Seriously though. I know there's a lot of hard core games out there, from your "SoulsBorne" games that are brutal from start to finish (except DS3, but we will touch on that in a second) to heightened difficulty levels (that are just as hard to overcome) in up-and-coming classics like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, video games as a whole just don't feel as hard (or as fun in most cases) as they did when I was growing up. Maybe my tastes have shifted more than I thought they would in my 20s, maybe I just need a break from gaming for a bit.
Who knows? I certainly do not.
Who knows? I certainly do not.
One of my favorite series of all time, the aforementioned "SoulsBorne" series, started not so long ago. Spanning across five total games (2009's Demon's s Souls to 2016's Dark Souls 3) the series came at a time where games were made for everyone and most all seemed far too easy to me. The promise of excruciating difficulty mixed with a dense and puzzling story was more than enough to get me hooked on the games and it was a breath of fresh air for gaming in my eyes. From the beginning, Demon's Souls caught my attention as a rough and tough game that broke me in a way no game had done in probably five years. It was great. Unfortunately, I never beat Demon's Souls, though I would love to go back and conquer that beast someday.
Moving on to 2011's Dark Souls, the game that was responsible for my adjustment into gaming as an adult and the first one of the series I played religiously, everything I loved about Demon's Souls was back and much improved on. From boss battles that were some of the toughest ever (I went through about a year of my life and several cheap XBOX 360 controllers on Ornstein and Smough alone) to a convolutedly well put together story that made no sense until you were deep into the game, developer FromSoftware definitely had a sleeper hit on their hands. Aside from taking me five years to complete (I finally beat it right before DS3 came out this year) this game took over my life faster than GoldenEye or the original Metal Gear Solid did when I was 8 (both of which are pretty much my entire childhood) and sunk its hooks so deep into me I almost gave up on gaming entirely. I was addicted, and in a way, even though I've now beaten this game twice, I still am.
Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne were more of the same FromSoft formula that worked so well with DS1. Shiny, hard, convoluted, dense. Everything about this series seemed to be heading in a direction that would make it one of the heavy hitters of the gaming industry. Unfortunately, though, Dark Souls 3 came out. The game looked and ran great and I really enjoyed my time with it, but something was just off. It seemed like FromSoft saw how popular this series was becoming here in the States and wanted EVERYONE to partake in the fun. The SoulsBorne games have never really been about everyone having fun though, and the fact that FromSoft seemingly turned their back on their die-hard fans and cashed in on "ease of access" for new players definitely upset me, as I'm sure it did with most players who have spent much of their time with these games. If the hardest boss fight in a game in the SoulsBorne series is optional, we may have a problem. I'm not saying the game was total garbage though, like I said I really enjoyed it, but considering I've never beat Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 2 or Bloodborne and I blew through Dark Souls 3 in about two weeks, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that myself (and others, hopefully) feel this way.
That's all just one example of a series that started out for a niche audience and ended up being tailored for everyone. I know there are several more out there, I know there are better examples as well. This is just the one that hit closest to me, though. I'm sure whoever you are reading this has a series so near and dear to your heart you would (or did) hate to see it bastardized for higher sales. How many players that foolishly (not that the stories really line up clearly anyway) started the Dark Souls series with DS3 are going to go back and play the original Dark Souls? My guess is definitely a low number
Maybe I'm blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I shouldn't be voicing my opinion about this at all. Let's put all of this on the back burner though. All the games that come out now aren't "Nintendo hard" and that's really not necessarily a bad thing. On the other side of the coin though, most games that come out now have easy modes for the easy mode. There needs to be a happy medium somewhere. The only question is, where?
Who knows? I certainly do not.
Let us know how you feel about this and if you have a series that fell into this downward spiral that you'd like to discuss. You can reach us at our e-mail: [email protected] or on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all at OldSwordGames. We definitely look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for reading!
-Cody
Moving on to 2011's Dark Souls, the game that was responsible for my adjustment into gaming as an adult and the first one of the series I played religiously, everything I loved about Demon's Souls was back and much improved on. From boss battles that were some of the toughest ever (I went through about a year of my life and several cheap XBOX 360 controllers on Ornstein and Smough alone) to a convolutedly well put together story that made no sense until you were deep into the game, developer FromSoftware definitely had a sleeper hit on their hands. Aside from taking me five years to complete (I finally beat it right before DS3 came out this year) this game took over my life faster than GoldenEye or the original Metal Gear Solid did when I was 8 (both of which are pretty much my entire childhood) and sunk its hooks so deep into me I almost gave up on gaming entirely. I was addicted, and in a way, even though I've now beaten this game twice, I still am.
Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne were more of the same FromSoft formula that worked so well with DS1. Shiny, hard, convoluted, dense. Everything about this series seemed to be heading in a direction that would make it one of the heavy hitters of the gaming industry. Unfortunately, though, Dark Souls 3 came out. The game looked and ran great and I really enjoyed my time with it, but something was just off. It seemed like FromSoft saw how popular this series was becoming here in the States and wanted EVERYONE to partake in the fun. The SoulsBorne games have never really been about everyone having fun though, and the fact that FromSoft seemingly turned their back on their die-hard fans and cashed in on "ease of access" for new players definitely upset me, as I'm sure it did with most players who have spent much of their time with these games. If the hardest boss fight in a game in the SoulsBorne series is optional, we may have a problem. I'm not saying the game was total garbage though, like I said I really enjoyed it, but considering I've never beat Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 2 or Bloodborne and I blew through Dark Souls 3 in about two weeks, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that myself (and others, hopefully) feel this way.
That's all just one example of a series that started out for a niche audience and ended up being tailored for everyone. I know there are several more out there, I know there are better examples as well. This is just the one that hit closest to me, though. I'm sure whoever you are reading this has a series so near and dear to your heart you would (or did) hate to see it bastardized for higher sales. How many players that foolishly (not that the stories really line up clearly anyway) started the Dark Souls series with DS3 are going to go back and play the original Dark Souls? My guess is definitely a low number
Maybe I'm blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I shouldn't be voicing my opinion about this at all. Let's put all of this on the back burner though. All the games that come out now aren't "Nintendo hard" and that's really not necessarily a bad thing. On the other side of the coin though, most games that come out now have easy modes for the easy mode. There needs to be a happy medium somewhere. The only question is, where?
Who knows? I certainly do not.
Let us know how you feel about this and if you have a series that fell into this downward spiral that you'd like to discuss. You can reach us at our e-mail: [email protected] or on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all at OldSwordGames. We definitely look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for reading!
-Cody