Internet ruined gaming?

Remember way back when, if you were stuck on a game, you had only so many options. You either 1:Had a friend who had played the game, and could tell you what to do. 2:Bought a magazine, and went from there. 3:Hunkered down and got past it. It seemed like back in the day(me so old) it took alot longer to beat a game. I mean now, all you have to do is go on a forum and there you go. I have mixed feelings about what time was better for videogames. Now, of course, the games are bigger and prettier to look at, but the challange isnt there as much.

I know EXACTLY what you mean and I feel that way too. I kind of miss those days where people really tried to get past it. Now it's just gamefaqs and w/e else people use. And I used to always buy those gamepro mags hoping they would have those two pages with tips on how to beat the chapter in a certain game. Just like when I got Persona 2 and I found a Brandygame mag about it, I was so happy :D

But yeah, I really miss those days. Now thinking about it gives me this nostalgic feeling

I agree and disagree at the same time: back in the '90s I was a sucker for point and click adventures and when I would get stuck while playing one (pretty often) the only option was to keep trying forever or call a buddy who had the game or a magazine. It was frustrating but also challenging (it took me four years to beat Monkey Island... lol). On the other hand I'm glad I can rely on internet walkthroughs today, being my gaming time reduced and my patience shorter, which means I can no longer afford to get stuck on a puzzle for too long.

By the way, I love nostalgia threads :)

Yes and no.

The internet may have made it easier to find walkthroughs and cheats but it's also brought gamers closer than ever before.

Yes and no.

The internet may have made it easier to find walkthroughs and cheats but it's also brought gamers closer than ever before.

zeus_gb

Yeah. It wasn't fun in the day when you wanted to play two player and no one was available to play with you.. Online gaming is fantastic. As for what he's specifically talking about in his post then I know what he means, but some games like Dino Crisis 1 had some hard keycode words you had to figure out and who knows back in the day if your friend would even know the code. Thank god I had the internet to get the code immediately after trying to figure it out with getting absolutely nowhere. It enabled me to get past that bit and enjoy the rest of the game, even if part of the fun would've been to figure out the code myself no matter how hard (Silent Hill 1 is like that too).

I really don't think games are any easier now than they were 10 to 20 years ago. I just think many older games were poorly designed.

Think about it; what happened when you died fighting that boss at the end of level 4? You started the whole damn level over (if you were lucky). Or maybe you were completely out of lives so you had to start the WHOLE GAME OVER just to get back to that damn boss at level 4. Or let's say you somehow miraculously made it all the way to the final boss, but you've got one live left and you're outta luck. Sorry, start back from the beginning of the game and try again.

That's isn't challenge, that's just poor game design. Games now have done away with lives for the most part, when you die all you have to do is continue from your last save point. And really difficult parts like boss fights typically have a save point right before them. So now the challenge is in overtaking each obstacle in a game one at a time, not walking on eggshells and hoping you don't run out of lives before the end of the game.

I really don't think games are any easier now than they were 10 to 20 years ago. I just think many older games were poorly designed.

Think about it; what happened when you died fighting that boss at the end of level 4? You started the whole damn level over (if you were lucky). Or maybe you were completely out of lives so you had to start the WHOLE GAME OVER just to get back to that damn boss at level 4. Or let's say you somehow miraculously made it all the way to the final boss, but you've got one live left and you're outta luck. Sorry, start back from the beginning of the game and try again.

That's isn't challenge, that's just poor game design. Games now have done away with lives for the most part, when you die all you have to do is continue from your last save point. And really difficult parts like boss fights typically have a save point right before them. So now the challenge is in overtaking each obstacle in a game one at a time, not walking on eggshells and hoping you don't run out of lives before the end of the game.

UT_Wrestler

I agree, lives systems were a pain, it's a limitation designed specifically to add lastability to a game, but just made it frustrating to finish it. That's why games like Out of this World, Flashback and prince of Persia were so good, because they had unlimited lives.

The only thing that ruined gaming is the lack of people who want to make games for the sake of making them. not for money. thats how it used to be. but sometimes it still is with certain games.