Does Game Difficulty Really Matter? - General Discussion Forum

ThePirateCaptain · 2014-02-03T16:27:12+00:00

This is a topic I've been meaning to address for a while now. Over this last console generation, I feel people have been making a bigger deal of the difficulty of modern games, often claiming they're too easy. Games like Donkey Kong Country Returns and Dark Souls were highly praised upon release for having a high difficulty level while games such as Kirby's Epic Yarn or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess were often criticized for being too easy. But does it really matter whether a game is challenging or not? My personal opinion on the matter is that games don't need to be extremely challenging as long as they're fun to play. I highly enjoyed Kirby;s Epic Yarn despite not being able to die in the game because it was well made and very enjoyable to play. It also provided it's challenge in a different manner, as getting all of the collectibles could be quite difficult in it's own right. Other games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons aren't particularly challenging per say, but provide an experience instead and draw you into their world. This is just me, but I tend to get more frustrated when I get stuck on a particularly challenging part of a game and I don't find it enjoyable. The basic point is that I don't feel games need to provide rock hard challenges to the players in order to be great. That's one of the reasons I don't feel retro games are vastly superior to modern ones but that's for another time. What are your opinions on the matter?

Topic: Does Game Difficulty Really Matter?

Posts 41 to 45 of 45

41
sugarpixel
Tue 4th Feb 2014

Klimbatize wrote:

32 times???? That's incredible.

...I know. I'm not proud of it. >.<

...I'm gonna try to make up for it by doing better in hero mode...!

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42
Shirma_Akayaku
Tue 4th Feb 2014

I think certain games like shooters could change the way they implement difficulty into their games. Things like starting with lower health, and lower ammo are okay, but when it comes to enemies, they kinda suck. Why should I suddenly more easily damaged by enemies that are the same as the Normal mode? I think an enemy could have a change in how they attack. Maybe an enemy could attack the player a lot more (which makes losing more health seem related to attacks). Difficulty in recent games just seem pretty predictable (at least to me). I want games to reduce that sense of predictability.

[Edited Tue 4th Feb 2014 by Shirma_Akayaku]

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43
sugarpixel
Wed 5th Feb 2014

Alright guys, here's evidence of my 32 deaths in LoZ: ALBW:

...I am none too proud of this... >.<

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44
UGXwolf
Wed 5th Feb 2014

I think I died once or twice in that game. I'd have to go check to be sure. XD No offense, of course. I've played just about every Zelda game there is, so I'm quick on the uptake, and once I had all the items and the upgrades, not getting murdered was a snap.

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45
Nathan_Wv10
Wed 5th Feb 2014

I always prefer playing my games on the hardest difficulty as it gives me a challenge and once you do something you struggled on you get that sense of achievement even stronger. The only games I don't play on the hardest difficulty are RPG's because they are long enough as it is!!

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