Games too easy!!!

[Lowkei]

Is it just me or are games getting to way to easy now adays. I mean im not bragging or anything, but I do consider my self a good gamer, but games are gettin stupid now. I just bought "Project Snowblind" on Monday an have now completed it.....TWO DAYS!!! I can't remember the last time I bought a game that i didn't complete in less then a week, this doesn't include RPG's by the way because they are meant to be long an challenging (though fable I completed in a week). Im gettin very frustrated though, when i go out a buy a game I expect it to keep me goin at least a month. I want to start seeing some better AI and More difficulty levels in games. Any way i could moan about this for ages, but to get to the point, can someone recomend some games that are long or challenging (they have to be good games obviously, i don't want to be bord lol). Remember though im not counting RPG's so please don't recomend any, Im talkin about 1st person shooters, or adventre games, or games with good storylines. Thanks guys!

P.S. Not sure if I should have put this in the Non RPG disscusion, so feel free to move it if need be!

[ch85us2001]

Uh yeah. I beat fable in a solid 8 hour 21 minute block once

[Dottie]

I think the best way to get a challange from games are playing against other people, Regardless of genre.

[Xandax]

[QUOTE=Lowkei]Is it just me or are games getting to way to easy now adays. I mean im not bragging or anything, but I do consider my self a good gamer, but games are gettin stupid now. I just bought "Project Snowblind" on Monday an have now completed it.....TWO DAYS!!! I can't remember the last time I bought a game that i didn't complete in less then a week, this doesn't include RPG's by the way because they are meant to be long an challenging (though fable I completed in a week).<snip>[/QUOTE]

If you do a search of GameBanshee, you'll find numerous rants from me which pretty much agree with what you say. Oh, and do a search for post by fable, and you'll find his rants along side mine about the same. We are the two grumpy old men sitting on the blancony of the Muppet Show, when it comes to the topic of dwindeling quality and challenge in computergames I think.

And these rants cover both (mainly I'd say) RPGs and other games.
But it is clear that most mainstream gamedevelopers are affraid of challengeing the players with puzzels and quests where you actually expect the player to think.

But as for recommending some FPS or adventuregames which you could try, that I can't do because I rarely play FPS and it is a very long time ago I found a decent adventuregame which "got me" - the last FPS I played was FarCry (goes to show how little I play FPS) which was pretty decent. Although the AI was not terrible intelligent and it suffered from major issues such as the x-ray vision (*sigh*) of the AI.
The last great FPSish game I recall playing was actually Deus Ex, unfortunally - it now suffers from its age.

Oh - as for location, then I'm allowing this topic to stay here, because you are not only asking for gamesuggestions but touching the lousy quality of games as well.

[Locke Da'averan]

well since you're obiviously an xboxer, final fantasy X is off limits eh? that game is long and if you do everything you'll be spending ALOT of time doing it.. it takes quite awhile to complete and it's not easy until you get the hang of it and begin to overpower enemies but that happens in every game..

it would help if you'd list atleast a bit of the game's you've completed(the challenging one's for example)

far cry(PC/XBOX)
Final Fantasy X(PS2)
Metal Gear Solid2-3(PS2)

well generally cranking up the difficulty makes you spend alot more time on games.. halo2 on heroic took a whole hell of a lot more time than on normal.. as i'm sure you know this..

[Fiberfar]

[QUOTE=Locke Da'averan]well since you're obiviously an xboxer, final fantasy X is off limits eh? that game is long and if you do everything you'll be spending ALOT of time doing it.. it takes quite awhile to complete and it's not easy until you get the hang of it and begin to overpower enemies but that happens in every game..
[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.. Final Fantasy X-2 isn't that easy either....I'm 50 hours into the game and have completed 60%

[Luis Antonio]

I've played quake III in 6 hours. Completed it. Of course, it is supposed to have a lame AI, but it was on hard. Baldur's Gate is cool, hard to master, but when you master you can just infinitely loop the cheeses and blast anyone too fast - I've beat the game in 3 days, playing for 4 hours a day. But then I had a cheesy army on my back, and it was before tactics.

Indeed, I'd rather be more challenged, not by pure muscle strenght as in doom 3 (wich in nightmare level is just unfair) but in a classy way. Subtle methods to lose, to be slain, no more jump'n jump levels (the most annoying thing about HL2 was the fact that the combats aint that hard and that most of the game was a find your way through the jump maze thing. (I admit that killing that nasty insect queen was cool, and that the town haunted by headcrabbed people were very good things indeed, specially when you need to master your grav-gun proficiency, or when you gotta kill that three legged monster with a chaingun on his nose).

I'm currently trying to master morrowind but to make the game interesting I've crippled my character at the beggining. The only problem is, after a few levels even with him being a crippled and using no armor, he's succeeding. Oh good days of Fallout, where a crippled character would have HARD time to succeed...

[Faust]

Final Fantasy X is pretty easy, actually. It's just long. I'm not sure long equates to challenging. There's virtually no need to seriously strategize in any recent Final Fantasy title (possibly excepting Tactics, which has a few difficult encounters).

However, with that said, certain RPGs are becoming more and more easy in recent days. I can't really speak for other genres of games. However, in wake of the success of the KoTOR and Final Fantasy, the principle of dumbing the games down for the lowest common denominator is en vogue. So, we'll often have games with good stories, but painfully easy game play. Likewise, we've seen this principle applied even further in recent RPGs to where the games are significantly shorter because they don't want to turn off people who don't like long engrossing plots. It's quite frustrating and unfortunate.

[Bloodstalker]

God of War was an excellent game I thought. It's not overly long, but it has a good blend of action and puzzle solving, although due to time constraints the end of the game is a little overly heavey on the puzzle end since they didn't have time to put in some of the cation sequences they wanted to.

The Metal gear series has already been mentioned, but it's a very good series and the outrageously long(to the point of tedium IMO) guarranttee hours of watching your game even not even counting actually playing it. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, I simply hate long drawn out cut scenes in games.

probably the single game that I've spent the most time playing in the past couple years(and by that I mean months of gaming) has been Medieval: Total War. I played it for a long time until I got bored with it, then discovered a couple mods that let me play it again with a fresh sense of challenge. It has tremendous replay value due to the variety of factions you can play as, as well as the options to beat the game through total conquest mode or glorious achievements. Rome Total War I just got, and it looks to be much the same, only a bit deeper on the diplomatic side of things.

Can't help with shooters. For the most part, I hate them, although I am currently playing Darkwatch and enjoying it. It's shaping up to be a short game though from the looks of it.

[dragon wench]

@Luis,
have you tried Bloodmoon yet? Now, that is actually quite challenging with the difficulty set at 100... This is partially why I prefer it over the original game. (Thank God for mods...)

On topic,
I tend to agree. It seems almost impossible to find games these days (RPGs anyway) that have good stories and/or present significant challenges. Nowhere have I seen anything that rivals the engrossing complexity of Planescape Torment, or even Baldur's Gate Two. Equally, I have not seen any RPGs that even come close to the tactical challenges offered by Icewind Dale Two.

*sighs*

[Luis Antonio]

I have been there with my last character (a really strong nord) but I've decided to restart the game, once I thought my character could beat everyone. So, i'll do that with my "kensai" mage, to see what happens.

[Lestat]

Well from what I gather Lowkei seems to be more into the action type of games, which I'm not really into. But games that have kept me whiling away many an hour:
Adventure type games:
- the Myst series (certainly no reduction in gaming time or dumbing down over the development of the series)
- Syberia (I & II)
Alas these have less replay value (because of the puzzle elements).
Strategy games:
- Ghost Master: fun to play and because of the high scare system and the many possibilities of varying your ghost team quite a bit of replay value. Whacky take on traditional horror.
- Europa Universalis II: I've played the 4 century scenario with 3 different realms = weeks of gameplay. Actual historical events play a role in how the game evolves and can force your hand (I cursed quite a bit when I played Timurid/Mughal Empire, twice my empire was on the brink of total disintegration because historical events). Though it is centered on Europe you can play any realm (China, Inca, Mamluks, Mali,...).
- Republic: the Revolution. To put it briefly: not for those who have a social life. And very interesting story elements.

[ik911]

[QUOTE=Lestat]
- Europa Universalis II: I've played the 4 century scenario with 3 different realms = weeks of gameplay. Actual historical events play a role in how the game evolves and can force your hand (I cursed quite a bit when I played Timurid/Mughal Empire, twice my empire was on the brink of total disintegration because historical events). Though it is centered on Europe you can play any realm (China, Inca, Mamluks, Mali,...).
[/QUOTE]
Ah, I bought that a long time ago; thought it looked intelectual and challenging and well thought-out. So I installed it. I noticed the manual was very fat, so I decided to read through that a bit, but it was too much so I quickly gave up. I gave the game one try and found it way too hard with too many things you should pay attention to. So after about 15 minutes, I decided to quit and try again later. After over three months or something, I decided that there was no 'later' in it for me and this game and uninstalled it. More 'accesible' games were played in the possible 'later'-moments.

And that's the story, boys and girls. And because I'm not the only one like that, games are easier.

[Locke Da'averan]

[QUOTE=Faust]Final Fantasy X is pretty easy, actually. It's just long. I'm not sure long equates to challenging.
[/QUOTE]

well of course it's easy once you've mastered the game i mean what game isn't. and from a beginners view the game will be hard, well maybe not if you only follow the mainplot, but there's so much extra with goodie goodie stuff, that exploring makes it worthwile..

FFX in itself isn't overlong, but if you do everything, you have weeks to play.

yes it's easy if you know about the exp cheese, know how to beat the dark(insert proper name here)one's that are replica's of your own...

it will kick you down when you see an enemy do 99999damage on your team member(max hitpoints is 9999)and even with the eq to erase the hp limit you still die in one hit.. and those guys usually attack twice before you even get to hit once, if not three times wiping your party away without you even getting a turn.. that's where the challenge is if you don't know what you're doing

[Chimaera182]

I'm too lazy to read all the posts that precede me, and I'm on dial-up, and I'm doing Spanish work online. So if I repeat stuff other people say, just assume I'm agreeing with you.

I think one of the reasons games have become easier is because they're being geared towards younger audiences. This way, younger people will get games and won't be frustrated by them. Also, a lot of games are also destined for American homes, and in all honesty, Americans tend to be "slow." Our public school system is actually dumbed down to accomdate the "slow" learners, and so are our newspapers and other media sources; I recall hearing that the New York Times was probably our "best" paper, but it didn't compare to papers in the UK. As such, games are also "dumbed down" to accomodate American slowness. So that means games are made easier, with easy puzzles, and games wind up being finished quickly by some gamers (including some Americans; I'm not saying all us Americans are slow). Also, I think some people just don't want to think in a game; games are entertainment, after all, and sometimes when someone wants to unwind, they don't want to think but rather relax.

There was a discussion on Knights of the Old Republic III where someone wanted more demanding puzzles (in KotOR I, the puzzles were relatively easy, but they were certainly tougher than in KotOR II). Some people said they didn't want harder puzzles but actually easier ones.

[Obsidian]

Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube has had my attention for quite a while now. Though I'm far from an avid gamer, World of Warcraft was near addicting, though mostly for the social content.


I stand by BG2 being one of the finest RPG's ever.

[Kalashnikova]

Want A more Difficult game?

After mastering every Half-life game (as well as thier related MODs) since the release of the original; I was well prepared for HL2. The time elapsed after completing the game was probably less than 9 hours. However, the Ability to download new Multi-player MODs is what kept me feeling for more action! (and that irresistable, and haunting "We Dont Go To Ravenholm" mission)

As previously stated; if you need something challenging, play against solitary human players, or on a team. Steam provides many games in which you may be inclined to test your skill. Im a serious HL veteran, and I even found myself at the wrong end of the MP7, AK, RPG, etc. more often than naught!

Or, perhaps you should try the THIEF series by EIDOS


*dont laugh at me, I am such a HL freak! I have HL posters, drawings, and even a tatoo of the lamda symbol, some of my fondest christmas time memories growing up, was finding a Multitude fo HL games under the tree! Haven't the foggiest clue why I am telling you this. perhaps to find someone else as devoted to my Beloved Half-Life! Mental security purposes, people

[ik911]

[QUOTE=Kalashnikova]Or, perhaps you should try the THIEF series by EIDOS [/QUOTE]NO! The last thief (Thief 3) was really, really, really crappy! Clubbing everyone down in the whole level was by far the easiest way of completing the very linear storyline and the maps were absolutely useless.

[Kalashnikova]

Perhaps, maybe gaming isnt for you.

you should try something more challenging, like smithing, or fletching.

I know this sounds odd, but once you get to the point where you have outgrown games, its time to find a new hobby. The games are getting easier because you are becoming more and more prepared for the next one with each game you master.
You will find that, earlier in life games were much more challenging. sounds odd, but this seems it was the case for me.

Or just wait until they come out with better virtual reality games !