at a time games were hard as hell.now it has become childs play.do you believe in that?

Yes, without a doubt. This is what the "broader audience" wants.

Looking at pokemon, hell yes.

Yes.. regenerative health is really making it more easier.. i remember the days of frantic backtracking and looking in every corner for a med kit..

also the punishment for failing is less hard.. unlimited continous, checkpoints etc..

Of course my horse, ever since the 16 bit era.



Not only that, we have also been getting better.

Just playing the Bravely Default demo - nope.
Generally - depends.

Replaying old games I found hard back then opened my eyes - I just sucked.

There are still hard games out there.

Nope.

It's typical of people to talk about the good old days, while if they were to go back there with the knowledge they currently have, it would be close to nothing the way they remember it.

I remember playing Castlevania on NES and having a blast. I also remember playing it for months. 2 years ago I played it again on my cell phone and literally beat it in 2 hours. I may have become better than I used to be, my knowlege of the game might have helped quite a bit, but in no way do I remember it as a 2 hour easy game. I'm sure there are many similar examples. I'm also sure mario wasn't all that difficult either.

Well many games have the option of different difficulties, they're less punishing though with autosaves and such.

I think that the main problem back in the 80s was that most games were a port of an arcade game that was built to be hard so that you have to put in coins. As games started to be developed for the console other game mechanics were implemented.

The reward for beating a game is much higher nowadays, though. Beating a game like FF 9 or FF 10 leaves you with a great cutscene while beating something hard as Probotector/Contra, Ghosts n' Goblins or Megaman only gave you a short screen.

In my opinion difficulty is mostly a bad thing. If a game becomes too hard you might not be able to see the ending (what is especially bad in a storybased game). A game like Assassin's Creed 2 might not be that difficult, but the story is great and renaissance Italy is just an amazing setting.

I played through Demon's Soul and although it was difficult I did not like the game that much. It was hard, but it totally lacked story and dialogue. The whole world felt so empty... but the game did a great job in setting a certain mood. It could have been awesome but I decided to stay away from this franchise because it lacked story (or anything that keeps me wanting to play longer). I feel no pride in being able to beat that game.... But that's me. I do not need competiton, I need entertainment.