Kiss Your Old, Hard Nintendo Games Goodbye

[Bodhesatva]

ckmlb said:

Bodhesatva said:

If you're looking for difficult games, obviously you should look to multiplayer. Why would you ever want to face AI -- even reasonably good AI -- when you could play a highly experienced person? Or even a team of persons working together?

So basically we should all just give up on wanting a challenge from single plaeyer games because Mr. Miyamoto and you said so?

The truth is single player games can be extemely challenging, just go back to older games, most of them were single player and really made you want to throw your controller in frustration at times. But game makers have been making games easier and easier lately and it's a shame. We need more difficult games, not less.

This is a main reason why I love Ninja Gaiden, cause it's one of the few newer games that can make you want to kill somebody :)

The idea that we should stop trying to make challenging single player games because you can play multiplayer online is very extreme. Why not have both? I know that a lot of times I want to play a single player game, I don't want to go online and play with some people who are yelling at me cause I didn't capture some flag or something... why? Cause they spend every day for the last 2 years playing the same game, while I move from game to game.

If you want to get good at a certain multiplayer game, it takes time and practice and devoting yourself to playing that game more than other games to keep up with the other players who only play that game or that type of game and keep improving at it. Frankly, usually I don't find this worth it. Which is why I play very few select online shooters for a period of time and then eventually move on from them to cause I want to play something else.

This is great, if you are someone who wants to focus on a single or a handful of games and play mainly them for most of the year, but for someone looking to play dozens of games, this doesn't work. This is the reason why I didn't get into Gears multiplayer too much or Resistance multiplayer. The last time I actually thought it was worth it playing hours of the same game a day online was Battlefield 2 and I moved on from that too eventually, needed something new.

I expect I'll play Warhawk a good amount for a few months then mostly move on to play other stuff.

Not because we said so, simply because it's impossible to produce a single player game that is as challenging as a similarly constructed multiplayer one. It's simple logic: obviously, a group of experienced humans will always be a more difficult enemy than a group of AI controlled combatants in any given game.

So if challenge is your goal, why would you ever want to play single player games anyway? Ninja Gaiden is one of only a few examples I can think of in modern times that might even remotely approach the difficulty level we're apparently seeking (and if you'll remember, I've given it it's due credit in the past).

Looking at this passage you wrote:

If you want to get good at a certain multiplayer game, it takes time and practice and devoting yourself to playing that game more than other games to keep up with the other players who only play that game or that type of game and keep improving at it. Frankly, usually I don't find this worth it. Which is why I play very few select online shooters for a period of time and then eventually move on from them to cause I want to play something else.

You are effectively saying that multiplayer games are too hard. To compete in them, you need to work very hard, and practice for a long time -- whereas in single player games, you can practice for only a short while and master them. Therefore, you can play more games in a shorter span of time.

And that's a completely legitimate argument, Ck! I agree with it. It's just odd that someone would decry casual games for being too easy while simultaneously complaining about the complexity and challenge inherent in mastering high level multiplayer games. It reminds me once again of the car analogy: anyone going faster than me is a maniac, while anyone going slower is an old fogey. Apparently, the difficulty (or speed) of Hardcore, traditional single player games is absolutely perfect!

Or, we can agree that those games are absolutely perfect for you, personally. If the challenge/graphics/complexity/etc. are just right for you on the PS3/360, Ck, no problem. That's great! I really hope you enjoy those games, and I mean that. I just hope people can accept that some may want more challenging games, and still others want less challenging ones, and there is nothing wrong with those positions, either.