fodase

@zircon: Levelling/gearing up in order to beat monsters is silly. I want to see a game make monsters level up as you do, or better yet, not even bother with levelling up and have everything scaled. Actually, I suppose Guild Wars does a great job in this regard, not so much that monsters level up, but more that in every campaign, you'll hit level 20 long before the end, and winning harder missions, especially if you're trying to complete the bonus objectives, generally involves making sure that you and your teammates not only understand your roles and skillsets well but that you're strategic as a group with selecting your builds. For anyone who doesn't know, Guild Wars characters have a ton of skills they can set and can change how they spend their stat points for free as often as they like while in town, but out of town, you're stuck with what you have, and you can only take 8 skills with you, so choosing how to build your character for a particular task is very strategic.

Most of the people that enjoy hard games started playing before the PS come out. In the old nes/snes era almost every game was pretty hard by today standards and when they did have a easy setting, it usually didn't have the last stages nor ending. At that time gaming was a hardcore affair and they were made with the "hardcore" group in mind. Most of the gamers that grew up playing ninja gaiden and battletoads see gaming basicaly as a challenge. Games were not about eyecandy or complex storylines. It was all about gameplay and challenge. Some people might say that gameplay has nothing to do with challenge, but only when the game is challenging it forces you to learn all the intricacies of the gameplay. No matter how complex the gameplay is, if all the enemies fall down easily it will become just routine. During the PS era the gameplay took a backseat while the worlds become more immersible. It was not about challenge, it became an experience. Either we like it or not, this new focus in game design did attract a lot of new gamers and the industry grew bigger. This new breed of gamers is not used to see the game over screen often and all they want is new experiences: get over that boring level so they can see the next CG, level up so they can use that new spell and kill the enemies even more easily, kill the boss so they can get a new piece of the story. They don't like brick walls. Nothing can frustate him more than a brick wall. So, basically it all comes down to what people seek in gamming. While some people fell rewarded after killing the boss after 20 tries, others feel bored after the 3rd death and just give up. Myself, I like hard games. I don't care if I have to hit the enemy 10 times to kill him while he will kill me with 1. I actually like it. A game that lacks challenge gets boring quite fast for me. I died several times in the jet sky sequence in Battletoads and I loved it. All the deaths made my triumph over that stage very rewarding and I could even brag about it for all the other kids in the neighbourhood. I like playing against the AI with ridiculous bonuses in impossible Moo2 (Klackon with +2 prod anyone?). I like when that superhuman sectoid throws a sonic pulse in the middle of my squad and kill half of my guys during my first mission in xcom2. I like when the enemy gets a first strike and kills 3 of my guys in hard smt3. I like ducking out against three black elites at the same time in legendary Halo1. For those that like hard games, it's all about the suspense and thrill we get when playing against the odds. There simply isn't thrill when we don't have to fear death. The moment I notice that I can get away with pretty much anything without getting killed in a game I put the controller down. When I want a good story I read a novel or watch a movie. Gaming for me is all about the challenge.