Topic: Why all the hate about hard difficulty on games?

The developers make games harder. Why all the hate about hard difficulty?

If its too hard it becomes frustrating, like Battle toads I hated that racing part never cleared it, also if its too easy you will get just as many complaints, I doubt there is much developers can do about difficulty really since you can't please everyone.

What hate? Read the reviews and comments about Mega Man 9 and Contra 4. Seems a LOT of people get a real kick out of hard difficulties, even those who struggle to beat these games - like me.

I love hard games, they are more fun that way. When I do complete a hard game, I feel like I accomplish something. Hard games FTW!

I do think every game should have difficulty adjustment as when I'm paying £40 for a piece of entertainment I want to be able to see it all regardless of my skill level in that particular genre. Some people like games to be hard that's fine but in this day and age it should be down to the gamer to choose IMO. I think the solution Nintendo are trying with the NSMB wii is quite a good idea as it can be frustrating if you get stuck on a particularly difficult section of a game and often makes people lose interest.

Well, it depends. If it's unfairly hard, like with unresponsive controls, it can be annoying. If it's a fair challenge, and you never feel like "WHAT, THATS NOT FAIR I JUMPED!", those games are the best.
I love Contra!

Well said, Starkiller. There's games that are just genuinely hard/challenging, then there's games that are "hard" because of frustrating controls or cheap AI or poor level design.

And being a gamer since the arcade glory days, i love me some hard/challenging games. It's funny when i look back on the games me and my friends played most in the NES days -- Contras, Mega Mans, Castlevanias, et al -- most of them were hard games, but we never thought like that back in the day. They were just games. I guess part of that comes from being weaned on the arcade-game-mentality (difficult games to encourage more quarter pumping).

Yeah! I don't understand why people hate on hard games. I play Star Parodier, Mr. Nutz, and Super Ghouls'n Ghosts every once in a while because they challenge me. I don't go, "This game is hard. It sucks!!!" I instead am like, "I love this game, and I love how it challenges me so much!!!" The only hard games I don't like much are Magician Lord and Altered Beast.

Because some of us suck at games.

Well I love difficult games--if involves skill. Like Megaman 9 or Punch-Out!!

I was feeling sorry for myself not being able to complete the last gauntlet of bosses on Actraiser. FYI [SPOILERS] , it involves beating each boss again and the final boss's two forms. But instead of being as hard as they were before, they souped up their speed and attack patterns to a ridiculous level.

Then one afternoon I sat down and beat it. Albeit on the easiest setting - I dread to think how difficult it would be on the hardest difficulty.

No spoilers, edhe, I've beaten the game ActRaiser. Especially on the hidden All-Action Professional Mode. It's a good, but rather easy, game.

The fun is leached out of the game, that's why. Frustration levels are inversely proportional to fun levels

For me, there are four different "types" of hard:

#1. The Challenging Hard
When a game is hard more because the developers/makers intended to make it hard over anything else. Examples of this are time limits on somewhat easy levels, limited area to move in for fights, the 3-seconds-before-it-disappears platform, etc.

#2. The OMG Hard
When a game or part of it is almost impossible to complete. Examples of this are pinpoint jumps, forced pattern memorization, every room in I wanna Be The Guy.

#3. The Different Hard
When the game is hard because it's different to a majority of people. Examples of this are mixed genre games, keyboard-instead-of-controller gaming, our first Guitar Hero game (just admit it, people).

And finally...

#4. The Control Hard
When a game is usually hard because the controls are not perfected. Examples of this are delayed button reactions, awkward joystick movements, and the controls of any DDI platformer.

By your main comment, I can't tell what you mean by hard. Therefore, I can't answer your question.

Hard games = Love
Frustrating games = Just frustrating, nothing else.

Hard games>Easy games. No hate here.

@RandomWiiPlayer - Word.

I like hard games but I usualy don't like the hard mode on games with a diffictulty selection. In my opinion they usually make the game harder in annoying ways. ( for example making your attacks weaker.)

Heya guys, play demon's soul and find out why LOL. I like a challenge but geeze give me a break.

I guess a balance has to be found. I mean, look at Okami. Nobody is likely to tell you it's particularly hard (I completed it without dying once), but yet at the same time I thought it was challenging. And completely awesome. Same applies for most 3D adventure titles, really. Zelda, the Metroid Prime trilogy, etc. All are challenging and great fun, but you can probably get through each without seeing the Game Over screen too much, if at all (unless you're Hypermode Difficulty-ing Prime 3, I guess). I love a game that offers a challenge. Variable difficulty is also welcome too. I've completed Prime 3 on Normal and Veteran several times, but I'm still getting some kicks out playing it on Hypermode and having Mogenar cave my digital face in.

I guess it also depends on why it's hard. Horrible level design or broken enemies are gonna frustrate anyone, since it's not their fault that the game is telling them they suck. Whereas if the level design is great and it's just a case of learning how to nail it (like Mega Man, or that Luigi's Purple Coins level in Mario Galaxy), then that difficulty is fun. Although the less said about the 30-second Bob-omb throwing litter-clearing challenge in Dreadnought Galaxy the better.