So, after finding out how much fun Call of Duty is, I decided it'd be the first game that I would aim to get every trophy for. Naturally, there's a trophy for every level beaten on Veteran difficulty, and a trophy for beating the veteran campaign. After getting stuck on a furiously hard level, I felt compelled to make this thread.
Do you enjoy being challenged in your games? Are you the kind of masochistic gamer that sits through a hellish process of trial and error over and over just to beat something on a harder difficulty? I used to be intimidated by higher difficulties, but in an age where (in my opinion) most games are simply too easy, I found myself longing for the challenge I used to frequently get from playing video games. To me, it's just so much more immensely rewarding playing through a very hard game. Not only do I get the ultimate feeling of satisfaction and pride for being able to do so, but I also end up indirectly learning everything about every level or challenge I'm facing. Doing the same challenge on an easier difficulty later ends up being laughably easy.
So, what do you guys think? I wish every game would have a harder difficulty, after being immensely disappointed by the difficulty of games such as Twilight Princess. So, would you rather tear your hair out and feel great afterwards, or cruise through an easier game just to enjoy the ride?
Oh, and maybe it'd also to be fun to post some notable difficult achievements that you've earned. Some of mine, I'll probably think of some more later:
-Beat MGS1 and MGS3 on European Extreme difficulty
-Got Big Boss rank in MGS4 (No alerts, no kills, no deaths, no recovery items, and hardest difficulty, beaten in under five hours)
-Beat every cup on Master difficulty in F-Zero GX (Including AX cup), and got every character's "Master" video
-Beat F-Zero GX's story mode on Very Hard
Eh, it depends really. I enjoy a medium level of difficulty, but then again what's hard to me may be a breeze for most of you guys, I dunno. I am definitely not one of the "masochistic gamers" as there is a point with a lot of games where I will say enough is enough and move on to something else if I'm frustrated at a harder difficulty. I typically like to cruise through a new game on easy or normal, then if I really enjoyed the game and find myself with time on my hands (or no money to buy a new game) I'll bump up the difficulty. I don't really play to "achieve" things... In the end, I play for fun.
I will agree with you there, I'll never play through a new game on a hard difficulty, but not an easy on either. I'll always go with normal, or medium, or whatever the game decides to call it, and then go for a harder playthrough after that, as I am with Call of Duty.
The only games I've played on hard right out of the box are the latest Guitar Hero games. Haha!
Call of Duty: WaW is way too difficult on veteran.
IT FEELS GOOD, MAN
Actually, I've never played another CoD game before, and I've heard they're vastly easier than WaW, which will just make me feel even MORE AWESOME
I have so little time these days, I usually just play through Normal or Hard difficulties on games and leave it at that. Once my loan's paid off and I can hire a couple more people at the store, I'll be able to dedicate more time to making those little veins pop out on my forehead like Soul Calibur IV's Tower of Lost Souls did, most recently. Good times.
I enjoy the Gun and Action challenges for WaW more then anything. Actually getting "What the...?" made me feel complete.
Beating CoD2 on veteran felt great. Couldn't do it on 3 and on WaW. 4 didn't seem to difficult except for Mile High.
Generally, I play through games on Normal first. That way I know I won't get overly frustrated and leave the game for ages. But I need to really enjoy a game to bother playing through it on a harder difficulty.
Beating World at War wouldn't be a 'challenge' by conventional gaming definition. The AI is a poorly-warped version of COD4's, and presents challenges you can't anticipate. You're losing for no real reason. Get Modern Warfare and try beating that on Veteran. Still hard as nails, but a lot more fair.
Personally, my tolerance threshold for a challenging game is a lot lower than it was when I was a kid. I beat games like Mega Man 2 and The Lost Levels in my childhood because I was only getting one game every couple of months and had all the time in the world to master them. Now that I can buy a new game any time I want, a game that presents too much difficulty for me just gets shelved, although certain games keep me coming back because they're so fun to play - Ninja Gaiden 2, COD4 on Veteran, and Guitar Hero/Rock Band are all games that really test your limit of skill but you still have fun playing them.
Ninja Gaiden 1/2 is actually the perfect example of a game that nails challenging. Playing through the game feels like a constant fight for survival and a test of your limits. Then you go back to the first level after beating the entire thing, and find the enemies and setpieces that once made you sweat blood are now a total breeze. Perfect difficulty design.
I don't see enjoying a challenge as masochistic. For most games if there's no challenge you're essentially hitting buttons and seeing "you win!!!!" pop up, what's the point in that? I don't overcome challenges through trial and error, though, I just think about the game a lot and come up with new ways to approach a situation. My favourite parts of games are always about halfway through where I'm just about getting the hang of it and my skills start to develop much faster.
Sure, I like a challenge. I usually start off on the hardest difficulty for most games. If it's stupidly hard, then maybe I'll switch to an easier difficulty. I don't have time for games like I used to.
I never play games higher than medium, if I do, I know I'll head on over to gamefaqs and find a walkthrough, or something.
I started CoD: WaW on veteran and got stuck. Then, after not having the zombie mode for so long, I decided to change it to easy and I got through the game in a matter of an hour. I basically ran through it all and didn't find myself getting into it.
If a game is too easy, it makes it less interesting, thus boredom is born.
That's what you get for playing it on Easy. :cool:
Anyway, I'm stuck on the level "Burn 'Em Out". It's a toughie, and apparently one of the hardest ones, period. I'm about 85% of the way through, though. It'll feel great finally finishing it. It's taken me hours to beat.
That's exactly where I got stuck. I got to the final area. I could never tell if the guys were infinite there or not. They just wouldn't end so I would always try to rush to a point where they'd stop spawning. :(
I like hard videogames if the challenges are overcome by an improvement on the Player's skill. The game's mechanics need to be polished to support the Player's improved reactions and strategic play styles, which should be separate from the Player Character's (PC) own improvements, such as an increased health bar, increased strength and speed, etc. This is not to say all games need to be hard in this way (Western CRPGs, JRPGs), but the ones that offer the (polished) option can offer a unique form of entertainment that is more characteristic of videogames.
One of my favorite videogames, as a result of doing the above so well, is the first Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox. The X summed it up quite well. The game is extremely difficult in the beginning, but by the time you've beaten it and play it a second time with the PC's base skills and stats, the difference is so great it's immediately apparent that the Player himself has become greatly skilled.
The same can be said of good fighting videogames, and it's one of the reasons I like Street Fighter II so much. Only by playing for years and facing against similarly dedicated players can one truly appreciate the depth and complexity of the game mechanics, and the skill required to truly master these. A new Player won't be able to beat an experienced one that's playing seriously, period. The new Player must get good at the game by playing a lot and paying attention, thus making the game less hard for himself.
However, unless I'm about to play Ninja Gaiden 2 for the first time, where my main reason for playing is for the difficulty of its combat system, I play most videogames on the Normal setting the first time.
As a Player, there's a risk that a developer didn't have enough time to test out the harder difficulty settings, thus leaving challenges that are too difficulty for even the most skillful human Player to overcome. As a result, I don't want my first experience with a game to be ruined by unbalanced difficulty parameters. On the other hand, developer oversight isn't the only issue. The hard difficulty settings are normally tweaked with the assumption that the Player has already beaten the game in the previous setting, so they provide a tough challenge for experienced players of the game, and a nearly insurmountable wall for first-time players. While there are games that are actually "normal" to play in harder difficulty settings and too easy in normal settings, I tend to stick to this rule when playing a new game, even if it's a sequel to a game I've already played.
Of course, there are times when I wonder if I'm missing a unique experience by playing and overcoming a game on a hard difficulty setting in my first try. Maybe the feeling of accomplishment of beating a game for the first time on a harder difficulty setting could be infinitely more rewarding than both beating the game in a normal setting on my first try, and beating the game in a harder difficulty only on subsequent playthroughs. After playing BioShock, I wondered if I should have played in Hard More the first time. Sadly, this can't be tested for obvious reasons.
I really only have halo and I beat it on heroic solo. That was fun but at the same time I noticed I went through a lot of the levels going around a ***** way that wasnt the most fun. For some reason I still enjoyed it and there were still enough parts where I got to go into real time combat and junk. I suppose its just all relative to how good you are, but I still like to make it easier with co-op.
In my experience, playing on co-op usually makes it harder, while at the same time easier. With a second player, enemies more often gain an increase in health and/or damage, but at the same time, if there are two of you shooting at the same guy, it won't matter.
Challenges in games are great. They make good games better sometimes.
Can't really rack my brain right now for challenging moments in games, but one will always stand out.
The Omega Weapon from FFVIII with an active ATB (turned-based is for pussies) was some of the hardest **** I ever dealt with. It had the one-hit kills that could destroy important party members. It had a millionbillion hit points. Standard attacks alone were nearly lethal. It leveled up with you. If Squall died you were ****ed. ETC.
ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH
Some games are difficult for no reason and have little to do with challenge, just making you frustrated. See: Silent Hill 5.
Right well i defenitaly think games in general nowa days are too easy, i miss the challenge. Like most of you have mentioned cod 4 on veteran and ninja gaiden are excellent examples of challenging games that are fun on tough difficulties but its important to keep the game fair at the same time. guitar hero on expert is another one, fun and tough. Ill play and play and play until i beat a game if its fair because the sense of accomplishment after beating it is awesum, but often times in games things like bad camera angles and slightly unresponsive controls can be what really beats you and my patience for that runs thin fast. Make it tough but make it fair.
My biggest achievements that I still hold on a pedestal to this day would have to be:
* beating omega weapon in final fantasy 8 without that **** hero drink. I dependid on aura and squalls lionheart limit break. that dude just took 4ever!!!
*Devil may cry on dante must die difficulty, mundus was a *****!
*Ninja gaiden on hardest difficulty, (camera tried my patience few times i must say)
*Finishing Alundra on d ps1, (was nly about 11 at the time so was really challengin 4 me lol)