Danny:
Jes:
| Gameplay 4/19/2006 |
Yeah, I went there, cuz I'm a rebel like that. I rebel against the fringe.
See, I'm just not impressed when someone makes a hard level or boss. An over-the-top stupid hard, I mean. It just doesn't take much creative power to make something really difficult. Higher numbers aren't impressive, and really fast movement isn't tough on a computer. Quad-nine isn't a real world cap; I'm not stoked that Sephiroth can combo me to death; and I'm not trying a fan-made level a two dozen times. Floors made of spikes that shoot fire that shoot spikes only take five minutes to make. That's not the same as real effort.
As much as I might love Disgaea, when someone praises it for having a greater than quad-9 cap, they deserve a kick to the face.
A kick to the face, in the soul.
I'm a fan of challenging gameplay. Gradius V is astounding.
I just can't take a game that relies on outright luck or penalizes you for having a human attention span. Which isn't to say that I didn't beat Sephiroth or the Paradox Cup. If I didn't, I'd be a wuss. And I, too, live on the interwebnet.
The gameplay just isn't that fun.
Gameplay design is about fun.
You know, why you play games.
You're always going to find some obsessive douche bag who lives on the internet. He beat FF6 in a low-level game, and he beat Metroid without ball mode. Prolly using save states.
It just isn't fun, though. It's obsessive and it's boring, and it's frustrating, and it's boring. And it's boring.
Again.
Now, I have no right to bitch about the fact that a game has an extra difficulty level. I don't have to play it, and some people enjoy it. I just have a problem with the level of praise that simple difficulty gets. Mostly by the gaming press, and on message boards. It takes no creative muscle just to make something move fast. Or rare. Or a Pink Puff tail. It isn't bragging rights.
Give me a complex pattern, or an interesting control mechanism, or a unique set of physics. Give me something really skill based. Something my boyfriend can't beat.
Don't give me an endurance challenge. If I learn the pattern, reward me with a win. Don't make me repeat it a thousand times. That isn't inventive gameplay.
Build a Mega Man level, spawning on one block. Start as Cut Man and try to shoot a ball that's out of scissor reach. No one will beat it. But don't be surprised when it's not reviewed.
That doesn't make you better than the players.
It makes you a waste of server space.
I'm sorry to knock Disgaea. In fact, I didn't. I think it's amazing. And the systems aren't superfluous. They're extended play, and totally optional. It's a good example of open-ended systems.
GameFAQs Mega Man levels can eat the dicks.
I give my friend the boring, memorization levels.
By Danny
| Comments (3) | ||
Hells yeah! Or whatever the kids are saying nowadays. Anyway, I really loved this article, and it's about time someone took a stand to say that not every gamer, or even hardcore gamer, has to obsessively relish insane difficulty.
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Yeah, it's like every trained cashier at EB is trained to recite the same mantra. "Don't you miss when games were hard? Yay for the new Gradius."
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Quite frankly there's enough in life that raises my blood pressure. I actually play games to have FUN! Remember fun? It's why we used to play games, before egos got in the way? Nowadays, you either conform to their insane and utterly useless sense of pseudo-morality (omg U can't use codes cos that's cheating and ruins the game!), or you're just not a "real" gamer.
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