Do you enjoy games that challenge you?

The answer for me is yes. A game that kicks my butt usually motivates me to play it more. I don't like games getting the best of me!! Franchises include XCOM, DarkSouls/Bloodborne, Divinity Original Sin. As long as the game is fair, I'm cool with it. Sure it stresses me out at times, but in the end, there is a satisfaction from finally beating it.

What about you, SW? Do you enjoy games that challenge you?

It obviously depends on the difficulty level and also how the game is designed around it... if I find a game overly difficult, I usually become frustrated and get turned off pretty quick. Especially if the game doesn't respect your time.

So overall, I'm pretty cautious about buying games that are described as being challenging with their difficulty. But then I come across games like Celeste and Katana Zero which are challenging to an extent, but they respect your time and I didn't get frustrated with them because the level design is superb.

Yes Fire Emblem has the most challenge ever.

If your character dies its PERMA DEATH and theres characters you have to recruit by getting close without killing them by mistake

the game is a huge task and just perfect for me

Depends on my mood, depends on the game. Sometimes I enjoy just playing something where I can go on cruise control.

Hard to say but otherwise, I just play the game how it's design but I always play Normal settings and let the game itself present a challenge to me.

I don't like games to difficult, turns me off the game pretty quickly. Multiplayer games like Battlefield V and Halo MCC can at times be challenging with pro like Gamers online . Most of the time I play multiplayer games and over the years slowly turning away from the single player games.

@getyeryayasout: Depends on the FE.

Sure you do, when you shill games like these, hardly games that pose a challenge lol.

I actually tend to get frustrated with games that are too easy tbh. I'm no master gamer but I tend to favor tougher games. I think I'd rather a game be too hard than too easy.

Ofcourse it needs to be a good game first and foremost.

Depends. Recently I did a platinum run for all souls game and finally reached NG+7 in Bloodborne and it was loads of fun especially for BB. Not loving the covenant farms in DS trilogy but its optional.

If the game doesn’t punish you unfairly, or in an unnecessary way, absolutely. I’m always up for a challenge. Even in my early video game playing days, Goldeneye 007, for example. I would die many times in a level. (Would play it on hardest difficulty, I think it was 00 agent). Some were very difficult, but I enjoyed the game so much, it didn’t really matter.

I also like co-op and brain teasing games a lot. Eeeh...too many to list; but I shall come back and list what I think are challenging games.

I have to be in the right mindset. I bought Bloodborne 2 years ago and only started it a few months ago, but became instantly hooked as soon as I played it. Almost done with my second playthrough.

Other times I just wanna chill a little bit more, so a game like Bloodborne would drive me insane.

No yah don’t

The lack of respect you have for people who choose to play on easy is douchey, and being a douche is not applicable as the topic is do YOU like a challenge not your opinion of people who don't.

Difficult games are a massive turn off and developers won’t get my money at all from me if they claim their game is hard or “like dark souls”.

I play games to have fun, relax and mindlessly kill things. I don’t play for stress. I am not a masochist.

Every game should have multiple difficulty options. I always pick the easiest option in games.

its a very fine balancing act for me. too easy and i get bored (though this is game dependent too). too hard and i get frustrated. unfortunately im wired in such a way that i dont get much satisfaction from overcoming a challenge. e.g. if i finally beat a boss after 20attempts i dont feel any sort of reward of accomplishment. i consider it a defeat still.

as mentioned above: it also depends on the type of game im playing. if i am playing something like pillars or skyrim then i'm not really interested in a challenge. i'm more interested in an adventure.

but if im playing something like F1 2017 then i do want a challenge...but i want it pitched at a certain point where, if i play well, i will get a good result. but i will be punished if i make a mistake.

and then you get to the point of what constitutes a mistake in a game, how that mistake is communicated to the player and all that stuff being implemented into the difficulty.

i'm not a competitive person though so winning means little to me. at the end of the day if i'm not having fun then i'm not going to grind a game out.

@sakaixx: Nice. I platinumed dark souls 2 yesterday and it was my last soulsborne platinum. Taking a break before i try sekiro tho.

Yes. Rarely play on less than hard difficulty. Love the Souls series. Sekiro was awesome. Like to 100% things. I get bored when I win easily.

Speaking of Souls, can't wait for Nioh 2 and whatever Elden Ring is! Also DOOM Eternal which I will play on Nightmare.

Challenge is good, as long as it's fair. Take that over a passive-experience.

And suddenly your whole obsession without Sony games is put into perspective.

No need to think, no need to be challenged. How stimulating. "ooo pretty!"

@kali-b1rd:

Cant argue with the market. Games are a casual affair, today, just as much as they are a challenge for some. Its entertainment. If someone wants to pick up a game every weekend, be entertained by it, and then put it on the shelf, you cant argue with that.

Your right, can't argue with preference.

Renders anything he says about other platforms games redundant here though, and fully explains the absolute narrow minded outlook on System Wars.

Yes, that's why I miss the days of when regenerating health didn't exist.

Congrats! For me will be starting Nioh platinum run sometime soon. For now I am enjoying some jrpg to relax.

Hated NG DS2. So many bosses to kill and arent fun to kill. Almost all should never had be given boss health due to how easy to kill them.

Most hard games simply suck at difficulty and I will leave it at that.

It really depends on the punishments and how fair the game is. I'm playing through BOTW on Master Mode with the DLC for the first time and having a blast. Although the Master Sword Trials were kicking my ass and I was getting very frustrated with that. I completed the first two now... using a 30 minute attack boost. I have no idea how I am going to complete the third one.

I'm not really looking forward to having to re-do it 20 times before I figure out a way to get through because you lose a lot of progress.

But aside from that I am loving master mode and how much it's making me use everything I can think of.

Secretly I hope we can unlock a little something in BOTW 2 for playing through BOTW 1 for funsies though I doubt it :P

Back in my teens and 20's, yes, absolutely. Now I like games with a laid back pace and less challenge. I think it's why I spend so much time playing American Truck Sim rather than Dark Souls. I like to relax with games more now than get that adrenaline rush.

@ajstyles: Are you a games journalist by any chance?

Mehh I love a challenge and definitely don’t mind getting my ass handed to me from time to time in games like Xcom, Divinity etc. that being said I don’t really enjoy games that are just difficult for the sake of being difficult... ie games like dark souls.

Strangely I enjoy challenges from the 16 bit era but can't deal with the dark souls of this era. Maybe nostalgia helps.

@djoffer: Darks souls isnt difficult for the sake of being difficult. It's not even that difficult.

Yeah, I enjoy feeling the adrenaline whenever I'm playing a high speed action sequence, or the tension of when trying to meticulously execute a well thought out strategy.

Ghost and Goblins killed really challenging games for me. I like to move on from a scene to see what is next, not to play that same scene over 100x. Challenging sure, down right stress inducing? That is not what games are supposed to be for.

Yeah this first post kind of sums up my thoughts.

Rare is a game where I find the difficulty to be well implemented to the point where it presents me a challenge, but not to the extent that it puts me off playing. Sekiro is a prime example of difficulty done wrong (which its cult members will scream is BS). Grounded difficulty in TLoU is a game that felt hard, but not insurmountable. Hollow Knight's bosses are another example of well designed difficulty. They come off as impossible at first but are very skill contingent.

@getyeryayasout: lmao is that makes what someone legit?

I’ve had crapgamer yell at me on air because I’m so hardcore-uber-gamercore guy

FE is JAPANIMEEEEEEEE GOOOOOOOO

@cainetao11:

Lol yeah ive had the same thing happen on this site. Wont name the poster but the exchange had me roflmfao.

when i first played alien isolation i had to turn it down to very easy - not just easy - to get past a particular bit. i couldn't look myself in the mirror for months afterwards

If it's broken, then no. If the difficulty is well-balanced, then absolutely. In fact, I typically go to harder settings on an initial play-through.

One of my favorite games from last gen was Geometry Wars.

Yeah Geometry Wars was dope. Never tried the sequel but heard it wasn't as good.

@i_p_daily: Good grief i can't stand you . Just created an account to say that. Go play your little racing games.

Peace out. ugg

Yeah I enjoy challenging games, as long as it's not a bunch of unbalanced BS.

Absolutely. Playing Doom on Nightmare is very challenging and in a good way.

Regen health was at peak 10 years ago. now most games are away from them.

I don't mind a challenging game, but there seems to be a fine line between "challenging" and "punishingly difficult" that many developers like to cross.