Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Well, yeah, doing good options for it is actually quite tricky but games these days are, generally, doing a lot more towards that, @Pizzamorg .... So, the basic idea of having those options isn't actually unpopular!
Well, Elden Ring is definitely a lot more accessible than, say, Dark Souls Remastered, @Snatcher ....

@VoidofLight I feel the same way, thats why I love playing hard games, that feeling of me overcoming something, me having to learn to do it as well, I just love it. And to think there was a time I hated hard games, but when I actually try'd to play my first game like that, might have been the crash remakes, that feeling, yeah, changed my gaming days.

So, you playing Elden Ring, @Snatcher ....? Post about it in the Souls thread? Tell us about your favourite bosses?
Malenia Blade of Miquella is such a lovely girl

I just think the same mistake is always made here in that people assume difficulty is this flat line. I often see this lazy rhetoric of like "people these days are babies and don't even want to engage with the game".

And firstly, ***** insults aside, if people just want to experience the story without friction, I don't see why that needs to be stigmatised in the first place. But whatever.

Secondly, not every single person is at the same skill level with games. There is a reason you hand your older sibling the controller. There is a reason Esports exist.

Just creating one difficulty and then saying they want people to experience overcoming "a challenge" is such a contradictory design ethos. Because who decides what qualifies here? That is why difficulty settings exist in the first place.

Should every game then be made for Esports Masters with no options and if you can't beat it then just... get good scrub. Do you even want to engage with this game or what? Use your brain.

To act like a person doesn't try as hard on an easy mode, as another higher skilled player might do on a hard mode, might be true in some cases, but isn't the rule. And usually if that is the case, that is the result of poor game design, more than anything else.

@BruceCM From what I heard, I would say.

Would say what, @Snatcher ....? About Malenia? I beat her earlier, so I'll be going for the story boss next

@BruceCM Oh I mean I would say the games are much more new player friendly then dark souls, I haven't played elden but I have actually seen a lot of people who are not really into dark souls Enjoying this game a lot.

@Pizzamorg I think he wants people who want to overcome the challenge, to play the game. He wants other players to, but at the end of the day I think thats who he wants to beat his game. He did say he felt bad for players who found the games to hard however, so I think he acknowledges those types of players exist, but he still wants a type of player playing his game.

Planning to try it yourself, @Snatcher ....? There's certainly plenty of bosses that would be extremely difficult if you fought them at the earliest opportunity or hadn't explored a bit before taking on if you want the challenge

@BruceCM I think I am, But I might play dark souls first.

Dark Souls Remastered, @Snatcher ? I died about a million times playing that.... Elden Ring is really a huge improvement on that 1, at least

@Ralizah Looks like we disagree on the controls, then. It's the one I feel most in control of when it comes to 2D Mario games, since Mario has a more versatile moveset, and I guess I'm more used to twitch controls. I really like how you can throw items upward as well. I will also admit that I like the game's music. The game's graphical style isn't too bad imo, I like its vibrant colors and everything, even though it's more simplistic compared to many other games from the 16-bit generation. Probably because the devs were starting to get their feet wet with the SNES hardware.

Yeah, SMB3 had a lot more power-ups, and all of them are fun to use in their own ways. While there are Yoshis that come in other colors, they're really only found in the Star World. It's mostly the green Yoshi, Cape Feather, and the Fire Flower. Cape Mario feels great to use to me, though the one thing I will critique it on is how broken it can be. You can literally fly above the vast majority of levels if you wanted to. I like the idea of having multiple goals for certain levels too. While you could go for all 96 exits, you could pretty much make your own path to the end too, so in that regard, it does add some replay value.

That's pretty much my own take on SMW. We do disagree with each other on some points, but that's ok. You're entitled to your own thoughts on the game after all.

@WoomyNNYes Yeah absolutely, I've pretty much mastered the art of drifting during my many, many years of playing Mario Kart. Knowing a good chunk of the track helps a lot too. Too bad I'm not fully used to 200cc though. lol

Yeah it is weird one. If you don't play the older titles in a franchise first, you are basically just never going to enjoy them. But you also don't want to play an older title, hate it and then bounce off the franchise entirely and miss out on a later game you might end up loving.

Like since Monster Hunter is my jam, I'd always recommend Rise to people wanting to try Monster Hunter out. A purist might say like start with Generations or something because of all the monsters in it, but if you have no appreciation for the series to begin with, you ain't gonna back to that antiquated, clunky ass, obtuse game and be like mhmmm more please.

@Snatcher Just a heads-up, from personal experience and the people I know it really doesn't matter with which game you begin. By that logic it should be recommended to start with the PS3 version of Demon's Souls but many missed it. People have joined in different entries and as long as they are willing to learn the game rules and take their time to proceed without rushing it, you'll make progress and get the hang of it. On the contrary, as long as you have patience and learn from mistakes you'll usually end up enjoying them pretty fast regardless of which one you try first. I did recommend you the first Dark Souls simply because I think that it's the easiest entry in general. Remember to play offline by the way.

@Ralizah all fair comments, and they pretty much capture that side of the ever-going SMB3 vs SMW debate. Tbh I think it's quite nice that the games are so different that you can make strong cases for preferring one over the other, yet both are considered among the best games of all time

@roy130390 Theres online play? thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of starting two of dark souls actually.

@BruceCM I was thinking of play two maybe, as I have seen more stuff for two.

@Pizzamorg Rise is 100% the best start to a MH game in my opinion, just because of how well they streamline things.

@roy130390 Theres online play? thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of starting two of dark souls actually.

@BruceCM I was thinking of play two maybe, as I have seen more stuff for two.

@Pizzamorg Rise is 100% the best start to a MH game in my opinion, just because of how well they streamline things.

@Pizzamorg If you aren't at the skill level to play a specific game, then that specific game isn't for you. This is like playing an intentionally easy game, and then complaining that said game was easy, when it was made to be easy by design.

If the game was unfair, then yeah, I'd get that. That's where the line is drawn. However, generally with souls games, at least from my experience, they're more than fair. Yes, they're unforgiving at times, but generally if you learn the mechanics of the game, then you'll have no trouble playing said game. These games are made to where every death you learn something.

Souls games also don't have a major story emphasis. If you're playing these sorts of games for the story, then you're better off just not playing them at all. They're mostly about the gameplay from what I can tell.

Yes, not everyone is the same skill level with games, but I believe everyone has the capability to be able to learn games. If something's too hard for you, you still have the ability to learn by playing... and if you don't want to sink time into a game that makes you learn it's mechanics, or simply just don't have the time, then it's probably best you evaluate if the game is right for you in the first place, instead of saying that it's the developer's fault and the game's design that's the issue.

@Snatcher Yup, there is, both co-op and pvp. There's people called invaders, they joined a covenant and it's main mission is to kill players so don't take it personal haha. However, it really isn't recommended to let them into your game at the start as they are usually much more strong than the players they invade at those points. Invasions can only happen if your character is "alive" though. If you are "hollow" you are safe from Invasions but you also can't invite players for co-op. A good way of asking for help from players without getting invaded is reviving yourself on the bonfire while offline and then reaching the boss (fog gate) and connecting to the internet to summon players. If someone invades, at least you can enter the boss without having to fight them.

Wow @roy130390 I can’t believe there are actually online features like that, seems like no one talks about it, thanks so much for the heads up.

@VoidofLight I feel like criticizing easy games for not including difficulty options for more skilled players is also valid. Like, Pokemon games would lose nothing from allowing hard modes. Ditto with FS games and easy modes.

People can argue it doesn't align with the developer's "vision" for the game or whatever, but in that case, how do we ever critique anything? Unless something is a bug or glitch or something, it's part of the developer's "vision." FS is pretty singular in terms of its fans treating the designers like infallible gods whose decisions can't be questioned at all.

Which isn't to say that people need to agree with criticisms they don't agree with, but the cultish dialogue surrounding that developer's games continues to baffle me a bit.

RE: story, I feel like a game can be gameplay-oriented and still include SOME narrative elements. Tethering the development of the backstory to exploration was, IMO, one of BotW's great strengths as a game, and I don't think it would have been nearly as compelling overall without that carrot at the end of the stick. Elden Ring is definitely fun to play regardless of how little storytelling there is, but I do think it's a bit disingenuous to act like wanting some narrative development in a 100+ hour long RPG is an unreasonable expectation. I also think almost any other RPG that took this approach would be raked over the coals for doing so.

@Buizel I will say, it's a bit disappointing that Nintendo hasn't created anything on the 2D Mario front that can dethrone a bunch of old NES/SNES games. I really like some of the NSMB games, but Ninty could do so much more.

Of course, with Mario Maker being a thing, I feel like they're probably not in any rush to make more 2D Mario games.

@MarioLover92 I dunno. The Raccoon Tail in SMB3 is even easier to use than the Cape Feather in SMW, and I didn't really feel like that broke the game at all. Nintendo tends to restrict access to these items on levels where there's a heavy emphasis on platforming skill.

Yeah, I realize I'm a minority opinion on SMW. That's fine. I don't want people to stop loving the game. I just wish I did, too.

Probably doesn't help that I didn't play it growing up, which can definitely make people more critical about older games. Like, I love FFVII to death, but I've seen numerous people play it for the first time in the last few years and not really 'get' it. And while I do think good games shouldn't be dependent on nostalgia for appreciation, I do think some games benefit more from playing them around the time period they first came out than others.