Are video games too easy now?

When was the last time a game had secret areas? Not just one little easter egg, I mean multiple secrets throughout the game.

>>389366085
Dark souls

>>389366085
Secret areas suck, they decrease immersion by making you hump walls and look for texture discrepancies the whole game, I want to ENJOY my games, not have to be ocd to get the full experience

>>389366085
Dishonored 2 had some pretty wellhidden rooms.

>>389366085
Shadow Warrior did it, but so terribly that they may as well not have even done it at all.

DOOM 2016

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Games are too hard now.

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>>389366373
Is this fucking real?

>>389365750
>now

they always were

>>389366373
Need sauce on that.

>>389366373
Wew. I hope it was a 6 year old girl playing this.

You can't really compare stuff to Quake, seeing as it was an absolute masterpiece the likes of which even its creators were never able to reproduce.

>>389366085
Doom 2016, although they weren't that hard to find. Also, I'd argue that Prey had some well tucked away areas.

Secret levels should really make a comeback, though.

>>389366515
>>389366723
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk

>>389366723
>>389366515
>>389366790
see also the journalist defending how shit he is and trying to make the argument "what, are video games for elite players only now?" because he's clearly not qualified to write about them

reminder that these people get paid to play/review games

Older games often were difficult because of wonky/inresponsive controls, limited saving (quake actually isnt that hard if you bother to savescum engagements) cheap deaths and such.
Dark souls is 'hard' because it only allows a few mistakes to be made before you die (high damage/health ratio), has traps that kill you, requires you to work your way through some minor enemies before you get to the boss again (and can cost you a lot of resources if you get tired of doing that over and over again and let them slip in hits) and slow and clunky controls where you h ave to be very deliberate with your timing not to get smacked. Sure, many people like it, but a lot of people just get sick of it. If it wasnt for the memes most people would dislike the game because its too difficult

>>389366373
WOOOOOOOOOOW

>>389365750
quake is only hard online

>>389365750
no, difficulty haven't changed since 00s
you are just older and have more experience, at least that's how I feel, I replay gothic and some fps regularly can't say they are harder
seriously though singleplayer games are designed to be completed, they can't be actually hard

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>>389366373

>>389366841
>the journalist defending how shit he is
>First screen tutorial with simply written instructions
>Journalist who is reviewing game for the masses can't put together the simplest problem solving that even a young child could easily manage
>"what, are video games for elite players only now?"
Unreal levels of embarrassing on how far the average player has fallen over the years. And how many companies create/cater games to this demographic. Imagine how much worse it will be 10-15 years from now.

>>389367014
that's the thing, games only hard when you fight other people not a designer that has to be much much clever than you to make game tailored for you exactly to feel hard enough but possible to complete
things like this hit once in decade at best

>>389367523
nah, it's more like journalism have fallen that far
give game to any kid and he will clear it in seconds

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There's no better FPS movement control than in Quake.
>>389366262
Only if they're designed as crappily as most of them in Doom/Quake are.

>>389367523
>>389367739
follow up question, when was last time you've read a review?

The bigger ones definitely are, you have to play mp oe go for autistic challenges like 100%ing games to get challenged these days. One of the big problems is that modern games hate punishment and end up devaluing consistency as a result. Constant checkpoints allow you to approach difficult situations mindlessly until you get lucky and win rather than form a consistent strategy. Quake and other shooters had this too of course because of save scumming but unlike modern games it was just an extra. The levels were still meant to be played in one go and were a lot of fun if you did it. Checkpoints in modern games are the intended way to play and this becomes blatantly obvious if you try restarting levels because the pacing becomes fucking horrid thanks to unskippable sequences, lengthy periods of nothing happening and nonsensical difficulty curves.

>>389367836
>and nonsensical difficulty curves.
example?

>>389365750
Quake is bretty easy.

>>389367574
You write in nightmare mode. I can barely make out what the fuck you're trying to say.

Don't do drugs, kids.

>>389367341
>no, difficulty haven't changed since 00s
Game difficulty significantly decreased from the early to late 00s. Not just in QoL improvements either.

Game difficulty generally stuck around the same level from the beginning of 90s to early 2000s but then started decreasing overall as games became rapidly more popular through the last decade.

>>389368019
what i'm trying to say
to design game properly designer must be smarter than player for difficulty curve to work and this coincidence very rare for many players

>>389367981
Binary Domain for example had a level that starts with you getting assaulted by robots from all sides after they crash your car. On the higher difficulties this fight is significantly harder than the rest of the level because it was designed as its own set piece rather than a part of a whole level. Shits everywhere though this is just one example that came to mind since I recently played it

>>389368106
I've been playing on PC since 2001 to now, its either me getting old and difficulty adjusting to my reaction or nothing changed.
I wouldn't be able to play MP games somewhat okay if it was the case.

>>389368483
Or you use quicksaves

>>389368550
do you die in games?

>>389368483
the trend is much less visible with PC games but looking at action and adventure games on consoles from early 2000s and then early 2010s the difference is incredibly obvious

>>389368791
there is no pc or console games for a while now
it's just games these days

>>389368703
Obviously

>>389366373
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF3dT9bDu_4
Unironically it looks like Kate Upton has a better understanding of the game than an actual paid video game reviewer

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>>389366373
>played tons of old platformers when I was a kid
>mfw I see this

>>389366979
This. We should be improving difficulty in the ways that it matters. That means we shouldn't be frustrated by high HP damage sponges, or bad controls, or downright poorly weighted penalty mechanics that either punish you too much or too little. It's an art you have to refine.

>>389368972
nowdays yeah but 2010s started 7 years ago
a good example that's just a result of 7th gen games getting really easy is how when dark souls came out it was considered extremely hard by many gamers, while if it had come out ten years earlier for example it would have been only somewhat above the general difficulty level of games of its kind

>>389368289
Where are you getting that idea? Making a game difficult is very easy, it doesn't require much intelligence from the designer. They can just limit your options and focus on dumb precise execution, and that's what a lot of shitty amateur level designers do in Mario Maker and such.

>>389365750
No, you're just better at them.

>>389366373
I'm pressing buttons there was nothing I could do

>>389365750
games are never hard or easy. it's all just memorization. even rng games like xcom. just find out how to put the odds in your favor, hit the timesink and you'll end up winning.

>>389370491
What a dumb meaningless statement, could apply that to every skill

>>389366979
games like Dark Souls don't have "clunky" controls aside from few fuckups. Games that automatically target your attacks perfectly aren't smoother to control, they're just easier.

Games that are easy are less and less liked because not only they are unrewarding, but because the developers fail to add any meaningful challenge to them, meaning making them anything but easy to play just makes them frustrating instead of engaging and rewarding.
Games like MGR can gain high popularity despite being rather challenging when the developers put some thought and effort into how the challenge is designed.
>>389369280
It's sad to see that Souls games kinda failed this challenge as the series went on. Instead of honing or expanding the mechanics, they just changed them around a little to incentivize the use of certain mechanics more and certain ones less without ever really improving the overall design in any meaningful way. Rolling became easier and more abuseable, DPS rules, blocking is useless because rolling solves all, defense and poise get nerfed and taking hit is more punishing.

>>389367523
I don't think this is the average player. Journalist websites really just do hire completely unqualified people who have no business reviewing videogames like this guy.

And like >>389367824 said, these websites are quickly becoming irrelevant. He has to be defensive like that in order to save his boss's ass from the insanely bad PR of that video.

>>389366373
whats wrong with this? probably some faggot that never played a platformer in his life, the point is that he learned how to do it in the end
>filename
oh, well like I said, probably some faggot that never played a platformer in his life

>>389365750
yes, they are designed to be beaten no matter how you play them these days
>>389366336
No, that game is a complete joke in every sense

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>>389369427
the idea comes from me knowing a bit about actual game design, it's not easy
I can easily think of several things that would make games i played harder for me, but have no idea how to make them better for everyone
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