Should Games Be Made Easier?

It seems the further down the line we get from the golden days of the video game consoles, the more we forget where our roots lie. After the video game crash of ‘83, the entertainment systems were brought to homes across the country with a brand new look and idea of how games should work. The idea was to make the games difficult to cause the player to want to play it more, and thus play it longer by both length and hardship of the game.

This is why the dilemma of games such as Dark Souls, Cuphead and Ninja Gaiden is puzzling. Suddenly it seemed that some players were voicing their opinion that the games are too hard and not open to the vast populace of gamers to play. They say that it should have a version that is easier, so that more people can play it and beat it. 

That sounds well and good, but, where’s the fun in that? Isn’t the point of the game to play it and enjoy the challenge of it? If you were able to binge play it in one sitting, where is the satisfaction? Challenge is a good thing. The point of it is that you get better as you play, and your hand eye coordination improve as you do. Yes, it can get frustrating but that just makes the experience that much more worth it in the end once you actually manage to beat it. It is always important to pace yourself and not get too flustered or cause hypertension, but at the same time, that means you need to take a break.

 

There are so many games that are considered great that are so devilishly hard, they have earned great infamy over the ages. Well, guess what? They are still remembered today as icons of their time. Games like Castlevania, Contra, Ghosts and Goblins are all considered difficult, yet still have a place in the consoles with both classic gamers and new gamers alike. They should not have to compromise their overall level design, game mechanics and core for the sake of covering a bigger demographic. The difficulty of the game is part of its identity and the reason so many people love it.

There is a very old and widely spread quote that hits the nail on the head in this subject: “If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one.” Say the game does set up a “very easy” option. There will be crowds of gamers out there disappointed for the developers selling out. You pleased one crowd of people, but now your demographic are all disheartened, maybe even feeling betrayed. Once you get right down to it, the crowd that you end up pleasing won’t be completely satisfied either. You decreased the hard parts, but it may not have made the game easy enough for them. Instead of slapping the plate off the table and demanding the developers “make it again!” how about we all be thankful that such a game exists in the first place? Seriously, these people have worked so hard to make this game already. The creation of this game was not a cake walk. It already had several delays and frustrations in the production that they almost, irony of ironies, rage quit themselves. People don’t understand the process of making a game is vastly more difficult than they think. A game like Cuphead would need to dig into its very core to reduce the challenge, and would it really be worth it? After all is said and done, no.

That's just one example! Think of trying to do the same thing to something like Dark Souls! That's all full 3D rendered with a vast, spanning world for your character. Something like that would take the duration of a normal game development period! Such a thing would be so taxing and tumultuous, and it would come to nothing, once again.

The solution? Stick to your guns. Cuphead broken the multimillion copies sold in such a short amount of time and Dark Souls set a standard for difficult gameplay and hard fantasy. They did that on their own volition and game mechanics. With its unique art style, fantastic gameplay and control, Cuphead is already a recent classic. Compromising the integrity for something so trivial as a lower difficulty shouldn't even be considered. 

Being someone who has never been "good" at games such as these, even I don't really see why anyone would demand such a thing. I have played Cuphead a few good times and I have gotten past three main badguys before I found my peak. Am I proud of this? Of course not, but I still enjoyed it immensely. I've never even played Dark Souls because there are better alternatives for gamers like me and that should be the first place we turn. Cuphead and Dark Souls are not unique in their game mechanics at all. Maybe if they weren't so popular and trendy... oh sorry, I'm not supposed to make that observation. My mistake! Drink water!