No Player Left Behind: How the Dumbing Down of Games Ruins Them For Everyone

Games, as a whole, are too easy. From a publisher and developer’s perspective, it makes sense – create a product that can be played by as many people as possible, and then there’s a good chance they’ll all buy it. The problem is it makes the games dull, unoriginal and utterly pointless.
-PSLS

[ftwrthtx]

If you go back and start playing some old school ps1 classics, you'll find that having limited lives or limited restarts force you to be more careful and at times more strategic.

[brish]

Demon's Souls, and Dark Souls say hi!

Just because there are games for the casual market doesn't mean hardcore games aren't there for this generation of consoles.

[ftwrthtx]

The other 99% of games say hi back. LOL

[Panthers]

It went from almost every game to like 3-4 games this generation.

Just like the OP said, it made games more strategic. That is why Socom 2 will always be my favorite online shooter. You did not regen life, and when you died, you had to wait for the next round to start. It was the most strategic online shooter I have ever played.

[Bimkoblerutso]

I like a good, natural difficulty in games sometimes, and yes, Dark Souls is a good example of a game that gets it almost perfect.

But just like any other broad generalization, I don't think it needs to apply to every game ever made. In games like Far Cry 3 or Dishonored, for instance, it would become restrictive to have to be so careful at all times when the real fun comes from the constant experimentation and mechanic variety. You would just end up finding the most viable strategy and sticking with it for the entire game.

[Jason143]

few and small though. Those are the only 2 I can think of. Go back and play dracula x chronicles or ultimate ghosts and goblins and tell me games now a days are that hard. I blow through a game in a few days now if not one.

[brish]

"The other 99% of games say hi back. LOL"

Top ps1 games:
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

The top 10 ps1 games has 3 Crash Bandicoot games, 2 final fantasy games, and 3 driving games.

Where are all the hardcore ps1 games?

[ftwrthtx]

I'm talking about difficulty this gen since you mentioned Demon Souls and Dark Souls saying hi.

[Jason143]

that list was decided by turds hehe
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Contra
Ninja gaiden black
Battletoads
Ikaruga
Shinobi
Star ocean optional boss's :)
I guess when you start to write them down theres not to many hard games in all. Dark souls was so easy. You xbox players didnt play demons souls so maybe thats why it seemed hard. Demons souls was hard. Took me 3 weeks to hit number 1 on leaderboard and I only held it for a month. So what other games can we add to the hard list? Dracula x chronicles for sure

[Allsystemgamer]

That's why I always play halo with the iron skull on. Die once and u have to restart the level. Makes it more fun that way.

[TrendyGamers]

Is that a lemur?

[doctorstrange]

Nope

[TrendyGamers]

Koala?

[doctorstrange]

Negatory

[Root]

No it's a Salmon

[doctorstrange]

Rushdie?

[mamotte]

Nope. It's Chuck Testa.

[UnholyLight]

Chuck Testa dislikes this

[Wedge19]

Agreed. I think that the death of the classic RPG was due to dumbed down concepts that were accessible to more players. Fortunately Ni No Kuni breaks that trend, but it is still perilously present in so many other AAA titles it's a little bit disgusting. Fresh indie games that break the mold are quite refreshing.

[NYC_Gamer]

It's because publishers main concern is selling millions of copies and huge profits in return

[TukkerIntensity]

^^ so true. That's why my year has been consumed with games like DayZ, FTL and Dwarf Fortress - these devs aren't selling out to maybe a dollar.

[Godmars290]

If anything was the cause of dumbing down of games, it was the move to HD. The higher production costs and need to sell more copies.

[ZeroX9876]

Exactly.
Now Devs make games on how the mass wants them, not how they originally wanted it. sometimes it`s rewarding, sometimes it shatters a fanbase faster than ever.

Your not seeing this trend with indie dev, since the cost are minimal (compared to Triple A high budget titles).

[Panthers]

Unfortunately it does not seem that the devs understand how this is hurting their franchises. We are starting to see the downward spiral of once proud franchises like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. The last iterations of these games sold less than their predecessors. It has taken time, but consumers are finally getting tired of their favorite games being watered down.

I just hope it stops. If you try to please everyone, you just going to upset the fans that have supported you for years and your franchise is going to die.

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I don't know how it could stop. In the next generation game development will be even more expensive which would mean devs would take less risks out of necessity.

[mav805]

I know that expenses and production costs have increased as companies try to compete to outdo one another, but I don't buy that it's because of HD and higher graphical fidelity.

Just look at games like The Witcher 2, it cost something like 10m USD to produce but had fantastic art direction and beautiful graphics. Then you have modders can outdo the developers in terms of texture quality and other enhancements for free in their spare time.

Not saying improved graphics don't take more time and money, but I don't think it's the primary factor in increased costs.