Are Most Games Today Too Easy or Is Demon's Souls Too Hard?

Crispy Gamer writes:

"There is something oddly soulless about how modern games approach the question of difficulty. Tutorials are, by and large, rigidly conceived and frequently absurd, having to necessarily oblige the thickest, least-skillful and most-stoned audience members. Some tutorials are so slobberingly accommodating you practically want to leave money for them on the dresser once they have had their way with you. Or think of a game like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. During its puzzle sequences (and, really, these are "puzzles" along the lines of keeping straight the crucial differences between a square and triangle), if you cannot figure something out due to your recent stroke, the game drops a broad hint. You are then given a moment to act on it. If you do not, the game pretty much tells you exactly what you are supposed to do. While playing Uncharted 2, I sometimes had the distant thought of how much I missed the days of being trusted to figure out stuff on my own."

[happy_gilmore]

they want the gamers to actually beat the game so the gamers can see all the stuff that they worked on.

and demon's souls is like any other rpg. just level up enough and then the game becomes easier.

[Udidntlistenpunk]

and bam, you finished the campaign mode.

Is there anyone at all that couldnt finish COD4, COD WAW, CODMW2 campaign because of difficulty? I would be surprised if you can find someone. Even 10 year olds can beat these games in two days.

What does that tell you about the difficulty?

Demons Souls isnt particularly hard. Its just BRUTAL and UNFORGIVING. You make a mistake and its all back from the start. You make another mistake? Say bye bye to your souls.

Thats incredibly frustrating. But most parts are surprisingly easy after you figure out how it works. The first time is hard, yes. Because youre carefull and dont want to be ambushed. But once you know your way and know where the enemies are...its easy.

Leveling up is a must if you want to continue. Because you need better stats and stronger weapons/ armor. And both can only be obtained with souls. Lots of souls.

Simply put, in your first playthrough, dont save up souls like gil in other rpgs. Spend all your souls in stats immediately as you get it. Thats how you survive in the beginning. Once you build a stronger character, you can do more and farm more etc. It, then, becomes easy.

[Killjoy3000]

The latter for sure. Demon's Souls really isn't as hard as people claim it to be, it just requires patience. It's the very fact that people are pampered beyond belief in popular RPG's such as Oblivion and Mass Effect (which I freaking love don't get me wrong.)

Games of this difficulty level were the norm in the 8-bit/16-bit era. The gamers of today just weren't around to experience them. And that's not their fault, it's the just the way modern development is approached.

[Jaces]

Once you get into Demon's Souls groove and understand how it works rather than think you know how it plays, you'll be better off.

People take it to be a hack n' slash and that's how they end up dying constantly. To be honest a lot of games these days pamper gamers, no wonder they complain about it being too hard. :D

Personally I loved it to death, 4 playthroughs and a Platinum and I still can't get enough. Can't wait for DS2!

[Genesis5]

Really DS is not that hard. Once you learn not to charge at everything swinging and use some strategy you'll be fine.

[JoySticksFTW]

Great line right there...

And so true :D

EDIT: This here from the author is good too...

(And yes, I have read the message boards, the forums, and the blog posts, in which seemingly sane-sounding people say things like, "I don't know why everyone says this game is so hard. It should be harder." I wonder what such people would consider hard. Brain surgery? Conquering Afghanistan? Alchemy?)

[Tony P]

There's a difference between challenging and cheap. And DS isn't cheap.

Trending towards more balanced games is natural and I'm not mad at that. But trending towards pathetically easy games is well... pathetic.

I've heard "too hard" for DA:O, Oblivion, some FFs, Personas... (I RPG lots). These games are not "too hard". I'm more than willing to believe most people just don't know how to play the goddamn game. They're these same dummies who think every battle must be won by the sword and that anything else like magic or status effects is a complete waste of time.

[NegativeCreepWA]

Once I beat the flame lurker it was no problem. Sticky white stuff is your best friend for that boss, a little help from a blue phantom doesn't hurt either.

[aaronisbla]

sticky white stuff is the name of an actual item, for those who haven't played Demon souls...

flamelurker was a total b!tch to beat my first time thru, and for some reason there was no one to help me out the first time.

As hard as the game is at first, some of the bosses are pushovers, especially the end world bosses. Thats the only complaint i had about the game. Still give it a 9.5 or 10

[gunnerforlife]

games are sooo easy this days it almost pisses me of lol
i used 2 love playing hard games when i had time when i was younger.

choose to believe me or not but i died 70 times against nightmare on DMC1 :/ but i still loved playing it an carried on till i beat him 3 weeks later:), once i clock a games hardest difficulty setting i don't bother going back to the normal side of the game.

more developers should be incouraged to do this, i kinda envy you older gamers for having the honour of playing in the 8-bit/16-bit era:(

[sikbeta]

Demos Soul IS hard and that's what make it more Awesome, you need some skills to play that game.... and it doesn't have Auto-Aim lol

[badz149]

I wuoldn't know because I haven't played the game and I'm broke!

but I agree at the point that games today are mostly easy! I don't really care for hints and everything but the regenerating health is one of the main culprit which is making games less and less challenging and defy strategies! that's one of the reason I really love R:FoM! it still regenerates but depends on column which somehow makes every moves counts! I understand the needs of progressing the story like many games today but I think challenge should at least be considered! I know I'm not going to be frustrated dying over a challenge but cheap death like an AI can shoot me while I'm jumping randomly using a basic rifle from miles away is!

my only complaint about Uncharted is the puzzles are way too easy!

[cLiCK_sLiCK9]

I still cant get passed the Tower knight with my magician.....

[nix]

the trick is killing all the archers first and then using the platform to throw arrows/magic straight at it's head. no point trying to bring him down slashing through his heels. i found it the hard way though. i died a lot while trying to bring him down, and suddenly found out that it could be done so easily.

and plus wiki is your best friend. you'll be spending most of your playing time reading stuffs from there.

[CrippleH]

Tower knight is easy as pie. Stay behind his heel attack then back up and wait for an attack and repeat until he falls.

[Sarcasm]

Actually I agree, Demon's Souls is not that hard once you understand it. It's only hard if you're used to other games where you slash slash slash and expect good results. My younger brother in law started to play the game and I was watching him play, he kept hitting the attack button mindlessly not paying attention to his stamina. Eventually he learned that you have to attack carefully.

So for those complaining Demon's Souls is too hard should stick to Cooking Mama or something.

[Noctis Aftermath]

After like the first 4 hours of play i finally became accustomed to constantly blocking and dodging, by the time you defeat the iron tower giant you are pretty much set for the rest of the game.

It is indeed a hard game, but once you learn to play it is extremely enjoyable, you need to learn from your deaths/mistakes and instead of blaming it on the game saying "OMG HACKZ" ask yourself what YOU could of done to avoid the death, if your conclusion is "nothing" then chances are you not suited to play this game.

After each of my own deaths i would criticize my actions and determine what i done wrong and try to fix it, the game is almost never unfair, everything in game is able to be killed, so in answer to this article i say that most games today are to easy.

[SaiyanFury]

Demon's Souls really isn't that hard. It drives you to develop a strategy when dealing with the various levels and enemies, and the key point is, it makes you THINK. There are a plethora of options to deal with enemies. If attacking enemies straight on doesn't work, maybe try sniping them from a distance they can't reach you from. The game is a throwback to the King's Field games. They were also argued by many as too hard. I've beaten the King's Field games multiple times because I know how to play them. The game doesn't hold your hand, it leaves it up to you to figure out how to deal with things. Frankly, I found it extremely refreshing.

[callahan09]

In my opinion the answer to both questions posed in the title is "no." I actually thought Demon's Souls was pretty easy. Once you learn the ropes, start to familiarize yourself with the maps and each enemy type, once you discover the equipment loadout that works for you, once you get your tactics down the game is not hard at all. It's very fair. It's got a tough learning curve, but that's really all if you ask me. The game starts you off with nothing and gives you no help, so it's tough in the outset, but once you've put a couple of hours in, you should have figured out how to bear the game's challenges.

And are most other games today too easy? Not for me. Most games that I play I find significantly more challenging than I found Demon's Souls. There are some pretty easy games out there (for me, Dragon Age: Origins, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, some others, and I absolutely loved those games) but a lot of games present a big challenge for me (Modern Warfare 2, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, ODST, in fact most shooter games, all gave me much more challenge than Demon's Souls ever did).

[mfwahwah]

@1.16

You're probably just not as good as shooters as you are action RPGs.

I suck at shooters, so I have more trouble with them then Demon's Souls, but I wouldn't personally go around making that claim since It's obvious why it's the case (for me).

[sleepyazn]

Demon's Souls isn't hard. The only reason people condemned the game is because the game requires patience and strategy. If you rush in Demon's Souls then guess what you're going to end up as a bloody splat on the ground.

[menoyou]

Games are too easy. Demon's Souls requires a basic amount of intelligence. We have to dumb down everything for the mentally deficient, these days. This is the problem.

[Lou Ferrigno]

Both acually imo.. games are alot easier and to some point TOO dman easy these days,but at the same time demons souls put that all to shame with its super fun addictive hardcore diffaculty ... demons souls is probabaly the only game that i never got mad at dying lol.. maybe cuz i accpected to die so much but either way i only really cursed once during my death (plank maze to flamelurker lol) ..

other then that its more then refreshing to kick some demons asses non stop.. kILLING has never been this much fun.
the hard diffuculty is what makes demons souls so damn fun and addicting ..

DEMONS SOULS 2? one can only pray,wish,imagine and TO DIE FOR!

just like the 2 above me said,this game acualy requires you to use your brain and STATEGIZE even with the strategy guid ... Anti noobfriendly game= EPIC FVCKING WIN FOR ME!

[Ryo-Hazuki]

I find Demon's Souls to be not hard at all. You just have to take you're time and understand the game. I really like how From Software made the game where you have to figure it out by yourself. Wish more games would follow in DS's footsteps. I think the last game I didnt feel like I was being pampered was Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne....man that game is a classic rpg imo

[ryhanon]

I've quit playing a number of games over the years because of the many frustrating or "cheap" deaths I would face time and time again. When a game doesn't give you sufficient warning or hints or time to react to something that would kill you, that's bad.

Demon's Souls is not that kind of game. Is it hard? Yeah, probably more so than most games these days. Is it unreasonably hard? I don't think so. This is a game that rewards patience and exploration. If you approach it as if you're playing a hack and slash game like God of War, you will die, a lot.

The author specifically mentions a particular NPC that kills other important NPCs and says he became frustrated because the game never warned him this would happen so there was no way he could prevent it. That is completely untrue. Had he taken a moment to explore the Nexus at any point earlier in the game he would have seen the countless warning messages left by other players indicating that a "bad guy" would appear later. Even if he hadn't seen these messages, he should have noticed the two random dead bodies that appear in the Nexus immediately after this new character shows up and prior to any important NPCs being killed. It's a subtle warning, but it is there. Twice even. Once you see those bodies, if you choose to not look around for the cause, that's your own fault.

This is a game that is not for everyone. This is a game about patience and subtlety. This is a game that's not going to spell everything out for you. This is a game that believes you're smart enough to figure things out on your own and mature enough to live with the consequences when you don't.

This is a game that I'm damn proud to own.

[spunnups]

It's a game that rewards patience and punishes anyone unwilling to observe your next step before taking it. Excellent post BTW

[4pocalyps3]

i think games are a bit too easy nowadays. i like older games that pissed you off so much at one point that you wanted to throw the controller. such as that battletoads level. or the mario hack which kaizo has done. nowadays its more like: "oh i died...no worries ther was a checkpoint just 2 seconds ago"

[A Cupcake for Gabe]

I think Arkham Asylum's Normal Mode was a nice challenge. Most games are a bit easy, but that's because people don't really like dying over and over. Doing the same thing 20x to complete something can be frustrating. And devs make games to flow more dynamically with less repetition. So when a game like Demon's Souls comes along, it takes a little more. Borderlands is another good game where you have to suck it up and get to the flow along before you won't die every 5 secs. Demon's Souls has no "easy" mode, where as Uncharted 2 easy is nothing like crushing mode. But devs are looking at new ways to keep dynamic flow in gaming without repetition: Heavy Rain for ex. But until then, if you want the Platinum bad enough, you'll let the game consume you.

[spunnups]

Games these days have become far too easy. They tend to hold your hand every step of the way making the experience almost mindless and boring.

Demon's Souls gives you that experience we used to have years ago. It keeps you on your toes and makes you think before each battle. One of the best gaming experience i've had in years.

[cyberwaffles]

yeah, i'm in the boletarian palace and i died like 4 times already, but it didn't feel like i was up against an overwhelmingly high level of difficulty. i got crushed by a boulder, stabbed from behind a few times, and fell off a ledge and somehow it didn't piss me off.

i don't see why people think it's a hard game, just read the blood spots and the messages on the ground. i love counter attacking since it makes you feel so bad ass. my only problem is how do i finish a world? do i just return to the nexus whenever i feel like it?

[ryhanon]

Once you kill a demon it leaves behind an archstone that you can return to later, bypassing the earlier parts of the level. Each world has 3 or so of these and when a demon is dead, it stays dead.

There are also certain special events that will remain static even if you return to the Nexus (through your death or by choice). For instance, in Boletarian Palace, if you open any of the gates, they will remain open forever, even if you die. This is nice because it means you don't necessarily have to replay an entire level if you die near the end of it.

[cyberwaffles]

where can i find these demons? is the huge dragon a demon? should i fight him? my soul level is 4.

[ryhanon]

Both dragons (red and blue) are demons, but they're optional encounters. You can choose to avoid/ignore them if you like. Once you defeat them, they stay dead just like any other demon, however they do *not* drop an archstone. There is definitely something to be said for defeating them though, as it opens access to items you might not otherwise be able to acquire. Not to mention they're worth lots of souls.

You could, theoretically, defeat the red dragon at just about any soul level. I wouldn't recommend trying though until you've had more time with the game. You should focus on defeating the first demon, Phalanx. It's a big blob type monster behind the massive gate at the very start of Boletarian Palace. You'll get your first arch stone, first demon's soul, and open access to the level-up functions of the Maiden in Black (after speaking to the little guardian dude, his name escapes me at the moment) and subsequently be able to access all of the other worlds.

[cyberwaffles]

hey thanks a lot man, i appreciate the help. i was about to fight the dragon until it started breathing fire and took out half of my life so i just skipped it. i finally figured out that you're suppose to run across the bridge of enemies before the dragon breathes fire over it and i guess i'm coming up to this Phalanx guy you speak of since i just opened up a gate. well, best of luck!

[Blow Out Your Brains]

Demon's Souls is for generally older gamers that have patience. Younger gamers can't handle it. The answer to this question is both.

[kneon]

Which is fine for easy mode but I expect the hardest level to be something that not everyone can accomplish without actually getting better at the game.

For example in Uncharted 2 the puzzles and platforming are fine for the easy level but it would have been much better if on the harder levels there were different and more difficult puzzles. They could also have blocked the easy path in the platforming sections forcing you to take a different and more difficult route. The combat sections were sufficiently difficult at harder levels, at least for me :)

MW2 was much too easy even on veteran mode. Their attempt at making it difficult was extremely cheap. It only got hard at times after you had died because it would have you respawn exactly where you had died, even though there may have been a dozen enemies surrounding you at the time. There were a few places where I would spawn and die before I could even move, and this would happen as many as 10-15 times before I could manage to run away enough to put up a fight. It was only hard for that tiny portion of the level but in a very stupid way.

[mandf]

crispygamer is the lamest video game website out there. This whole article is a stealth bash on UC2. Go look at the website. It's geared at bashing anything PS3. Yes I know, there are 360 bashing sites, but this guy has written so much crap. I guess N4G caters to amateur at best websites. Crispygamer you take worst website of 09.

[MiloGarret]

I think you may be insane. He mentions a (good) example from UC2 to illustrate how devs these days basically hold your hand through the experience.

I can think of many reasons why he chose UC2 as an example, but two stand out as obvious.

1. UC2 is a recently released popular title which has acquired critical and commercial success.

2. More blatanly than many other games, UC2 assumes that the player is retarded.

It's a good example. I can only assume you're a UC2 fanboy, in which case you should be happy that it's being used as an example because it means that it has reached a level of success which makes knowledge about it relevant for all gamers.

Unlike most flamebait-crap which gets approved on this site, this is actually an entertaining read.

Again, you might be insane, I'm not kidding, don't fûck with paranoia.

[plumber15]

i totally agree with #1 i played DS but i amon the fence about buying it cause i dont know if i will finish it cause i get bored in games very easy

[Z501]

compared to Vagrant Story with NO internet or strat guide.

Ashley Riot FTW!

[djfullshred]

I think a lot of games these days have really perfected the balance between challenging and just plain frustrating. Some give it up too easy, but I can understand why. Just like the gaming industry, I have also grown older...and I have to admit, if I get hung up repeating something too many times, or am stuck too long trying to figure something out, I am either going to go online to find the answer, or just pop in a different game. I don't think game makers investing millions on AAA games want us to get cheesed off, and start playing a different game because of frustrating level design.

[robotnik]

Demon's Souls is unique, it feels like Monster Hunter but with a much better gameplay. Only problem might be that it's hard, but who cares, I like hard games, if you don't like hard games go play your beloved Flople 2 or Gaylo 2.5.