He should of put a painting of rags in the backround.

I think the dumbing down of games has gone hand in hand with the rise of multiplayer. Developers are not even trying with A.I in FPS's and are relying on multiplayer for any form of challenge.

In 10 years: Me: "So you also like videogames? What is your childhood game? Mine is Ty the Tasmanian Tiger" Guy 7 years younger: " Call of duty black ops 3" Me in a deep voice: "You fooled me"

I mean difficulty in past games was indeed great but most of it stems from developers back then not knowing what the fuck they were doing. AVGN videos are a great reminder of that.

I think your complaint boils down to the fact that we lack variety in gaming now. To many games are shovel ware and too many target the same audience. Indie games tend to be developed based on "what do I enjoy doing" which leads them to be more personal, and thus they naturally have more variety.

In western AAA - yes. In indie games and some japanese AAA are still great. I would say some indie games is quite amazing in taking old concepts and making it better in every way. I think Grimmrock 2 is miles better then any old dungeon-crawler it was inspired by, i thing Bosses in Rabi-Ribi are better then Castelvania and Bullethell games it was inspired by. So while i agree that i don't remember when last time i played western AAA - i still have huge backlog of great games then i have time to play, so it's not really a problem for me.

*Now that's a supply drop*

Couldn't agree more. The very reason I enjoy old games nowadays more than the new ones.

Such a beautiful outro. Song of the year.

I love CD Projekt Red, they gave a consistent game challenge while building a better title each time for their franchise.

Fringy really liking this new series so far, keep it going man

Aussie Master Race

Wow, KZfaq notified me on time.

One line I usually hate hearing is when the dev says they've tailored the game to suit the player's play style. If you look back at so many older games they used to force gamers to live up to the game's standards, which made them skilled. Like I just recently played and finished 7th Dragon III Code: VFD and that game made me feel like I beat it on it's terms.

I used to work for Dynamix back in the early 90's. They were one of the first 3D game companies. Red Baron, Betrayal at Krondor.

Uh oh, my Fringy Dingy

Highly agreeing with this Fringy. Games need to be harder. A lot of games are really easy to get through. Also you are so right about cod. I remember back in modern warfare 1, the game had substance and fun. MW2, while quite unbalanced also had a good amount of substance. Nowadays, cod has been dialled down for the casual market.

Punishment for dying. has darksouls 2 flash back

I know this video isn't exactly new, but I think a prime example of a video game improving in every aspect would be Final Fantasy. (From one to ten) After playing through them in order, the additions and improvements fucking blew my mind. I never thought that I would get an erection because of the ability to stack items.

The GameCube was and probably always will be my favorite gaming console because the first and third party exclusives were of the upmost quality. Not only that, most were very challenging. My favorite childhood game, Star Wars Rouge Squadron 2: Rouge Leader, is NOT an easy game, it’s very hard. But it’s not unfair; the game gives you the tools necessary to succeed, it’s how you use the tools that determines victory or failure.

As THaC always says in his videos addressing this and he's right to quote this phrase "Press A for awesome"

Fringy you are a very smart broccoli thank u for making this

a very challenging but fair game I'd recommend everyone check out monster hunter

a window above a fireplace?! magic

I myself also hate when people pick Difficulty over substance, looking at you Ds3. They make the game hard for the sake of it being hard instead of, making a system in the game that's happens to be hard.

Listening to this, I can't help think about Star Citizen. They are making this to suit as many people as possible, but in the right way. I love it.

That's why Iove PC when I want a challenge I fire up a game when I want to dick around fire up one of my cheathappens trainers first.

Drink every time he says "um!"

"whispers" lil bits

One game I think has a good amount of difficulty in particular the secret bosses are the kingdom hearts games. Yes they have disney characters but god damn can it be hard sometimes in particular kh2 and birth by sleep the secret bosses in those games made me literally rage quit all the time. And even then the campaigns can be a challenge too ok nothing on the level of dark souls but it certainly isn't the type of game to constantly hold your hand or have completely obvious weak points or something like that.

Pretty good discussion. I think it's one worth having too. I typically don't like to see things dumbed down. For instance World of Warcraft (and Diablo 3) did away with talent points because Blizzard didn't want people to have cookie cutter builds. However there will always be people that have cookie cutter builds because inevitably people will distill which abilities give you more DPS, healing, etc. Or they will just go to Icy veins and look up the best optimum build and best in slots for their given class. However, I do think accessibility can be an important factor in the survival or viability of certain franchises. I think a good example is that of Fire Emblem. Nintendo was considering shelving Fire Emblem if Awakening didn't sell 1 million copies. The changes they made to Awakening to make it more accessible pulled in new players and now Fire Emblem has gained a pretty healthy following. I love Fire Emblem's classic difficulty and things like permadeath. Considering myself a core fan I can recognize that those aspects of the series probably turned off people. If a company wants to make a game accessible I feel that it should be done in a way so as not to alienate the existing fan base. Fire Emblem offers options for new players and vets alike. I can play on classic difficulty while someone else can play on casual or phoenix mode. Their choice doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game. I don't like when said accessibility is forced on you as a player though.

There's no feeling like clearing certain levels (Earthworm Jim) after having your ass whopped for hours and a hundred tries. Some games had shit mechanics but a challenge is a challenge. Do I love only punishing games? No. Do I get more invested when failure means something? Yep. Well said Fringy.

rome 2 is the physical representation of what you are talking about. so accurate

THIS is why I'm so looking forward to Star Citizen. Finally a big budget game that is tailored to what players will enjoy, not just what will cater to the larger demographic. Oh did I mention that occupations will be in-depth and fully fleshed out, none of that "click and hold to mine ore" bull..

I find that I'm always drawn to challenging games. Some of the games I've played/finished recently were Rayman Origins, Witcher 1 and 2, and Metroid: Zero Mission. I agree with everything you said in the video. A game is just not fun if it doesn't have meat on its bones.

I am loving PUBG due to the challenge it gives

when it comes to difficulty resident evil 4 is probably the only game that did adjusting difficulty well. it actually did it so well that nobody ever really noticed it while playing. it did this by making sure you do die but not so much to the point where its frustrating. it also helped that they made it a secret. every other game i hated the difficulty setup.

I agree with you 100% andyour videos are always spot on

I've probably died in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R Series more than any game of the games that have come out recently, I mean it really does need to be more challenging.

The worst part of the current gaming scene is that streamlining doesn't HAVE to be a bad thing. Skyrim is probably one of the best examples of this. Bethesda cut out quite a few skills from it's previous titles and in the end it sold like hotcakes and even to this day the game holds up. Problems only come into play when games are streamlined to the point where players begin to lose agency. I have always felt that a few meaningful options in a video game would be fart greater than thousands of options that all do pretty much the same thing and if streamlining is used properly to accomplish this it could easily appeal both to more hardcore and casual gamers.

I find a game I love like Gears of War I play it the first time on easy so I get the story, then I will play it on hard where every shot counts. Like the “Razor hail” level. Where you have to worry about staying in cover under shelter and then only progressing forward after you have killed enough of a wave of enemies to run to the next shelter while not getting shot and not staying out in the hail for too long. On easy, you could roll through it but on hard you HAD to RUN! Or the new XCOM games. I played on easy for the story, 2nd time through I played on ultra hard with iron man mode on, with a perma-death system losing one soldier I spent a long time customizing and wrote their back story, was difficult to stomach and also not to loose someone like that again. I am not a souls player, but I am a contra player.

you deserve more subs m8.

Yeah, I can relate to all of that. But that's why I like difficulty settings in games, for example Witcher 3. I played on the highest difficulty and didn't have many problems, even if I had I could just level a bit and come back. People who aren't good can just lower the difficulty and still play the game and enjoy it. That's the way developers should do that to make it accessible. Dark Souls works similarly it terms of leveling but is generally harder for most people. I like that and I think it is not too hard ( I play Souls games since I was 10 ), but it is not for everyone and that is okay. So developers could just do more with more complex difficulty settings so the player can tailor the experience. Example: Skyrim The lowest difficulty was a joke. Enemies didn't do any damage, everything died instantly The highest difficulty was shit aswell. Enemies kill you with one Arrow, it takes 5 minutes to kill 1 skeleton If I could have adjusted my damage, the enemies damage and theit health the game would have been much better. I like games where you can die if you fuck up, but the enemy should do aswell. P.S: I like this series :D

Well, this might explain why I keep playing Dark Souls, because it's a challenge and I love to overcome challenges with skill.

Hotline Miami is fun. Isn't horribly easy either. Love it.

Wow for once I catch a Fringy video instead of a Fringy Stream.

this is why from software is one of the best developer's. because they want to challenge you.

It's not that I don't like Bunny Slippers, but I just don't see what's new about it. It's basically just more relaxed Game Rants + smooth jazz; just a outlet to revive Game Rants.

Ecks dee

Hey! Super Mario World. Hahaha! Jeez! I have not played that game since 1996!

PS2 was the shit the PS2 was my first console hitman blood money,Simpson hit and run, Simpsons crap version of a taxi game the good old days of gaming.

Wubalubadubdub fringy rick!!!!

you should look at the game enter the gungeon, it is a dungeon crawler comprised of gun puns, and it is very fun especially at its 15 USD price

YEEEEEEEEEESS!!!

Gotta know: What are you drinking in the new background?

As someone who has played every Souls game, but not beat a single one, please do not nerf these games. I could never appreciate the Souls games like I do.

I like challenges and all and I don't mind playing a super hard game, but I disagree with the checkpoint thing I hate doing things all the way over it gets repetitive.

What do you think about the current Bethesda RPGs?

It seems like I have to always mod a game to be difficult and that usually feels artificial

Most of the best games are those that have wildly different user reviews. You either love it or hate it.

The only modern hard games to my knowledge. Especially 1.

dark souls is pretty much just rolling on the floor and getting 1 hit in, then rolling again. Besides that great vid

I just started Borderlands 2 on UVHM, it sucks... I've died at least 150 times by the time I saved Roland from W4R-D3N.

Wubalubadubdub!

I hate how they streamlined ratchet & clank with the movie game thingy and made it stupidly easy even in hard mode and they called that game a remake but it isn't

You want a grueling game experience? Play Darkest Dungeon. My god the eye gouging fury.

Are you telling me Minecraft didn't redefine a new and entire genre of gaming?... _My thoughts_: Extra Credits touches on this topic thoroughly in their episode *depth vs complexity*, look it up to get a basic understanding of this topic. In my eyes the crux of the issue is lackluster tutorials. Any game can be challenging/difficult/complex as long as the tutorial is utilized correctly. Tutorials are technically the cheaper and better alternative yet DEVs go through unnecessary lengths to make games more approachable, complex mechanics should be introduced through gametime experience rather than an overload at the front. At the same time, DEVs shouldn't make games with more fat rather than focusing on building up the meat. Fat is delicious but the meat is the thing we come back to, core mechanics are important and extra things can be used if you have the spare budget. To be the most efficient with your budget sometimes simpler is better, Minecraft did that and look at what it has done. Simple isn't bad, in fact, the main thing here is simplicity and depth intertwining together to make a good game (while also being efficient with the time and budget). DEVs should utilize their tutorials, that's the first step to making a good game accessible for newcomers. Depth is important, so is simplicity, but the main folly is tutorials because those are the most important tool to have accessibility.

#RipBattlefield

console only developers with their interactive movies are what killing complexity in gaming further more their attention to casual gamers and their shitty taste is ruining gaming in general

But the problem with the dumbing down is they loose the hardcore who buy games. I know that I have pretty much stopped purchasing games. I used to buy just about all games cause they seemed cool. Now I rarely find a game that I want. I never pre-order or even buy DLC. If the industry died right now I dont think I would even care, they screwed it up.

I hope every AAA game gets the punishment the same way that COD infinite warfare did, or more

Really that ending again fringy really?

right on the money, I have been playing games for 30 years and I have been going back to old-school games and indie titles more than anything. Triple A games are just fucking shit anymore, very sad to see. If gaming isn't a novelty then maybe they should make games that aren't a fucking novelty.

i believe that games can be accessable for everyone through diffaculty levels the point of a game is to be engaging for whoever picks it up they want more people to play to make more money obv with that in mind not everyone is of equal skill so why should someone be excluded from a game just becouse the game is too hard for them i personaly like the world that dark souls has but the game is way beyond me as it is what is so wrong about wanting to play at a lower diffaculty lvl exclusion is crap no matter how you exclude people now streamlining as it is used today urgh i hate that for me streamlining should mean taking a clunky mechanic and making it far better to use anyways this was a kool vid

Have you never played with cheat codes in a GTA game?

***8,30*** lol lol lol

these days I find myself ding on purpose just to see if there is a fail state with some games. take the telltale games for example, i will try and die which does happen but its too few and far between.

i get what you are saying... games arent difficult and stuff and its what bores you. devs should have scaling difficulty for most games because not everyone likes to have their hand held. but not everyone plays games for the challenge or have the time to tackle challenges. from my experience not all games that are difficult is good if its based on clunky mechanics. and i think the innovation in games isnt going to be necessarily technical but i think the maturity of the story telling and similar aspects. thats just my opinion

Can't we have difficulty settings? You didn't discuss that option. I mean, your argument holds for pvp games, but in singleplayer or coop PvE games the team can agree on some difficulty tier. This does not influence design complexity and bragging rights are still equally relevant.

I was a loyal and huge Halo fan. I bought the orginal xbox only to play Halo CE and Halo 2. Then I bought the 360 so I will be able to play Halo 3, but after Reach, Microsoft doesn't have enough money to pay me to play Halo 4+ or to buy a Xbox one. Halo reach+ IS NOT HALO.

how old

My favorite shooter got dumbed down for console players. The game would be better off put down than continue the shameful existence it's become. If only Blacklight Retribution could rest in peace.

That's the problem they're trying to cater to everyone and not every game is for everyone witcher 3 horizon zero dawn and dark souls sure as hell aren't for everyone Hellblade and cyberpunk 2077 sure as hell won't be for everyone it's just the way it is so game publishers should stop trying to cater to everyone

Git guud doesnt work for me. Im not that bound to anyone game that ill put a stupid amount of effort into. I just wanna kill and steal, cant do it irl, consequences.

Do you use Linux Fringy? Is that what the penguin is referencing?

i could of made this video in around 3 seconds by just saying...modern games suck balls....loads of good points tho bruv :-)

I think also the problem is that there's barely a middle market anymore, sadly and the amount of money being used. Indie games are usually amateurish and is usually made with a shoe string budget and can take risks because they're not throwing tons of money at it and can afford to market it as a niche game. AAA games on the opposite side I think have too many people working on them and the suits like EA or Ubisoft think that throwing more money into the project will make the game excellent and don't want to take risks and because of that try to market to a wider audience. Middle market games don't usually have tons of money and they have usually have like a lowish number of staff working on it and they're usually experienced and been with that company for years they can afford to take risks and aim at a niche audience. I think there were developer complaints with Skyrim; that there were too many people working on the game and they had to make compromises. Which is the reason that it seems that each new Elder Scrolls game has less features. I played a bit of Daggerfall and that game is fucking colossal in size and the roleplaying is excellent and it was made by like 10 people or something like that; that's amazing to me. If I was Bethesda I would split that team in half and have one team make Fallout and the other make Elder Scrolls; mind you I think the team would still be too big if I split it in half.

This just as CoD: WW2 was announced, and it doesn't look promising ^^

Rick is it you?

like resident evil 1 and resident evil 5. RE1 was dog shit hard. RE5 was a hell of a lot easier. RE5 is better looking and lots of cool options. but its water downed a lot

I would have to respectfully disagree with you. I think the majority of people do not want or need to be challenged by video games. We are challenged at school, at work, in traffic, challenged by our girlfriends, kids etc...those people do not want to go home, only to be further frustrated by video games. Video games are supposed to be FUN not hard. Now if difficult is fun for you, then that is understandable, but for the most part, I personally just want a fun enjoyable game. Devs should cater to the market that suit their goals, not just make games hard to appease the core user (that is why there are difficulty levels) accessibility is the key to success in this business.

Agreement Fringy that's why I can't stand difficulty settings one-size-fits-all I think it's the best difficulty setting

While the new Zelda game BotW has plenty of flaws, I enjoy that a AAA developer is willing to make a game that doesn't cater entirely the casuals. The game doesn't hold your hand at all, and even stuff like the minimap isn't needed at all (the game is well designed enough to not need it) The game isn't too challenging, but the exploration compared to other open world games is so much better because it doesn't hold your hand

I have done some math & for every 1.5k deaths I have in csgo I have 1 in CoD...

Oh my god write a script. 14 minutes to say and expound on something that should take 2 - 3 minutes.

Its why I am getting bored with gaming. No challenge anymore. Here kids we are going to nerf skill because fuck it, we want you casuals to do great. Oh welcome to battlefield 1 where you just watched a round take a 90 degree turn out of the Modragon because it would be unfair to land 3 quick hits to down a guy.

online ruined games.

I love the vids, but that annoying ass noise at the end of the video dead ass made me unsubscribe instantly.