Comments on: I Like It Hard

By: Keenan W.

Keenan W. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:58:59 +0000

First off, I’m not a PC fanboy. My definition of that term is someone who blindly defends the platform even against notions of pure rationale and reason. I am willing to defend any platform for what it’s worth, even if it goes against my favorite one: the PC.

Secondly, we are looking at the term “difficult” differently. I don’t think the inclusion (or lack) of a quicksave system makes the game easier, but instead the playing experience. The difference between these is the game is the actual gameplay; the experience is … the experience of the gameplay. To make that more distinct, the experience is the gameplay, the launching of the game, the environment in which someone plays, and the features of the game. These features are saving, loading, the main menu, etc. The feature of quicksaving/quickloading isn’t making the game any more or less easy, but the experience. The only way for your argument to work is for the abusing of the feature on the player’s behalf. Quicksaving and quickloading only makes it easy if one knowingly decides to overuse it.

Yes, VVVVVV is hard – this plays into the previous argument. The game isn’t made easier because of the abundance of checkpoints. If there were ten times as many, the game would still be as hard, seeing as how the actual levels are designed to be tough. For that specific case, if there were any less checkpoints, like on a console game you’d describe, it’d just be frustrating. Not difficult. Frustrating.

If I’m a poser, then the classification of “gamer” doesn’t exist.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:54:37 +0000

Current PC games aren’t easy because that are “consolfied”. What an idiotic statement from a PC fanboy.

PC games have always been easy thanks to quicksaving and quickloading. Console games have limited save points, requiring the player to stay alive through each section through the game. That takes more skill.

In another article you say the game VVVVVV was so hard! The game saves every 10 seconds! It holds your hand and you think that is tough? You are just a poser.

P.S: I forgot to mention that Bioshock’s vita-chambers are just another version of quicksaving and quickloading and that feature stayed for the console version. It’s actually consoles that are “PCfied”.

By: Morinar

Morinar — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:11:59 +0000

I totally agree with you. The stuff done in Crysis will always stand out in my mind for being some of the best and most interesting ways to make a game more more challenging in the higher difficulties.

By: Phried

Phried — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:04:47 +0000

Yeah, when making a game difficult, the best way is to actually change the game features. For example Crysis (which was an easy game) made enemies talk in Korean. Arma II doesn’t distinguish between enemy or friend and the map takes away the player markers on harder difficulties.

I hate hit point or damage inflation/deflation or even just enemy swarming. That doesn’t make the game more fun, it just gets aggrivating

By: Keenan W.

Keenan W. — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:31:25 +0000

Aren’t I sexy?

By: Chris C.

Chris C. — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:05:03 +0000

All right Weaver, I do NOT recall approving that front-page box-out pic. It terrifies me, and yet, I can’t stop looking at it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:01:46 +0000

You didnt have a tank in your group. Thats why you were repeatedly raped in DA:O.

By: Morinar

Morinar — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:14:45 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more. While I loved Bioshock, even on hard without using the vita-chambers I breezed through the game. The consolification of PC gaming is definitely making our games more trivial.

My one big beef with difficulty levels: artificial inflation. The wrong way to make a game hard is to merely add more hitpoints to your enemies. I played The Suffering on impossible. It took 8 point blank shotgun blasts to kill the most basic enemy in the game. That didn’t increase the difficulty, it made the game as ANNOYING AS HELL.

Here’s hoping we have more challenging games done the right way.