Current Events > What's worse; a game that is Too Easy or Too Hard?

(+) Yeah! (+)

No Normal Mode

Too easy is boring

"Too hard" just means you need to get better at the game

Too hard worked well when I was younger and had time like the nes and Genesis days. These days I'd take too easy over too hard any day.

I feel like it kinda depends. If it's too hard due solely to a skill issue, an easy game is worse. But if a hard game is hard because of stupid shit, like game design, cheap one hit mechanics, unseen or unforeseen traps or pitfalls, shit you can't prepare for, damage sponges, or any other number of ancillary factors not directly related to player skill, then I'd say a hard game is worse.

Too easy can be very boring but sometimes can be a little zen.

Too hard depends on the definition. Dark Souls is hard but rewarding. NES TMNT and SNES Lion King are frustrating bullshit.

A game that's too easy is at worst boring
A game that's too hard is at best frustrating

Too hard because it will kill progression.
Too easy at least you finish the game.

Too hard no contest. Easy can still be fun, hard is not.

I've never quit a game for being too easy... I've quit many games for being too hard

I guess too easy.

Unless the game has some really good plot.

I'll finish a game that's too easy. I put down games that are too hard.

Too hard is worse

Too easy you can at least replay it with challenge runs

Too easy can be boring. Too hard is boring too, but also frustrating and it can mean that you don't get to see the rest of the game. All else equal, a whole game with boring gameplay is better than half a game with frustrating gameplay.

Too easy can be a mild disappointment. Too hard can outright ruin a well-made game for me.

Self imposed challenges can help with easy games.

Nobody who voted that too easy is worse has ever actually played a game that's too hard.

Too easy mean that I beat the game quickly, too hard means I quit the game even quicker.

Too hard. I don't play games like Dark Souls because I don't have the patience to master the game and 'get gud'. Yes it's rewarding, but can also make a game tiring and boring if you have to repeat large sections of it until you perfect it.

Easy can make a game a little boring, but it doesn't make the game frustrating to play. Or prevent you from progressing in the game.

too easy.

look at all the pokemon games lately. not that pokemon was ever a hard game but a lot of them now are way too easy and your team is 10+ levels stronger than gym leaders and you just steam roll the game with no strategy.

lot of people been saying silksong is way too hard but that is my game of the year. i loved it more than the original. the games need to hard but still need to be good. they can't be like nes/snes games that were hard mostly because of shit mechanics and game companies not wanting kids to beat their games too fast.

the very short version is that I would much rather play a game that's easy due to terrible game design than one that's hard due to terrible game design

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

Nobody who voted that too easy is worse has ever actually played a game that's too hard.

Some of the Touhous were too hard for me to finish, but they were still far more enjoyable than games I've played with zero difficulty

There is no absolute answer because there is a lot of ifs, ands, or buts that go into such a question. However if I try to simplify it to it's most basic level a game that is "too hard" is unplayable while a game that is too easy is in the absolute worst case boring.

I take "too hard" to mean a game I just can't make progress in. I'm taking this to be a game that is unbalanced and broken, not "souls like" or other games where difficulty is the major draw but is considered to be a game you get better at each time you try.

I love challenging games. I almost always force challenge runs no matter the game because it gives me more to do, and overcoming a challenge is typically enjoyable.

The worse side of the spectrum is, very obviously, too hard.

A game that is too easy can be made harder. For example, Skyrim is a faceroll game. Some of the Skyrim challenge runs, especially on Legendary difficulty, are miles harder than any game most people have played.

I can't really think of a single game out there that is immune to challenge runs. Because you always have speedrun challenges if all else fails.

I look at a game like IWBTB, however, and where is there to go after you beat it? There are still options, but realistically, most of them are going to be outside of what most players can be expected to complete.

Hell, even beating IWBTB was not a good experience. It's not the hardest game out there, but it's certainly challenging regardless. Past a certain point, difficulty starts to be implemented in a way I consider it to be obnoxious.

So yeah, past a certain point, the harder a game gets, the more 'bullshit' you have to put up with, but the easier a game is, the more options of challenges you enjoy exist.

Lion King would have been 20x funner if it wasn't as hard as it was

Honestly, game that is too hard.

Gameplay is one aspect of a game, there are many other aspects that can be enjoyed I.e. story, characters, music etc. an easy game wont stop you. A hard game may stop you or at least disrupt the game flow.

If it's "too easy", I at least get a power trip and maybe the story is still engaging.

If it's "too hard", I start having thoughts I can't post without getting modded, and I potentially permanently miss out on story and gameplay content.

Neither is ideal, but if I have to pick one, I'll take "too easy" any day of the week~

Too hard means I can't play it if I wanted to so that's about as bad as it gets.

A game that's too easy can be salvaged by being good at other stuff. Good story, fun gameplay, great level design. If it's too hard, you won't even be able to progress far enough to enjoy all that stuff.

Too hard. I can finish an easy one even if it's sluggish. Hard ones I'll usually give up if it becomes too difficult/taxing. There's a threshold when something becomes too challenging to enjoy for me.

A great example of a game that can be too easy but is still fun is Symphony of the Night. That's a game that is flexible with allowing you to make it even simpler or really handicap yourself.

sabin017 posted...

Too hard because it will kill progression.
Too easy at least you finish the game.

This, too easy at least can let you enjoy the story. I don't play KOTOR to be challenged, just to name an example.

too easy. I feel like I'm just wasting my time if it's too easy.

It depends on various factors. Generally I'd rank it as:

A bit tough > Just right > A bit easy > Tough but still fair > A bit of a joke > Ridiculously easy > Ridiculously hard

Xatrion posted...

I feel like it kinda depends. If it's too hard due solely to a skill issue, an easy game is worse. But if a hard game is hard because of stupid shit, like game design, cheap one hit mechanics, unseen or unforeseen traps or pitfalls, shit you can't prepare for, damage sponges, or any other number of ancillary factors not directly related to player skill, then I'd say a hard game is worse.

Sundercles posted...

Too easy can be very boring but sometimes can be a little zen.

Too hard depends on the definition. Dark Souls is hard but rewarding. NES TMNT and SNES Lion King are frustrating bullshit.

TMOG posted...

A game that's too easy is at worst boring
A game that's too hard is at best frustrating

sabin017 posted...

Too hard because it will kill progression.
Too easy at least you finish the game.

TheFalseDeity posted...

Too hard no contest. Easy can still be fun, hard is not.

These.

Games like Umihara Kawase and Infernax are rightfully hard and beatable.

Games like Mario Pinball Land and Myastere -Ruins of Deazniff- are "hard" for the wrong reasons.

If it's the former, at least I'll be able to finish it. That's less dissatisfying than just giving up.

to hard is far worse

i can at least finish a to easy game

also often times when you ask for help in a to hard game you get "git gud" as a response

AceMos posted...

also often times when you ask for help in a to hard game you get "git gud" as a response

This decade, the trolling buzz phrase is "skill issue"

@OrangeCrush980 posted...

It depends on various factors. Generally I'd rank it as:

A bit tough > Just right > A bit easy > Tough but still fair > A bit of a joke > Ridiculously easy > Ridiculously hard

How can a bit tough be better than just right?
Goldilocks didnt sleep in the bed that was too hard because the bed just that was just right was worse. Thats not what just right means.

Too easy, at least relative to what it should be, feels like a waste of assets. Too hard is at least something to solve.

Depends on genre, I think

Games that are way too easy are sorta boring to play but if there's some interesting story/dialogue/whatever going on then that can sort of cover for the gameplay part.

Games that are way too hard are never getting completed which also means any story is going unfinished but at least if they have intricate and interesting mechanics they might be fun to play as far as I can get

Overall I guess I'd say too hard is worse, but I'm pretty mixed on it

At least when it's too easy you still get to experience the story. Too hard just locks people out of the experience altogether, which is clearly worse.

To be fair, I think most peoples' bar for "too hard" is pitifully low these days. But if we're talking about "too easy" or "too hard" then I think it's pretty obvious which is worse. And by a significant margin.

AceMos posted...

to hard is far worse

i can at least finish a to easy game

also often times when you ask for help in a to hard game you get "git gud" as a response

I find it generally depends on how you ask.

It depends on the game.

But usually, too hard is worse. If a game is too easy I can still play through it and there might be things like the story that I can still enjoy. If it's too hard, chances are I'm getting stuck in the same spot and repeating it over and over again. Meaning I get frustration AND boredom.

Too easy is worse for me. I mainly game on PC so if the game is actually so difficult that I can't possibly play through it, making it easier through cheats is doable. If it's too easy I can't really do much to counter that tbh.

This is all assuming it's a single player game. If it's multiplayer difficulty doesn't matter to me since I just have fun doing silly stuff with friends anyways.

A game that's too easy is worse for me. Beating a difficult boss or stage feels more rewarding than just finishing a game that I steamrolled through.

i cant really pick, because i like lots of really easy games and lots of games that people consider hard, so evidently neither is an issue for me. i think if a game isnt rewarding enough is the worst issue i can have

How is a game too hard if you're beating it and enjoying the experience?

Limelol posted...

How is a game too hard if you're beating it and enjoying the experience?

idk, i feel i beat a couple games that were too hard simply by virtue of throwing so many lives at the meat grinder i eventually forced thru

Too hard.

A game that is easy can be boring, but difficulty is only a single aspect of a game and the other attributes (story, writing, visuals, etc) can keep it engaging.

A game that is too hard risks the chance of you bouncing off of it entirely. It might have incredible other aspects to it, but it won't matter because you'll never get to experience them.

The Witcher 3 is a good example of this. It is not a particularly difficult game, even it's harder difficulties skirt more towards tedious than mechanically demanding, but it just knocks everything else out of the park. The gameplay might not challenge you but you don't care because you want to play for everything else.