The Omnivangelist

camisuke 18 July 2008 essays/articles, videogames 6 Comments

Have you noticed the diminished level of difficulty in today’s video games?

I’ve learned that people like to do things they are good at. If you suck at something, that activity is no fun unless you have some sense that you will get better at it, or unless you enjoy frustration.

This notion holds in the video game world. People like games they are good at, and tend to dislike games they are not good at. If a game is disliked, that doesn’t help it sell. It used to be that gamer’s liked games which demanded skill and dedication. Achieving skill in a game awarded a sense of power and prestige because it wasn’t easily had.

Almost every video game you buy these days is easily completed, and if you are not skilled enough to pass it, then there are cheat codes so that you can. You can get unlimited 1-ups or life cells, invincibility, or you can get all the weapons at your disposal. Whatever it is for that specific game there is usually an escape for the unskilled gamer. Sure it helps gamers get more out of potential games purchases, but are games really supposed to be like fast food, eaten and digested by the masses in short order? At what point did we become such sissies?

Answer: It started with the Game Genie for the NES.

Do you see the package photo? The Game Genie package says, “Video Game Enhancer”… but is it? After the Game Genie gamers knew they had a code to cheat at any game so they easily gave up on beating that difficult level (like Shredder’s Terror dome in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) or beating that tough boss like Guardia de Mieux in Ninja Gaiden). Before these cheat devices, you had NO back up but your wits and commitment.

Even after the Game Genie’s days we have FAQs and Youtube videos. Have you ever noticed when playing a role-playing game today that you have an urge to simple go to www.gamefaqs.com to simply read the walkthrough? It’s frightening to me when I get that urge.

I like to remember the video games from the 80’s and early 90’s. They weren’t made to be beaten by everyone. The creators were not apologetic to the unskilled gamer. They didn’t worry about little Johnny having self esteem issues because he couldn’t survive more than 5 seconds in Yar’s Revenge or Asteroids. Atari had the empathy of a chainsaw and I believe their original logo reflected this.

Atari games like Pitfall2 and Dragonfire were very difficult for my age group and led to fits of rage, destruction, and thrown controllers - which is why those joysticks were built tough - before one would beat the game. The game “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for Atari 2600 I never beat as a child even after playing it for years. I didn’t beat that game until I was 24. Isn’t there something good to be said for that type of game?

I played Bard’s Tale 2 for the Apple IIc for 15 years before beating it. There was a riddle in the bottom floor of the dungeon in Thessalonica (called a Death Snare) I couldn’t figure out. A magic mouth on a wall unflinchingly asked me, “What is the value of a rote action?” I couldn’t figure it out. I asked my friends and even my HS physics professor - anyone intelligent. That dungeon in Thessalonica and the wrath of that magic mouth’s riddle and my inability to surpass his test I’ll never forget. You were truly screwed in Bard’s Tale if you weren’t a junior cartographer and mapped out each level of the dungeon as you explored.

I later randomly found a FAQ on the internet 15 years later while with the answer to that riddle. I went back home and borrowed my friends old Apple IIc and brought hell with me on that damn game. The value of a rote action is ‘eternal’. I’ll never forgot the answer. The final boss, Lagoth Zanta in Bard’s Tale 2 never stood a chance against the 4 level 400 monks I had waiting to creme him by the time I got to him 15 years later. Getting level 400 monks takes awhile by the way. I figure after 15 years, I’d proved that I didn’t give in easily.

Photo: Original Atari Logo, before things got PC.

Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny for the Apple IIc also took approx 15 years. I never knew where to go to get to the final dungeon! You think they told you back then where to go in the game to proceed? Not a chance. Today’s games don’t require any mapping skills. If you don’t have a map on a special ’select’ or ’start’ menu, you most likely have a heads-up display with radar and all sorts of bells and whistles. Utter humiliation and hopelessness used to await those who didn’t learn to map - this hardened many old school gamers. Today, there reigns a sense of entitlement to map information. I remember Might and Magic 2 for the Genesis. I went through this whole game beefing up my characters to where I was basically indestructible. I get to the last boss and I’m cracking my knuckles in anticipation of laying a serious smackdown. To my surprise, the last boss is a computer that asks a very complex riddle which requires information from many different locations (dungeons) throughout the game to be able to solve. I had ignored this part of the game. Doh! I was defeated. This is the kind of smack-down that hardened old school gamers and made them durable and meticulous. Riddles and mapping seem to be lost dinosaurs today. What ever happened to these gems?

And with regards to balancing game difficulty, just saying “Ikari Warriors” among those who’ve played it immediately causes many to recoil like Dracula from a crucifix. This game has to be one of the worst ego-killers of all time. This game takes like 3-5 hours to beat even when cheating with unlimited lives (!) of which you’ll use hundreds by the way, but the game gives you by default a piss-ant 3 lives to beat it with. Your odds of beating this game in three lives are about the same as your real life odds of conquering Afghanistan in a real life solo mission. Games like Ikari Warriors, Revenge of Shinobi, Contra, and Super Contra were made to only be beaten with cheat codes. I don’t know if this was good or bad as it actually encouraged acquiescence toward using cheats, but these games were ego-punishers, surely. Fewer games today give you limited continues - Capcom seems to buck the trend somewhat, but the exceptions are few. Limited continues was great tradition which also seems to have been lost.

You can tell I have a strong sense of pride in completing some of the games I’m referring to and the traditions they upheld - damn right. Pride comes from hard work and having truly earned something. Today, seriously, I look around and see achievements as nothing more than a method to increase gamer-score. Yawn! Boosting and farming are now the mindless tasks which have replaced the teeth gnashing, skill building of yesteryear.

Back in the day, Atari game hi-scores were recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records. But with the wealth of exploits and complexity of today’s games, this is now lost. Of course real competition can be found in multi-player games like FPS and fighters, so thankfully some area of the competitive challenging spirit remains, and is perhaps even enjoying a small renaissance.

As for Ikari Warriors, two decades later, here is someone who is trying such a solo mission, though even he admits he won’t be going for a no-death play-through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFXbmT3jCww

Look at the lifespan of these old school games like Ikari Warriors; they are still played today. Can we say that for many of the bargain bin games now littering Gamestop?

Take Pac-man Arcade. To beat this game in one-life takes about 12 hours (uninterrupted) and only 1 in 10 billion times played does someone do this. It’s only been done once that I’m aware of. Pac-man is nearly impossible to beat on one quarter. It is the ultimate unforgiving game. What’s the lifespan of pac-man with today’s gamers? Likely zero, unless there are achievement points to be had.

Other notable games from the days are:

NES: Ninja Gaiden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Karnov, Blaster Master, Fester’s Quest, Super Contra, Milon’s Secret Castle, Nobunaga’s Ambition.

Genesis: Star Flight. Atari: Adventure, Spider Fighter, Yar’s Revenge, Berzerk!.

Playstation: Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II (were tough if you don’t cheat!).

I dedicate this essay to all the hard core video games that would have today’s children foaming at the mouth in shock and stand testament to the non-sissified generation from the old school 80’s. Let’s remember our heritage and sunder our shackles of sissy-hood.

*This tongue-in-cheek essay was inspired by my buddy Adrienne.