also the more likely the fanbase will complain about games journalists and walking simulators like they're trapped in 2012. gamer opinion hot take bottom text
also the more likely the fanbase will complain about games journalists and walking simulators like they're trapped in 2012. gamer opinion hot take bottom text
I think there's a big difference between complex and difficult though. I've always found games that have lots of systems (complex ones) to be fun but I can't stand "hard" games. I get the same thing with working out the mechanics and stuff so I'm kinda curious what the difference, if there is one, between complex and difficult.
I'd describe the difference as something like knowledge vs. execution
Super Meat Boy is very simple, not complex. It's a pretty barebones platformer, it's just a hellishly difficult one. Demands a lot of precise execution and reaction, you know exactly what you're supposed to do, and the challenge is actually doing it.
Something like, idk, Civilization. Complex, but not necessarily difficult. Lots of moving parts and systems to grasp, but it's turn-based, once you know how to read and manipulate things you can break the game wide open pretty leisurely. The challenge is from figuring out what to do rather than actually doing it.
That's pretty much my feeling on it too. I think one thing that really sets apart simple/hard and complex games apart is the ability for simple but hard games to be brute forced. I mean that less in the repeated attempts kind of way, and more in the if you keep doing it your brain is going to get pretty good at it eventually. I guess that might cause a difference in the audience that plays the games.
Yeah they're totally different dimensions and people just like different stuff. I think you hit on what makes difficulty appealing though, as you(r brain) gets good at it and muscle memory sets in, you have to think less and less about it, you get that "flow" state where everything you do Just Fucking Works and it's all flowing or rhythmic. It's almost another kind of puzzle solving, "I figured out what the dev wants me to do here," the execution barrier itself is the learning phase.
Nicely put! I'm going to talk to some rhythm gamers about this, cause I think there's a difference between that mechanical flow and the musical flow of rhythm games