Difficult Games Have Returned! But Why Did People Want Them Gone?

He's gonna get wrecked.

Siliconera recently posted this article asking about why tough games are rising in popularity recently. Samu Wosada, creator of the absolutely excellent 1001 Spikes weighs in on this. The short of it is that he believes that over the last generation of consoles a large number of developers looked to graphics, music and writing as ways to make their game feel like it's truly "the next generation of gaming." Because of this he says a large number of modern games have gameplay elements that make surmounting failure more tedious rather than gratifying. Wosada says that now some devs are focusing on gameplay over story, graphics, music and writing and this has led to games like Dark Souls actually having failure be an element that the game builds itself around. I pretty much agree with Wosada on this. I also believe that overly focusing on graphics, writing, etc. has led to a large number of games that have failure present just for the sake of having it and when the player fails there's really never any weight behind their failure. A good example would be Bioshock, which is a fantastic game, but the presence of the game's Vita Chambers ruins some of it. The game is supposed to be scary and a thrill ride throughout many sections but when you know that if you die you only lose a little bit of progress and the enemies you're fighting will still have all of the damage they incurred fighting you previously it kind of makes all of that tension dissolve.

Here's an image of Wosada's 1001 Spikes. I don't know if there are actually 1001 spikes on screen but man, that's a lot of spikes.

But I'm not really going to talk about the return of these games to the mainstream. I'm wondering what made these games leave the mainstream. Back in the NES and SNES era there were games that were very difficult. This was mainly a carryover from the arcade days. Players died a lot so they would keep pumping in quarters. Consequently, console game design went the same way. Players did die a lot but this ended up adding longevity to the game. And when players did surmount a challenge it seems as though the overall feeling was this overwhelming sense of accomplishment after finally defeating something that took them hours or days. But now if a game has that feature people will tend to scoff at it. What has changed?

Well game design for one.We don't need to extend the time that people spend on games anymore with elements from games like Mega Man X or Castlevania because games these days are longer. They're a lot longer actually. And that's not from difficult content. That's story, music, well designed encounters, side quests, dialogue and a ton of other things that can add to a game's length and make the player feel fulfilled and enjoy themselves. But there's still those instances where a player feels like a challenge is taking too long. There's instances where a player abandons a game because they feel like it's too much work for them to put in. It's weird, considering the fact that if a person had spent money on something to entertain them you would think that they would want to see it through to the end. What's the X Factor that might be contributing to this feeling?

It's not Steam itself. Steam is great!

This is a screenshot of my Steam Library. That number is a little skewed due to the way Steam categorizes things but I have 100 games. That's a lot of games. And looking on Steam I can see that my library is paltry compared to a lot of users out there. The fact of the matter is that there's a lot of games out there. And a lot of gamers have A LOT of games. But most importantly a lot of gamers have a lot of games that are UNPLAYED. I'd like you to take a peek at your Steam, Origin, shelf, etc. How many games do you have unplayed? Now think about this. One of those unplayed games is giving you a lot of trouble. More trouble than you would normally experience in a game. And that's when those words pop up in your mind, or some variation of them.

"Screw this. I'm going to play something else."

Back when I was a kid I had The Lion King for Sega Genesis. This was the only game I had for over a year or so. I always got hopelessly stuck on many sections of the game. Yet I still played this game every day and loved every second of it. I didn't have hundreds of games in my backlog. I just played this and I loved it. And when I finally beat a difficult part I was ecstatic. It always felt good knowing that all of my hard work had paid off. These days it's too easy to give up and just go play something else, especially when your backlog is so huge that you probably will never get through it all. Are you buying a game to play that particular game? Or are you buying it just to give yourself more options? Are you buying it just to pad time until something you REALLY want is released. All I'm asking is this: Next time you don't know what to play, go back to that one game. That game that gave you so much trouble, that game you quit, that game you dropped when another one came out, whatever it is go back to it. Give it another go. Surmount that challenge and don't give in to the temptation of your backlog of unplayed, unopened games. Essentially all I'm asking is finish what you start before moving on to something new.

And remember, not every game has a Vita Chamber.

So what do you guys think? Is the backlog and growing options for games a big reason as to why difficult games fell by the wayside? Or is it something else? What games did you choose to struggle through? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you next week.

Competition is Healthy! Competition is Unhealthy? Well Which is It!?

JUGGERNAUUUUUUUUUUT!

Over the last few weeks I've been playing DOTA 2 and have really enjoyed it. To me it has effectively rid itself of almost all of the issues I've had with League of Legends. I've asked plenty of people to join me (so I can get more multi-kills) but some people haven't been so keen on it. And for some of these people the reason is very clear: They're just not that into player vs. player video games. Something about them just doesn't click. So I thought I'd take today to look at some of the pros and cons of competitive games based on my own personal experiences. I may reaffirm some beliefs or I may change some minds. But let's dive right in.

Pros

Competition Promotes Friendship

"Don't worry man, that scrub won't get away with this."

I know this isn't going to sound right at all after I have spoken of the toxic community of League of Legends but even there I have had friendships foster purely through our mutual desire to defeat our opponents. "Hey man, nice job there." "Don't worry, we'll end that guys kill streak on you." "You guys get out of here. I can afford this death." There have just been so many instances of friends and even strangers on teams banding together to beat the odds in front of them that I can't help but think that this is truly what competition is about. It's about a group of people working together to surmount the odds before them.

Competing Teaches You How to Talk to People

This has almost nothing to do with the obscenities you may scream during a session of Street Fighter.

I'm aware this doesn't seem like the case, especially after all I've said about the toxic community of League of Legends but I'm sure we all actually learned this over the course of the competitive games we've played. Whether or not you choose to or not to practice this with the people you meet online is a different matter entirely. Let's think about it, what option would most likely lead your team to victory?

A) "Wow kid you're so bad. Everyone knows you're supposed to do X with character Y. You should probably quit this game and then stick your head in the oven for an extended period of time."

or

B) "Hey man I see you're not doing so hot. It might help if you do X with character Y. I've seen a lot of people do it and it generally works out in their favor. Give it a shot."

Option B seems pretty nice in comparison right? Now, whether or not that person will listen to you is another matter entirely but it's clear that generally the teams that work well together and win in games don't talk angrily or spout obscenities at each other. The highest success rate comes from being kind and courteous. And this doesn't just apply to cooperative competitive games. Even when it's just use versus one other human being learning how to lose gracefully is a valuable life skill that quite a few people lack. Don't be that guy that rages or gets angry at losing and storm off. Be the man that helps your team. And if you lose be the man that doesn't throw a hissy fit and has their day ruined by it.

Competition Teaches You to Set Goals and Reach Them

If your goal was to master Frank West and you succeeded then my hat is off to you.

We've all been there in at least one game. An object seems insurmountable. A boss can't be beaten. It seems like it's unfair. But with the rise of the online scene in gaming players have been met with a new dilemma. No longer do players sometimes just get trounced by their friends (though that is still a concern.) Sometimes you just keep running into people online and they keep just pushing you down. Some would just quit but for those that choose to continue onward they find they have something to work for. They find they have a goal. Maybe it's researching that perfect item build. Maybe it's finally nailing that combo. Maybe it's finally figuring out what trick your buddy's been using to take you down. But no matter what it is if you've accomplished any of those things then congratulations. You set a goal and you met it. And that's a beautiful thing. There's so many people that would just give up when the going gets tough but competition stirs something in a person. Being able to surmount a computer is cool. But being able to surmount another person is just fulfilling in an entirely different manner. And in setting that goal and achieving it you have learned a valuable life skill. Quitting when the going gets tough is easy. But realizing where you fail, taking steps to correct it AND succeeding at it? That's an awesome thing.

Cons

The Drive to Win Can Bring Out the Worst in People

Goddamn invaders.

Now competition can have those positive effects on people. That is true. but in some individuals it can bring out a darker side. Sometimes the drive to win is so much that this leads to people developing tactics that some would tend to see as....well as unfair. Beating an opponent when on a fairly equal playing field is one thing. But competition in games has brought up some tactics such as spawn camping. Now it's technically not against the rules in any capacity, but to a lot of players, myself included, it can seem a bit underhanded to just lock a player into a situation where they can't do anything and defeating another player just for the satisfaction of it. Sometimes players will needlessly prolong the game just so they can make these other players feel worse. Sometimes players will target the same individual over and over again, hoping to get them as angry as possible. Regardless there is in fact plenty of scenarios where a competitor could be achieving victory not for the satisfaction of victory, but for the satisfaction of making another person feel bad by doing it.

A Focus on Competition Can Lead to Winning Being the Only Satisfaction

"If my KDR goes below 8.0 I'm breaking this disc in half."

Winning is definitely the primary objective when you compete in any capacity. But competition can foster the unhealthy feeling that winning is everything. I've experienced this issue myself in a number of online shooters. I've asked to play with players who will outright refuse to play with me if my Losses outweigh my Wins. There's no guarantee that all of those losses are my fault but those players will not risk another person staining their perfect record. But the thing that got me ruled out of the most games was KDR. KDR stands for Kill-Death Ratio. It determines you average kills versus deaths. If my KDR is 2.0 then that means that I usually average two kills before I die in a game. To some players KDR means everything and this is a problem. This can lead to instances mentioned above where players intentionally target others with a low KDR seeing them as easier targets. But I have also experienced players refusing to party with me because of a low KDR, seeing this as a liability. This even mattered to them in games where the objective was not to get kills but to capture an objective of some sort. In the end KDR was the magic number that determined a person's fate. If you had a low KDR then other players saw that you weren't likely to win and would avoid you, either choosing not to help you or targeting you, reducing this magic number that was supposed to determine your skill level.

Do you fight to win or simply fight to prove you're better?

 If winning is all that matters then how will new players to be expected to learn? If a player can't take another under their wing to teach them the ropes because they're so worried about a potential loss then I have to ask: What's the point of community in these games anyways other than just a group of targets to pick from? If winning is the only satisfaction then regardless of the experience would a person really say they had a good time losing? This is not a healthy mindset, be it in gaming or in the real world. Losing gracefully is important but sometimes competition can just foster the exact opposite.

Well there you have it. I have tried to be as fair as possible and consider many angles but in the end I think competition is a good thing. Being able to have fun with or against your peers when trying to reach a goal is healthy. it's not something a person is going to escape in the real world, whether it be competing with co-workers to give the best presentation, trying to become the employee of the month or just a simple bike race with friends. So why fight it? Embrace the competitive spirit within you in a healthy fashion and I promise you will not disappoint yourself.

WHat do you guys think? is competition good or bad in games? Is there anything I missed? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you all next week.

It Just Needs That Special Something

Sorry about the lack of a post this past week. My computer wasn't working but now it's all fixed and we can get right back into it. But my computer being out of commission wasn't all that bad. It led to me jumping into more console games that I still need to finish, one of those being the absolutely phenomenal Dark Souls II. I've always thought about the core reasons that the series has appealed to me and I feel one of those reasons is that special something: perfect ambience.

I've never been more attached to a "home base" as I have been to Majula.

This is a shot from early in the game. You walk out of the dark and musty cave you started in and face the seaside town of Majula. Up until this point all the game has told you and shown you is that there is no hope for you. You wander through a dark and musty cave, filled with monsters and insane men who wear equipment that looks exactly the same as what you are wearing. It's implied that these men are the same as you, who gave up all hope shortly after their journey began. But as you exit the cave and first gaze upon Majula you are filled with this serenity, this pure feeling of contentedness that you haven't felt at all in the game thus far. And this feeling sticks with you upon each subsequent return to Majula. If it wasn't for this stark contrast between the warm sunlight and colors of Majula to the darkness and mured tones of the previous area, Things Betwixt, it's safe to say that this wouldn't feel like home as much as it does the second you first encounter it and its colorful characters.

But this is the main place we're going to talk about. The corpses burning are actually the least unsettling part!

What prompted me to write this particular article was my experience in an area called Brightstone Cove Tseldora. This is an area that comes along fairly late in the game. But it's been the area that has had the most profound effect on me in the entire series so far. When you arrive in the Cove this is the first thing you see: a deserted camp with broken scaffolding and piles of burning corpses surrounding it. Since you've spent the entirety of your game fighting creatures that seem to be some sort of soldiers in the old king Vendrick's army you pretty much expect something of that nature to come charging you. But as I explored the area around the camp what ambushed me shocked me. A lone man with a pickaxe charged me and tried to strike. I dispatched him without too much trouble but it made me come to a realization. I had not thought that any of the peasants of Drangleic had been affected by the curse of Undeath. So I traveled through the rest of the Cove, slaying the peasants that tried to cram a pickaxe into my skull, but it made me sad as I continued onward. These men had no means to fight against the Dark and it consumed them and drove them mad. Compared to the previous people I fought that actually could fight against the curse somewhat it struck me as a shame that I had to see these men in this state.

Here's the area boss. Isn't he cute?

You continue traveling through the area, eventually getting to the homes of the peasants you fought earlier, now infested with spiders. You pass a clergyman and his congregation on the way there, now undead and insane but still praying for hope. You need to kill them too. Eventually you enter what seems to be the lair of the spiders and you find this thing at the end. This is The Duke's Dear Freja, who at first seems like a hideous monster. But after you vanquish this giant two-headed spider you learn the truth. This is the Duke's pet. It attacks you, defending its lair and you are forced to slay it to progress. It's hard to say who's right in this situation but you slay it, press onward and slay the now-insane Duke because that's what you're supposed to do. The whole area's design, from enemies to building to ambient sounds, just exudes this feeling of hopelessness and compounds regret on you as the player, moreso than any other area of the game.

But why does Dark Souls II and other games evoke these feelings in players whereas others do not. There are plenty of next-gen games out there that look absolutely gorgeous: Call of Duty, Titanfall, Assassin's Creed, the list goes on. Yet when exploring these areas they lacked that special something, something that made me really appreciate that world, that area, the characters residing in it. And it's funny that Dark Souls manages to bring out those feelings considering that most of the characters aren't named and any lore about the area must be discovered through conversations and items. So why does Dark Souls succeed at this where other games with arguably prettier visuals and more named and developed characters fail? Well it's a combination of things to be sure and it's really hard to pin down.

Silent Hill 2 achieves this too. The entire time you're in this world you just feel unsettled.

Gone Home achieves this too, not only do you manage to be unsettled but the layout of the house still makes you eager to explore.

It's not all sad and somber either! Proteus' world in delightful!

So what's leading to these worlds being interesting? What's making them great to explore, terrifying, and absolutely wonderful? It's simple everyone. It's just a case of great level design.

Whenever I speak to a person about great level design they seem to take it as just a mechanical conversation. Enemy placement is well done, puzzles are spaced correctly and are challenging, that platform you need to jump to is perfectly in reach instead of being impossible to get to, etc. But people often forget that these important things are just part of great level design. If you're trying to bring the player to feel a certain emotion whether it's sadness, happiness, a sense of wonder, pure terror or anything in between there are more things than an impassable wall or a puzzle with a time limit that brings that out in the player. Lighting alone can do so many things. Entering a dark hallway after a lighted room in incredibly unsettling, while just the opposite will fill the player with a huge sense of relief. Enemy design is the same thing too. Games like Silent Hill and Fatal Frame keep you horrified when you see the monster because their design is horrifying, whereas enemies in Rayman: Origins are colorful and comical so you simply chuckle when they explode.

This is one of the huge reasons why so many indie titles are able to evoke feeling within the player. Their art, music, lightning and level design are all working in tandem to make the player feel a certain something. Call of Duty or Titanfall may make you feel pretty badass but even though the levels are pretty and the gameplay is frantic I want you to ask yourself something. Is this game really going to stick with you? Are you really going to remember or appreciate this experience? Or will you completely forget it and move on to the next big thing?

So readers let me ask you? What games have you played that had excellent level design? What games have you played that had a world that sucked you in and just refused to let go? What games had areas that really stuck with you and made you think or feel? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you next week.