Current Events > As I get older, I don't like hard games.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ok, I lied. I dont hate them, but I find myself enjoying easier games, and i dont feel as cheap for playing easy modes any more. Just finished Kirbys Return to Dreamland HD, and I had more fun with it than most games this gen. It isnt hard to finish, but finding all the items can be a challenge. Same with Mario 3D World. I like that. You can easily finish the game, but there is a bunch if difficult things to do to get 100% and to see something extra as motivation. For Kirby, it is True Arena. Mario 3D World has the extra worlds.

I then played Stellar Blade on normal, and maybe I lost my touch, but I died many times on every boss encounter. Armored Core 6 was frustrating me too (amazing game though). Fire Emblem 3 Houses also made me wish I had played a non-classic runthrough.

Then again, Ive never had problems with stuff like Mega Man or other NEs games.

Anyone else have this growing up? It doesnt really bother me, it just feels more like im lettin myself some slack to enjoy games at a pace im cool with

I have something similar.

When I was younger I used to massively prefer difficult games. Now, while I do still enjoy a challenge and will occasionally play on the harder settings, I also enjoy just getting through the game in a less stressful way.

I think it's probably to do with the fact that when I was younger I had much more time to play and much less money to buy new games, so the harder they were the longer they lasted, filling up more of my time before I needed a new game. Now that I'm older I have more money to get games (and a ludicrous backlog thanks to things like PSPlus), but much less time to play them in, so saying that a game has a 100 hour runtime with bosses that you'll be stuck on for hours honestly feels more like a threat than anything, haha.

Honestly same.

But Im not one to get enjoyment / fulfillment out of getting frustrated and stressed out over beating something difficult either. Id rather have a fun relaxing time than get all steamed.

Same. I still enjoy a challenge like Elden Ring or Souls-like from time to time, but oftentimes I just want to relax with a game where I'm not banging my head against a wall for hours.

TomClark posted...

I have something similar.

When I was younger I used to massively prefer difficult games. Now, while I do still enjoy a challenge and will occasionally play on the harder settings, I also enjoy just getting through the game in a less stressful way.

I think it's probably to do with the fact that when I was younger I had much more time to play and much less money to buy new games, so the harder they were the longer they lasted, filling up more of my time before I needed a new game. Now that I'm older I have more money to get games (and a ludicrous backlog thanks to things like PSPlus), but much less time to play them in, so saying that a game has a 100 hour runtime with bosses that you'll be stuck on for hours honestly feels more like a threat than anything, haha.

Yeah pretty much this. If i like a game enough on normal mode, i might try again on Harder. But these days i mostly dont have the time to feel stressed over a game.

I never did

Same. I recently played Celeste at the recommendation of my nephew and it was okay but I didn't have it in me to go to the harder levels. I played Hollow Knight a few years back and realized I just don't get whatever I used to get out of these games. I don't want to get mad or frustrated during games. I don't want to play the same level over and over until I "get good."

You know what my favorite game has been in the last few years? A Short Hike.

TheLiarParadox posted...

You know what my favorite game has been in the last few years? A Short Hike.

That is a really charming little game tbf.

I like a short game most of all these days. One I can beat in a few sittings.

TheLiarParadox posted...

Same. I recently played Celeste at the recommendation of my nephew and it was okay but I didn't have it in me to go to the harder levels.

You can completely customize the difficulty to your liking in that game actually.

As for the topic I get bored and quit games pretty fast if they aren't hard. If it doesn't feel like I can lose it just doesn't give me any satisfaction to beat something.

ssjevot posted...

You can completely customize the difficulty to your liking in that game actually.

As for the topic I get bored and quit games pretty fast if they aren't hard. If it doesn't feel like I can lose it just doesn't give me any satisfaction to beat something.

This is true too. But its why I enjoyed Kirby. I can clear the stages with no issue, but finding everything can be tricky. Same with 3D World and DKC games.

I do like really immersive games like Elden Ring too. Ive also been playing IIDx for over 15 years so im no stranger to brutal difficulty. I have just been finding enjoyment in easier games, when i used to devalue them when i was younger as kiddy or simple.

*signs*
Give me an easy mode, Ill play it. Call me crazy but I dont find repeatedly running headfirst into a wall in the off chance that maybe Ill dent it a little this time fun.

I like hard games if they seem fair, as Souls games do for instance. Cheap deaths piss me off. I also get mad when I have to redo things to get back to where I died.

My problem with easy games is I get bored because I go on autopilot.

I am, for some reason, heading towards the opposite direction. These days I find myself playing inherently harder games or increasing the difficulty to hard, which is something I never cared about doing before.

Though I do have to say I've never had the sensation of feeling cheap for playing games in easy mode, nothing wrong with enjoying games in a way you find fun (and this is coming from someone who used to exploit games in every way possible using GameShark and/or Action Replay codes back in the day :P).

ssjevot posted...

You can completely customize the difficulty to your liking in that game actually.

I saw those options but didn't look into them because part of the bonding experience for my nephew was seeing how I handled the difficulty. He was disappointed I only did a few of the B-Sides and I think he would've roasted the hell out of me if I made it easier >_>

*signs*
I'm a filthy casual player in WoW for the past decade now.

I have never seen the correlation between difficult games and being considered fun.

I find that as long as I am progressing, then I can be on board. When you get to that stupidly hard level that you just can't pass, then it's not worth it.

I have generally liked Mega Man games (#1 is too hard), because even though it may take a few tries and, in some cases, utter failure, it feels like there is a way to pass the level or boss with the right strategy.

Pixel-perfect precision, mad skills, and pattern memorization isn't my idea of a good time.

I'm fine with some challenge in games but I don't want to be trying more than 2-3 times to beat a boss unless I REALLY enjoy the mechanics.

Don't mind hard games if they're fair.

Getting too old for 'kaiso like' games that hit you with bullshit because half the experience is raging in front of am audience.

I've trended the opposite way. I'm not really drawn to games that have a reputation for being difficult, but I always had a rule about every first playthrough being on the default difficulty. Now the rule is to play on the highest difficulty available and only lower it if I'm having an absolutely miserable time.

As i get older, i have found a love for difficult and even extremely long games.

I can buy an easy game and blow through it in a week or so, or i can buy a harder game and it'll last me months. Love the act of problem solving too.

i find i just need to be either helping someone else or not-so-much helping someone else. solo games feel like i'm running around a little maze.

I usually play games on the default difficulty setting or maybe one level easier if there are a bunch of different settings. I rarely play on hard or even try notoriously hard games like Dark Souls stuff.

I just don't have the patience these days to die over and over and over again. Especially when I have a huge backlog of other games that I could be playing.

I was more open to difficult games as a kid because I didn't get new games very often, so I had no choice but to play the shit out of whatever I had. Backlogs were never a thing as a kid without my own money.

I feel like I've had a horseshoe effect. When I was little, I disliked hard games because I couldn't stand losing, then I grew to appreciate challenge more, but now that I'm an adult with less free time, I've got less tolerance for losing because spending my free time getting my ass beat does not feel rejuvenating.

notoriously hard games like Dark Souls

so i think a big contributor to that is there were people actually discouraging leveling the hp stat in guides and stuff. there are still guides like that on here. i also think the game doesn't communicate its own intended difficulty all that well.

if you level vit to 30 as the first thing you do the game suddenly gets a lot more reasonable.

the people saying 'just don't get hit' (and still saying that in almost-september-2024) are the ones who have it wrong. you have an armor system for a reason. you have at least five heals per rest for a reason.

I loved challenging myself when I was younger, but time takes a toll on your reflexes. The last hard game I had real fun with was Hollow Knight, which I haven't played since 2019. While I'm still excitedly anticipating the release of Silksong, I do have some concerns that I just won't have the reflexes that will be required for it.

GeminiDeus posted...

I loved challenging myself when I was younger, but time takes a toll on your reflexes. The last hard game I had real fun with was Hollow Knight, which I haven't played since 2019. While I'm still excitedly anticipating the release of Silksong, I do have some concerns that I just won't have the reflexes that will be required for it.

Practice is more often the cause of this than age. My mother is 68 and loves rhythm games. Arthritis is doing some work on that though. She also hit gold in sf6 as Zangief near its launch. She's basically been gaming her whole retirement so far.

Reflexes do slow a bit but they're not going to do noticeable damage. Don't worry.

I find myself playing more for the plot of games these days so getting stuck on a section prevents progressing the story which is annoying.

Being too easy can get boring as well though and turns a game into a slog where I'm just trying to get through it as fast as possible.

teep_ posted...

I never did

same if i really enjoy a game and connect with its mechanics ill play it on harder difficulties

but 99/100 i just play on normal

i play games to relax not to be frustrated

It depends on the type of difficulty and how tedious it is.

I just dont like difficultly that feels cheap and poorly designed. Like Helldivers 2 wants to be a hard, but the glitches in that game takes away the legitimacy of the challenges.

I've noticed it depends on my mood but usually to enjoy any modern game I have to bump up the difficulty to enjoy the gameplay. With that said I don't enjoy soul games due to the difficulty which the ganeplay for me does not equate to being fun when the game design is built around difficulty.

Nintendos method for game design has always focused on fun gameplay so I can enjoy the same games across Nintendos long history of quality games. I go back and forth between what I enjoy from each brand.

I have never liked extremely hard games.

As an adult I realize, that's okay.

You don't get a better job or bigger house because you beat a really hard video game.

hmnut7 posted...

I have never liked extremely hard games.

As an adult I realize, that's okay.

You don't get a better job or bigger house because you beat a really hard video game.

I agree, but I like harder games only because I enjoy them more, even if occasionally frustrated

Depends. Some games are fine when difficult, the problem is that a lot of difficult games aren't challenging. They're just annoying or tedious. This is especially true for turn based games or RPGs in general, where they require very specific builds and tactics to overcome "hard" modes because the devs can't be clever to make a challenge.

I've had the opposite experience. Only as I've grown up have I found a real appreciation for challenge. The important part is that it be fair though. I Wanna Be The Guy is one of the hardest games I've ever played and is entirely unfair. The only way to progress is to die and learn how to avoid that specific scenario that killed you. Rinse/repeat for the rest of the game. In contrast, Dark Souls is significantly more fair. It's usually your fault if you die. It's also slow paced enough that you don't need the reflexes of a coked up teen to be able to survive. The game isn't trying to kill you, it's just not afraid to let you fail.

My favourite gaming moments of the last few years were beating Malenia without summons, clearing the Depths on Nioh and clearing Eden's Promise (Savage) on FF14

I've turned down the difficulty a few times to get past some frustrating parts these days. I used to get good. Now I just value my time more.

I also value a shorter game length. If a games advertised as a hundred hours of content I'd have been sold on that as a kid. Now I want a campaign 20 hours or under and an occasional game longer than that.

it depends on the type of game. I am playing borderlands 2 now and I like a challenge, so if I am fighting a buncha enemies and keep dying, I don't mind so long as I can reconfigure my gear and weapons and plan out some other avenue of attack. If the game was just hard AF to where I needed to be an expert player and seemingly no amount of gear swapping will give me some edge or advantage, I would not like that.

If the game has multiple difficulty options I will generally pick the hardest option that isn't frustratingly hard. I like a challenge, but one I feel like I can always work through

For FPS shooters I do not mind since I usually play them on hard.

I am want to like Mega Man Zero series, but the bosses are cheap as dirt. The grappling mechanics from Zero 2 can kiss Bender's shiny metal butt.

I think it's because as a kid I had more free time and I had far less games, so basically I had to make each game last until Christmas/birthday rolled around or I saved up enough allowance to buy a new game. Since I didn't really have anything else, I would just play the same game every day until I had done absolutely everything I could in the game and then I would sometimes wind up just messing around seeing what kind of stupid things I could do in the game that I wasn't necessarily intended to do. Nowadays I have far less free time and far more games, I have games I bought that I never even started, etc, and games are designed more and more to be endless with no real conclusive "you've hit 101% you're done!", so if a game is hard to complete it just gets frustrating because I want to get back to that state where I was as a kid where I don't have any other games to play and I just want to get through the game and be done with it.

I dunno, I feel like I still enjoy the challenge but if the game is marketed as or famous for being hard, that's a definite pass. I simply do not have the time for hard games anymore.

I don't mind when I have to think a little bit to progress, but yeah, I don't wanna waste my time being frustrated. I wanna relax and experience a good story/setting

I have never liked extremely hard games.

As an adult I realize, that's okay.

sure, but are you sitting there acting like adults can't like games that actually challenge them or

Honestly I've generally preferred easier settings because gaming is escapism for me and I enjoy feeling like a badass who can't be stopped.

If I really really enjoy a game I might crank up the difficulty later.

I actually prefer games where I can alter the difficulty as I please

A good example was oblivion as id progress through the arena quest line of up the difficulty each fight to where when I got to the champ it would be a legit challenge for me

Fluttershy posted...

I have never liked extremely hard games.

As an adult I realize, that's okay.

sure, but are you sitting there acting like adults can't like games that actually challenge them or

That is not what they said.

was i asking you anything? butt out. fucking sheesh.

I never understood the appeal of frustratingly hard games. I play them for fun and relaxation, not to feel rage because I'm getting killed ever 2 minutes or run over by a boss like they're the Tasmanian devil.

Too easy isn't much fun though. I recently started Ghost of Tsushima on the easiest mode and it's not satisfying at all so plan on starting over on normal.

Your time is more valuable when you get older and you want to spend your relaxing time enjoying it.

For me, I don't want to play games that are hard jsut to be hard. So I'll never play a souls game and I don't care.

Yes. I don't have time to sit and play a game where I have to *learn* the game. Let me just have fun.

I sorta liked hard games as a kid and I think I like them more now. provided they are hard in an interesting way