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Uneducated Opinion

When I think of difficult games, my mind goes to hellish classics such as any Contra, Bart vs. The Space Mutants, or trying to fit Kevin Smith through a doorway without using power tools. Over the last few days I’ve found myself recollecting games of the past that would be considered ‘hard’ by the same people who villainized Demon’s Souls for its apparent Rubik’s Cube like difficulty.

Alan wrote an article a while back titled “What happened to hard mode?” and I can’t help but think he was right on the money. What has become of the once proud gaming community that now whimpers like a fat chick on a diet at the mere mention of a challenge?

Demon’s Souls was built on the same formula thousands of games from the past have used. Play a level. If you die, try again. Is the auto targeting system, unlimited continues and abundant health replenishing grass hindering your ability to be successful? Have The Alien Wars fallen that far from memory that we’ve become comfortably lethargic with our gaming? For shame.

For those who don’t know, a death in Demon’s souls resulted in nothing more than a loss in progress of the current level you’re in, which is generally 10 minutes, give or take. There are also a series of shortcuts which can be activated in most levels to minimize the amount of time you spend retracing your steps.

More importantly, your unspent souls will also be lost but it should be noted that the game gives you a second chance to reclaim them, only if you can reach the blood stain you left where you died. This is successfully achieved usually 90% of the time, unless you are one of many slow-learners from North Dakota who make the same mistakes repeatedly like getting your sister pregnant over and over no matter how many times pa beats you out in the barn.

If you die during the process of reclaiming your souls, then they will be lost forever. Sounds harsh but it’s not exactly the end of the world. The fact that you are given this chance is a luxury. Imagine how grateful your neighborhood hobo would be if every time he got hit by a car, he was resurrected and given an opportunity to reclaim his lost bottles if he could only reach the brains and Hep-C splatter he left on my windshield.

There was another dungeon crawler that came out a while ago that had its own flavor of punishment which you might remember. It’s called Diablo, ever heard of it? I will speak of the multiplayer campaign on battle.net, because who actually played single player? What made it challenging was that now and again you would find yourself way over your head, cornered in a dungeon getting absolutely Rodney King’ed by a dozen monsters.

When you died, you would be resurrected in town wearing nothing but your under garments. Your inventory was untouched but all your gold pieces and treasured items that you’ve spent way too many lonely hours collecting were now scattered on the ground back in hell with the same dozen monsters hovering over your battered corpse.

So now the challenge is scurrying back down into the mouth of the monster, equipped with about as much protection as your dad used the unfortunate night you were conceived. If you were lucky enough to have been playing with your friends who don’t hate you more than words can describe, then hopefully they were competent enough to defend your gear until you made your way back down.

Now if you were playing with a group of strangers and were foolish enough to think that your brief adventure together was enough bonding for you to trust them with your most valued possessions… you were sadly mistaken. “Say, has anyone seen my Obsidian Ring of The Zodiac..? Darkman_81 are you still here buddy?”. This was promptly followed by everyone mysteriously logging off and leaving you alone with thoughts of suicide and public massacre.

I don’t remember anyone complaining about Diablo back then, but if it was released today would it was stir up the same bitch storm in the community? Would it be put in the same category as Demon’s Souls, reserved for only the most ‘hardcore’, dedicated gamers? Please. Demon’s Souls is not hard, it’s just not as easy as the spoon fed dribble you’ve become accustomed to in this flacid era of gaming.

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Ignorant Geek Wisdom

• What has become of the once proud gaming community that now whimpers like a fat chick on a diet at the mere mention of a challenge?

  -Mike

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