The leaduh of da Mushroom Kingdom!
Haiiiiii! <3
If you stumble upon this blog chances are...well I'm not quite sure how you found it. Regardless of your journey to this destination, I thank you for taking the time to read this. As the name implies, this blog is about anything gaming related and my inner thoughts of gaming communities, the evolution of gaming, criticism of gaming, etc. That being said, my main view of this blog will be first and foremost gaming communities, how the life of gaming is changing, and things of that nature. This blog is not so much about specific game genre news, but an overall and as-much-unbiased look on gaming as a whole. So if you're looking for a blog to cover patch notes for World of Warcraft, tournament results from Smash or Street Fighter, or deals signed by teams for StarCraft, look elsewhere. This isn't to say I don't play these games and won't use them in my discussion, but this blog will never center around news for a specific game.
So, if you're still on board this is what I will try to give you: an unbiased opinion on things related to gaming. I can't promise this will not be a 100% perfect, but aiming to try my best! Topics off the top of my head would include today's topic, micro transactions, the life of gaming, hardcore vs casual, and more. I do not claim to be some Zen-mode debater, but I think I can do a decent job at laying out the facts and approaching both sides to these arguments and debates. :) Now onward to what this first article will be about!
Ermagawd Games were so much harder!?
Okay, so this is a topic that has gotten under my skin for years now. I find the point silly to bring up, but this issue is something that has ravaged gaming communities for the better part of a decade for a while now. If you go up to an older gamer, you may tend to get the response above. "Back in my day, we didn't have auto save!?" Or something to that effect. Basically, as technology grew and more quality of life changes were made, games became easier (or at least in their eyes) In this post I weigh in my views on this topic and explain my conclusion to an issue that has brought up arguments for quite some time.
Before we begin though, I would like to lay out two important terms to help clear up some confusion (And no I don't mean a smartass webster definition of difficulty)
Quality of Life - Basically, what this term means is changes that made things overall better. This is subjective, for sure, but in this post I'm going to try my best to only use the obvious ones. For example, adding the save feature is a quality of life feature. It just simply makes it where a game isn't played in one sitting, which is fair. (Auto-save I'll hit you up later brah)
Nostalgia Goggle- This is something that is....well it is quite hard for me to NOT do. Basically, we cling to things we liked when we were younger. A mass majority of people will say Pokemon designs have faltered and Gen I/II have the best designs. This is my primary case of Nostalgia Goggles (Go look at Muk/Voltorb and tell me Haxorous aint a boss yo) Tldr; It's when older is better because the memories cloud your judgement. Again subjective, but what isn't these days?
I feel like this is real important to have down before even getting into this, because if i continue to sling those words around and you are completely ignorant to what I''m saying well that makes all this moot, doesn't it? *Sigh* I'll be honest with you all, the hardest part of this particular topic is where to even begin, so I'm just going to delve right in.
To jump right in I think it's best for me to say my stance on this and build my evidance around my claim, and that claim is Games are not easier than they were, but rather quality of life changes + layers of difficulty make it seem so.
That being said, I will concede to the fact that The starting out difficulty of games is easier.
Now you may think, what exactly do I mean by this? I'd be more than to explain the ladder first. You buy a game and it's 1995. The game you buy has a set difficulty, and that's that. So the game is going to be forever stuck on it's pre-set difficulty (Unless it's a community driven difficulty, but that point is invalid) so the developers are stuck with one of two options...well three really: Appeal to Casual, Hardcore, or Mid-Level gamers. The best way to do this was to make many-a-games, but a lot of times this resulted in games being simply too hard. As technology evolved, difficulties and challenges could be added, and this was no longer an issue. An issue that was probably one of the first quality of life changes alongside the ability to save.
I personally do not have an issue with this. If you pre-set a game on normal with no additional difficulties and said mode is easy then yes there is a problem. Most games do not have this problem, however. Look at Dark Souls, Devil May Cry, God of War, even Skyward Sword! Multiple difficulties that add layers of difficulty to appeal to multiple crowds. Heck, sometimes it doesn't even take difficulties. Look at Pokemon. It's overly simple on the surface but got take a look at Smogon, Serebii, and Competitive battling. If you know nothing about advanced Pokemon I guarantee your mind will be blown.
So for most people who think games are easier now; this may clear up a lot of confusion. For those still on the path that we modern games are weaker versions of our predecessors, I shall continue. Now, I'll gladly debate any points anyone can submit in comments, but these are the topics I find mostly browsing forums, reading in-game chat in mmos, etc.
Reasons Gaming is Easier
- Save Points / Auto Save -
Now I group these together because they are similar points of interest. I would like to say starting off I agree completely with the ladder of this topic. Auto-Save should only be reserved for online/MMO gameplay for server reasons. Games Auto-saving are just as guilty at holding our hands as auto-correct is. Anything Auto- really just makes your life "easier" It does take skill to remember when to save, though most would argue it's a chore. I've never been fond of Auto-Saving because when applying this to our real world actions, you have to remember to put stuff up you didn't finish to complete later. This action is very similar to saving, and when something auto-saves you're basically just skipping a step that is integrated into day-to-day actions. Imagine if you ate a plate of food, and didn't finish it. You didn't wrap it up for later because it magically put itself back in the fridge? That's awesome yes, but that's not a quality of life change to gaming more than making gaming easier as that makes life easier. Quality of Life changes should be viewed as things needed to be done to simply make the game a better game, not necessarily easier.
That being said, there is nothing "easier" about saving. Having to play Mario all in one sitting does not make it harder, but tedious. Saving allows you to take break. Get some circulation in your legs man! Sometimes I think the argument saving makes gaming easier stems from auto-saving more-so than normal saving, and on that level I completely agree.
- Initial Difficulty / U-Got Good
Seeing a game being called 'too easy' is something seen often. There are two reasons for this; one involves quality of life where as the other is simply a vast oversight on the gaming community. Let us tackle the Initial difficulty first. I actually have a very good game that fits this bill that I've sunk several hundred hours into.
That screenshot is from FFXIV:ARR. Initially going into this game, one would find this game insanely easy. Leveling to 50 (or 60 now) requires little to no effort except in a few parts, and can be played on a very casual level. Once you hit what is considered "End-game" though that is where things start to change. Difficulty gets tacked on here and there, and if you try to do the hardest raids you find yourself having to be immensely skilled in your class to clear.
Another few good examples of layered difficulty would be Pokemon, Most Hack-n-Slashes, and Dark Souls (Let's be honest it's hard the first time through, but try a second i dare ya) Go load up Devil May Cry on the hardest difficulty, or solo TUVHM on Borderlands 2 with zero troubles.
The difference in modern gaming isn't that the difficulty "sux", but they can layer content to appeal to a wider audience which is a quality of life change.
That last bit about getting good has nothing to do with quality of life and is just a mere oversight. If you have been gaming this many years to form an opinion that games were harder over a decade ago; chances are YOU GOT GUD. Developed gamer reflexes, puzzle solving skills, etc. You are simply a seasoned vet and for companies to cater to your demands to make everything ermagawd hard would destroy growth in the gaming community as people coming into gaming would be intimidated.
Basically, don't bitch about it being too easy when the hard difficulty is out there you just choose to not get too it or select it. Also be patient, you're more skilled developers can't help that! They clearly care or things like Extreme Bosses in MMOs, Ultimate difficulties, or NG+ wouldn't exist.
Take 'em off! Nostalgia Goggles!
Up until now I have listed if things were quality of life or games being made easier. Aside from auto-saving, my point seems to side with the former. This last note before tying this baby up isn't even either of those, but rather another oversight on gamers all across the world. I know it's hard peeps, but you gotta take your goggles off if you want any form of your opinion to be valid.
I can almost defend any 'old school' hard game with a modern hard game that is just as hard if not harder. People tend to think those developers were just better at making things harder because they cherish those memories, which in turn clouds their judgement. Nostalgia Goggles isn't even limited to gaming but applies to movies, cars, and just about anything really. You can even find those crazy heretics that claim Windows XP needs to be re-booted! But I disgress...
Just to name a few Nostalgia Goggle arguments that are easily shut down:
RPGs are too easy. Did you play the first Final Fantasy?
Now I will give you this, the first Final Fantasy is very, very challenging. And I don't mean those remakes where they addressed it's difficulty, but the old NES version. Really though, FF1 suffers from IDS (Initial Difficulty Syndrome) It is hard at first, but once you get set up it's not too bad. Still, assuming we say it's very difficult, my answer to this is the Dark Souls series. Nothing about that series is remotely easy. Chances are if you find that series piss easy you've been playing that series a crap ton, and as mentioned earlier you've "gotten gud". Go beat FF1 three times (one for each souls entry), and I bet you will find it easier too. But blindly picking up a Souls game (Especially DS1, ugh), it's pretty hard. Monster Hunter is also another great candidate for a hard RPG. I don't find MH too hard anymore, but I've played since Tri. When I first played Tri, though.... boy that was a thing. (Also, a tidbit of info there are some pretty hard indie rpgs out there)
Platforming Games pose no challenge now.
This is a bad case of looking in the wrong spot & not realizing games have difficulty tiers. I am not about to say the main story of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is as hard as Super Mario Bros. 3, but if you do -everything- in that game it isn't what I'd called easier, but closer in being the same.
And honestly, if you think there are no hard platforming games out there you are just looking in the wrong places. Super Meat Boy & Vvvvvv (I'm not sure how many V's) would like a word with you. There are so many more platform games on Steam I just can't even think of at the moment.
There is a part of me that wants to keep laying these out but I'd rather just reserve a post for Nostalgia Goggles. To sum it up I feel games are not easier, but rather they look so on the surface due to interlocking layers of difficulty to appeal to more fans. I also feel things older gamers feel made games harder are just quality of life changes to make gaming more fun and convenient. Would you like to go back to no saves/passwords for save points? Would you like to see no layer of challenge so if something is too hard you could be forever stuck? Another large part is nostalgia, too. We think Elite 4 is easier, raiding is easier, bosses pose little threats, but in reality there are harder versions/games out there you just have to look. You could make the claim that X Series has gotten easier and that very well may be valid (Zelda I'm looking at you), but gaming as a whole? You need a lot of evidence to blame all of gaming for being easier, and I feel it's just not there.
At the end of the day, too many difficulties, hard indie games, and mechanics are present to say gaming has gotten easier over the decades.
(Now again, if you say a series is easier I might completely agree with you)
Peace out and Game on ;) I plan on doing Updates on what I'm playing pretty regularly and one of these discussions a week! =D
| 
