficulty spikes before bosses? Check and Check. Rip those elements out and you'll find games that, without exception, are as straightforward as games come. Dungeons are obvious, basic layouts.
Level design has become almost infinitely better in recent years. Difficulty doesn't need to be sacrificed as a result, but what you're calling out for here is cheap deaths and unfair level design. Which I am glad we'll never see again.
Difficulty doesn't need to be sacrificed as a result, but what you're calling out for here is cheap deaths and unfair level design. Which I am glad we'll never see again.
Well outside of overrated nostalgia games like IWBTG.
Forums
Topic: Making games challenging again...
Posts 1 to 20 of 152
This topic has been archived, no further posts can be added.