Games becoming too easy?

Hi,

I used to be an MMO player as well as tonnes of other games, i owned, SNES, Dreamcast, N64, PS1, XBOX, PS2 and PS3, and of course PC games. Compared to games in the past, where in the old days (games from 1995-2003) in my experience were much challenging, you need to work on something to get you reward, spend time to master something, take time and build you character, play with others, follow leads and work as a team to bring something down.

Even when you defeat a monster, you wont get the item drop, but you are happy that you finally killed it, and after repeat tries, you finally get the item from the boss and you feel like you really worked toward it, or collecting items to get that piece of gear, weeks of killing monsters, collecting rare items with the help of your friends. you finally combine and obtain the glorious rare gear.

Well, now a days, games are hand me down items NOW!!, we cant blame the developers, its the players of this time, who wants instant gratification (whats the point of seeing the exact same gear you have on rest of the players in game, there is no uniqueness, its too bland).

Things that new players asking are...
"this monster should drop the item 100% of the time! i don't want to kill it again and again" or
"i don't want to travel through this forest because it has high level monsters and i just want a spell to instant warp to other side"
"you can immerse yourself in the game if you like, but i want to get to the end level as soon as possible"

Im not sure how rushing to the end of games, and skipping things in the middle is actually "playing" the game.

If the new generation of game players like these type of gameplay, im glad i played when it was a challenge and you felt a sense of accomplishment when playing a game.

What do you guys experience now a days, if u were a "hardcore" player before umm, lets say 2005?

*i mostly talked about online and esp MMO games*

mmos are dumb these days... I still try to find the challenge today I had in my first mmo (dark age of camelot) but I always seem to find myself in the same state of frustration.

I'm playing... or at least I was, I dont know anymore cause I'm thinking of canceling it, Starwars: The Old Republic... but everytime I log in is like I have no purpose to do so simply because I dont have the mentality to farm gear and whatever - in dark age of camelot the best gear you could get was player crafted, not running the same stupid dungeon 180 times.

I dont know... I'm starting to think mmos are becoming stale and doomed to death... at least "mmos as we know it".

As for the other games... well... too much eye candy and not enough content. You can complete a GREAT LOOKING GAME in about a day or 2, like what happened with Uncharted 3. Great graphics, great game play... but even on Hard its too easy and it lasts like 10 hours, and its story is utter crap.

Please 1995 come back with your monkey islands...

I remember the days when you had to be pixel perfect or you die.

I do miss my commodore 64.

reply to post by luciddream


Just stay away from the mainstream games. The only challenging one lately is Dark Souls/Demon Souls, but there are still challening games out there just not ones which are as hyped. You just have to dig around more. Check out the russian game company 1C games they have quite a fews challening games, i find their difficulty rarely dissapoints. Here is the list.

www.1cpublishing.eu...

Something I have noticed. As game play gets more flashy,
it seems the content is no longer the point.

I played Ultima Online for years, and I still love that game for it's depth and difficulty,
but the graphics keep many today from playing it after they play WOW. Even if it is 1000 times deeper. Eye candy at the cost of well thought out game play.

You must really be talking world of warcraft for most of this post haha.
I have noticed it too.
I am actually about to drop WOW for a bit due to some of these issues and being bored with it all.
Between the changes they make to the game it seems every month, to in my opinion, make it easier on the kids to get to the end and get all te good stuff...to the problems and issues...and getting used to a character just to have it redone into something you hate to play now...to the issues that no one plays together as a team and its all about getting to the end game...to the bashing of other players constantly in online games....yeah...I can agree with this one.
I started playing this particular game when it first started...it has changed sooo much now it's just not fun anymore. The people aren't fun, the quests and BGs aren't fun....it's def not the same game it used to be. I have noticed many games aren't anymore. You don't really have to think much now. And no cooperation among other players.

excellent example is world of warcraft, vanilla is brutally hard, every expansion added got easier and easier. now its like pokemon for pc. same thing happened with hollywood. and its all about money. they want money from every type of audience

movies makers nowadays want to please every type of punter. every movie needs a love story, every movie needs a happy ending, every movie needs a david vs goliath story. when you try to please everyone you fail.

game makers today do the same thing ,they make a game accessible to everyone and it fails.

this usually happens when a game company has a bit of success. the CEOs start thinking of more ways to make money off a product.

there are still a few gems you find that havent fallen into this vortex of corruption but they are a dying breed.

i was actually going to suggest Eve online. but the last expansion killed that idea ;(

People lack critical thinking
Laziness?
Don't want to spend countless hours on it?

When i see MMO's i see situations of real life, Thing aren't suppose to be easy, I completely agree with you Not only MMO's. RPG like final fantasy will never lose it its cause it makes you think. i know i didn't contribute much.
2Cents i guess

Originally posted by FraternitasSaturni

As for the other games... well... too much eye candy and not enough content. You can complete a GREAT LOOKING GAME in about a day or 2, like what happened with Uncharted 3. Great graphics, great game play... but even on Hard its too easy and it lasts like 10 hours, and its story is utter crap.

Please 1995 come back with your monkey islands...

Yes, you are very right about the game playtime, i mean, i don't know if you played old school Final Fantasy games, but man, it takes long time to finish if you do each content. And yes about the Eye candy, i mean graphic is good WHEN combined with lots of CONTENT and Features.

In MMO i look forward to a long term goal, if i can "finish" an MMO in 1 week, its not a MMORPG.

As for Offline games, i want tonnnes and tonness of content to keep me occupied and also a end game type of content, where as even when you finish the game, you still have that "Ultimate Mega Hyper Dragon" that you gotta get "Sword of Eternity and Shield of Aegis" to defeat it.

One of the reasons why I liked Dragon age so much was that not only was it flashy, but if you upped the difficulty levels, it became a very challenging game with many endings to it. Very well done I thought.

reply to post by jazzguy


Couldn't have said it better myself. No one thinks....no one wants to invest a little time and effort into a really cool immersion style game. They just want that instant O face for about 5 seconds...then on to the next distraction. And again speaking of WOW....the random dungeon/raid/BG addition.....TERRIBLE idea....people are complete AZZHATS now thanks to that invention. I remember when people helped each other...rather than acting like elite butt heads and picking on everyone that was a waste of their time and should be as geared and knowledgeable as them....but maybe just me wanting a little bit more of a challenge and more team play.
My 2 cents.

reply to post by FraternitasSaturni


I don't think it's just MMO's. I''ve been a gamer since the Atari 2600, and I'll tell you that the games have been dumbed down for some reason. Why? I dunno. Maybe the attention span of people has diminished. One thing is for sure games are indeed easier. Take Assassin's Creed Redemption for instance. I'm done with it. Completed it 100%. And I don't think I died once. Although I love playing it. It wasn't a challenge. Compare that with the first Assassin's Creed and it's a hell of alot harder. I'm not sure if it's indicative of this problem but it sure contributes to it.

Originally posted by NeoVain
reply to post by luciddream

 

i find their difficulty rarely dissapoints. Here is the list.
www.1cpublishing.eu...

Thanks for the link, ill def check it out.

Originally posted by bw_drum

Originally posted by jazzguy

You both are right about WoW, it set the example for the retardation of MMORPG that came after it, Developers are after the money from everyone, in the end, the "Hardcore" bunch are disappointed and the new generation's finish the game in 1 month and move onto the next "hand me things" MMORPG.

Originally posted by Darkblade71
Something I have noticed. As game play gets more flashy,
it seems the content is no longer the point.
I played Ultima Online for years, and I still love that game for it's depth and difficulty,

I played Final Fantasy 11 for 7 years, until the last expansion made things that you worked for months to get, now you can get in a week.

the flouride gamer genaration

Since I am almost 100% sure you are talking about world of warcraft, I will add in my two cents. Yes, it has gotten progressively easier since Vanilla, I have played since around the end of 2005.Things were a heck of a lot harder, and I should know since I did the grind from Scout to High Warlord.

I think the reason that it got easier along the way had to do with the shifting economy, and the fact the high majority of people didn't have the time to commit to the game the way the did back in 2005. Sp they made dungeons shorter, drops easier to get or make, and pvp more accessible. From a marketing standpoint, best thing they ever did as shown by sale of Wrath of the Lich King.

With Cataclysm they tried to take it back to a Vanilla standpoint with some things. Needless to say most people weren't happy since they had gotten used to the easier way of doing things. So of course Blizzard is going to choose to cater to the vocal majority.

Me personally? I am happy with how the game is now. People who want a real challenge can go in without an OPTIONAL buff. People who are more casual can go in with the buff. hardcore pvpers can hold the top ranks in arena, while people who are not so into it can still go into random battlegrounds and have decent gear.

Of course I am only speaking for World of Warcraft because that is the only game I play.

Originally posted by bw_drum
reply to post by jazzguy

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. No one thinks....no one wants to invest a little time and effort into a really cool immersion style game. They just want that instant O face for about 5 seconds...then on to the next distraction. And again speaking of WOW....the random dungeon/raid/BG addition.....TERRIBLE idea....people are complete AZZHATS now thanks to that invention. I remember when people helped each other...rather than acting like elite butt heads and picking on everyone that was a waste of their time and should be as geared and knowledgeable as them....but maybe just me wanting a little bit more of a challenge and more team play.
My 2 cents.

This is the primary reason I quit playing WoW. The people, the content, just the overall general attitude of the player base.

reply to post by luciddream


I tried to get into final fantasy online, played it for about 6 months. I am a HUGE FF fan, have played them all including the Japanese to english translations of ones that never made it to the US. I was disappointed with FF11.
It reminded me to much of guild wars, where you HAVE to pair up with people. I prefer to be the loner and do everything I can on my own.
Getting t bagged in FF was kind of funny though when I realized what was happening...lol


I recommend to everyone who has not tried it, to try Ultima Online for a MMORPG. Unless you want super flashy graphics. It is the best game on the market for it's kind with more history than people realize. Now you can play it for free on free shards as well, which is cool cause I can't afford 13 bucks a month anymore.

Originally posted by Darkblade71
reply to post by luciddream

 

FF11.
It reminded me to much of guild wars, where you HAVE to pair up with people. I prefer to be the loner and do everything I can on my own.

Yeah, FF11 didn't like solo accomplishment(events/fights), you could still solo but only certain classes can, like Red Mage, Ninja, and few others, and of course Beastmaster, they are doomed to be soloer for life (this is before 2009, idk wth is up with that game anymore.)

reply to post by luciddream


That's what I played, beast master.

I will say that for Final Fantasy in general, the game was actually pretty good and held true to FF.

I've never played an MMO, but I've been a gamer since 1993. I know the topic is focused on MMO's, but as a FPS/RTS gamer I've noticed the same thing with my prefered genres.

My first RTS was Warcraft (Orcs vs. Humans) and in those times there were no difficulty settings. The campaign would start out easy by limiting your units to tier-1 (footmen/grunts and archers/spearthrowers), but the AI was as relentless as their resources allowed them to be. In later levels I became frustrated with the rush attacks that came before I could ready my forces, but repeated efforts made me faster and more efficient.

These days, all RTS's have difficulty settings ranging from Easy, where the enemies are completely derp and barely make it to tier-2 units, to Brutal where the enemies are given extra resources and attack in continuous waves that can be difficult to hold out against, let alone push back to their base. Yet even after a few battles on Hard difficulty (where enemies are slightly better than the average gamer) I can usually perfect my strategy to hold back and gain the upper hand on Brutal opponents.

The challenge is still there, but has been removed from the core experience to allow casual gamers to beat the game without much effort. I suspect the same thing is being done with MMO's. Players are being showered with more loot and given easy travel options, but the challenge still exists in the higher level dungeons where players have to coordinate effectively to succeed.