My Crux with Female Link

In the last couple of days there has been a lot of talk about the new Legend of Zelda for Wii-U. After more than a year without any substantial gameplay and information one can hardly blame the fans. So what's the deal?

Emily Rogers, an anonymous source, has released three pieces of information about the upcoming game. This person proved to be a rather trustworthy source in the past, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. 

Firstly she confirmed a double release of the newest Zelda for Wii-U and NX, which is hardly surprising. Next she announced that the new Zelda would offer Voice acting for all characters except Link, which is something the fanbase wished for since Twilight Princess. And lastly she told us that the players will be able to choose the gender of their avatar. And that's where it get's interesting.

Now she didn't specifically call the player Avatar Link, but I think it's safe to assume that this will be the case. And I have to admit, that I'm not the biggest fan of this idea. 

Now before you get your internet pitchforks and send me down misogyny lane please hear me out. 

Rule 63 shouldn't be the solution:

Let me get this out right away. I'm not a huge fan of gender swapping established characters. And by not a huge fan I actually mean that I think it's a cheap cop out. It's all too often done very poorly without thinking about the character, it's history and meaning. Most of the time they just slap some boobs on and call it a day. This, of course, only counts for established characters. I don't have a problem if they add the possibilities for player Avatars to be female, like they did in Pokemon Crystal back in the days. And of course I also don't like when female characters are turned into men. 

But if I don't have problem with choose able genders for your Avatar, like in Skyrim or Xenoblade Chronicles X, why don't I like the idea of a female Link. After all Link is just a link for the player into the game world. 

Yes that is, and has always been, the case, but over the span of 30 Years Link has become more. He is a gaming icon. That separates him from the player Avatar in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Through the sheer load of 30 years of franchise history, Link has become a character, that, to me, is unchangeable. He is a blonde, young man wearing a green tunic.

And while some may argue that this iconic state is exactly the point of turning him into a women, I don't agree with that trail of thought. Not when there are better alternatives. 

Give her the spotlight: 

So that's it? Link should stay a man? Yes, but that doesn't mean that the Legend of Zelda couldn't have a female protagonist, if the developers so desire. Like I said I'm not a fan of turning established characters into the opposite gender for diversitys sake. Not when there are much better alternatives, which won't feel cheap. And to illustrate what I mean by that, I'm going to give you two examples. Both feature a strong, capable female protagonist in the form of Zelda, but with a different approach.

The Legend of Zelda: The Sheikah Chronicles

Picture Source: Hyrule Warriors (Wii-U)

This one is pretty simple. It's a Zelda game that features Sheik as protagonist. To elaborate on this idea further let me use Ocarina of Time as an example. You simply experience the story from Zeldas perspective and it starts after you escaped from Ganondorf. You experience Zeldas Training by Impa outside of Hyrule. You watch the princess grow into a capable Sheikah Warrior. And finally you return to Hyrule.  And here you experience the Story from a new point of view. Zelda realised that Link, after awakening from his seven year banishment, would not be up to the task of stopping Ganon. Not yet. She knew that the Spirit of a Hero dwelled inside him, but it still needed time to grow. The adventure of Zelda would mirror Links. Helping him from the shadows and finally letting herself get captured so that Links Triforce of Courage could fully awaken. 

I think this could provide an interesting point of view, as you won't play the main hero of the story, but the supporting pillar that allowed him to become exactly that. Maybe this idea is more suited for a spinoff, but I think it has a lot of potential.

The Legend of Zelda: Edge of Destiny

Picture Source: Hyrule Warriors (Wii-U)

Once again I'm sorry for the corny title, but bear with me. This idea probably fits better into the idea of an open-world Zelda. 

Here you can choose between Zelda or Link as your playable protagonist. The starting point of the story is that both, Link and Zelda, grow up in the same place. Just like it was handled in Skyward Sword. In the start you could get the chance to play as both. Maybe experience a day in the life of both. You could even go as far as making Link better with the sword and more damage resistant and Zelda quicker and superior with the bow. That way you'd have the choice between the two even affect the gameplay later on. 

The starting point of the Story would then be, that Ganondorf sends one of his henchmen to kidnap the bearer of the Triforce, that lives int that village. It's a cliché opening I know, but it's effective. Now if you did choose Zelda as your character the henchmen would encounter Link, detect the slumbering Triforce inside of him, and then abduct him. If you did choose Link the same happens with Zelda. 

These two scenarios would allow the game to have a female protagonist all the while building on the strong foundation of 30 years of franchise history. You don't have to artificially change things, if you have perfectly fine opportunities directly in front of you. 

Of course I won't boycott the game or something like that, if the rumor of a female Link proves to be true. In the end I won't care and I'll simply play as male, but I will feel sorry for the missed opportunity of giving Zelda the spotlight.

So let me summarize my thoughts on this subject. I don't care if the protagonist of a game is female or male, but I will always prefer an established female character given the spotlight, instead of artificially changing the gender of a male one.

And as always

thanks for reading

Nintendo News: 04.04.2016 - 08.04.2016

Hello and Welcome to Dillians Nintendo News Recap.

Let's not waste any time and directly start with the new game releases of this week.

New Releases:

• Wario Land: The Shake Dimension – Wii Download Version (Wii-U)
• Super Robo Mouse – Wii-U Download-Software
• Lovely Planet – Wii-U Download-Software
• Epic Dumpster Bear – Wii-U Download-Software
• Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus – Wii-U Download-Software
• Asdivine Hearts – Wii-U Download-Software
• Witch&Hero 2 – Nintendo 3DS Download-Software
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – Nintendo 3DS Game Card

With Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games we have at least one physical release this week. I haven't played any of the Mario and Sonic games, but watching the Trailer they seem like nice party games. If Smash. Bros, Mario Kart and Mario Party don't cover your needs, you can take a look. At least when the Wii-U Version releases on the 24^th of June.

Aside from this ''big'' title we have the usual assortment of indie games. Chronicles of Teddy looks like an interesting game, if you like the Pixel artstyle.

Source:http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Recent-Releases/Recent-Releases-753285.html

Nintendo:

It seems that Nintendo is returning to their pre Wii color scheme. Their social media accounts and in-store presence have been changed. While the writing itself remains white, the background has returned to classic red from earlier days.

Source: http://mynintendonews.com/2016/04/04/nintendo-looks-to-be-going-back-to-red-in-its-marketing-and-logo/

Hyrule Warriors Legends:

Nintendo released the full Hyrule Warriors Legends panel from WonderCon. Yosuke Hayashi, Producer, and Hiroya Usuda, Director, answer the questions and show us some interesting insight into the development of Characters, Stages and other things. Here's the full video for you to watch:

Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Vf08ImYJk

Nintendo Online Store:

Nintendo has talked a lot about their plan to expand their intellectual property. One way of doing that is merchandise. This week the Nintendo Online Store launched in Europe and offers you a wide variety of Figures, T-Shirts and other things directly from Nintendo. You can check it out here: https://nos.nintendo-europe.com/landing.html

Pokemon Go:

The Beta for Pokemon Go is already well underway in Japan, but now Niantic plans to extend it to New Zealand and Australia. If you live in one of these two countries you can register yourself for a spot in the Beta here: http://pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/

Good Luck.

Source:http://www.nianticlabs.com/blog/pokemon-fieldtest-au-nz/

Splatoon:

On the twelfth of April you have a reason to fire up your Wii-U once again, because a new updade for Splatoon launches that day. It will include some stage adjustments and new weapons. It seems like the content stream for Splatoon is far from drying up.

Also it has been announced that a second squid sisters concert will happen on the 29^th of April at the NicoNico Chokaigi in Japan. If you haven't seen the first concert, here it is:

Source: http://splatoonus.tumblr.com/

Star Fox Zero:

GameXplain had the chance to extensively play the game and has release a bunch of videos on their channel. You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/GameXplain?nohtml5=False

I'm really looking forward to this game and you can expect a review as soon as I get my hands on it on April 22^nd.

There wasn't all too much this week, but I definitely recommend you to check out the Hyrule Warriors Video and the videos from GameXplain.

And as always

thanks for reading

The Thing about Difficulty: The Easy Way Out

Picture Source: Dark Souls

Every player will inevitable talk about difficulty when discussing a video game. Too easy or too difficult, the challenge presented by a game will always be a central talking point. Two weeks ago there was a small outrage about the revelation that there will be an invincibility mode in Star Fox Zero. Last week we took a look at the forms of difficulty and why hard difficulty is sometimes great. Now let's talk about the other end of the spectrum and how it defines the gaming experience.

The Problems of Accessibility:

I have stated this before, but let me repeat myself, difficulty is, and should be, baked into the very core of the any video game. To be more specific, we talked about how high levels of difficulty can benefit the experience.

However, this, of course, doesn't mean that all games need to be difficult. In fact there has been a growing trend, especially with some Nintendo games, for easier video games. Especially with the Wii this desire to appeal to a more casual audience was very dominant. And as newcomers to the medium developers seem to think that these people aren't capable of enjoying more difficult games. This lead to the creation of things like the Super Guide, which auto completes levels for you after you failed a certain amount of times. If you desire.

This situation has lead to an interesting debate: Is an easier, more accessible game capable of reaching a wider audience of players than a more complex, difficult and nuanced game? Of course the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but I firmly believe that both types of experiences have their place in this massive industry. The only problems are when developers try to make their game into something it isn't, trying to increase accessibility when that is not appropriate in the context of the games design.

Picture Source: Wii Fit Commercial

And while Nintendo often get's some flak for their ''easy'' games, I can't think of an example where they truly compromised their game design in order to make it more accessible. Of course it helps that Nintendos games all tend to be rather accessible, but even with such things like the Super Guide they never compromised the core game. The difficulty is still there. They only handed you another tool to complete the level. What they've done is shifting the responsibility of how difficult a game should be away from the developer and onto the player themselves.

So everything is fine? Not really. There is one ''recent'' game that is guilty of compromising the experience for more accessibility.

Skyward Bore:

Skyward Sword is filled with many great puzzles that would be tons of fun to solve – if only the player was given a real chance to.

Unfortunately, you are burdened with an overly helpful companion, who feels the need to give you the solution to nearly every puzzle proactively, often telling you how to unlock a door before you even noticed it was locked. Of course you can ignore her advice if you like to be reminded that she has something to say every two seconds.

Of course the helpful partners have been a staple of the series since the 3D debut in Ocarina of Time, but never have they been as overbearing as Fi.

Picture Source: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Now before you complain about me ragging on an extremely well received game, let me say that Skyward Sword is great. All I'm saying is that the level of difficulty, or lack thereof, is not appropriate in the context of the mechanics and mythos, and the experience is definitely hurt because of it.

Skyward Swords dungeons are still as elegantly crafted as one would expect given the series history, but they aren't without flaw, and difficulty is one of them.

Easy Game Bad; Hard Game Good?

What we've just looked at was a game that was too easy, or rather a game which was hurt by its overall lack of difficulty. This, however, does not mean that there is no place for less challenging games, and it also doesn't mean that any serious game experience needs to be difficult. What it all boils down to is something that risks becoming a theme in this series: Keep difficulty in mind when designing the core systems behind a game.

Essentially I'm saying not to make hard games easy or easy games hard. Skyward Sword stumbled because it's mechanics and themes did not mesh well with it's lack of difficulty.
However do not think that difficulty and accessibility are one side of the same coin, though they do often intersect. Even the most complex and engrossing games can be very easy and the most simple games can be incredibly challenging. What's important is that your games difficulty level makes sense within the context of the overall experience.

Back to Zero:

Picture Source: Nintendo Digital Event @ E3 2015

Now what does this all mean for Star Fox Zeros invincible Airwing? Remember when I talked about handing the responsibility about the games difficulty to the player. This is exactly that, and while I think of it as an desirable approach, it has one problem. The player.
There is this mindset that if you beat something on an easy difficulty you haven't earned it. You don't deserve it. My question to these kind of people is always the same.
Why do you care?

Why do you care that they completed this game on an easier difficulty? Is it devaluing your achievement? If the answer is yes then stop defining yourself over things others can't do and start defining yourself over things YOU CAN DO!

But back to the topic of the invincible Airwing. Is it bad or good? Well for a definitive conclusion I first have to play the game, but for now I would put it in the good accessibility box. Star Fox Zero is a game about highscores. It's firmly rooted in it's arcade tradition. As long as it's not possible to establish a highscore in this Airwing, I don't see a problem with it. It's completely optional and in no way forced upon you. It's an artificial difficulty decrease, and as with the artificial difficulty increases, it is not inherently bad if handled properly.

Difficulty is a huge topic, and on that, in entertainment, is mostly exclusive to video games. It's something that lies at the core of each video game and is a defining factor in shaping your gaming experience.

So what are your thoughts about it?

And as always

thanks for reading.

Nintendo News: 28.03.2016 - 01.04.2016

Hello and Welcome to Dillians Nintendo News Recap.

It was a pretty uneventful week, apart from some new NX rumors, but don't we get those every week? So let's jump right in with new games released this week.

New Releases:

• Chompy Chomp Chomp Party - Wii-U Download-Software
• Metroid: Other M – Wii Download Version (Wii-U)
• FreezeME – Wii-U Download-Software
• Justice Chronicles – Nintendo 3DS Download-Software
• Tachyon Project – Wii-U Download-Software
• The Beggar's Ride – Wii-U Download-Software

No huge title this week, as so often, but a selection of fine E-Shop titles and an okay Metroid Title. If you like 3D Jump'n' Runs in the vein of Super Mario 64 you definitely should take a look at FreezeME.

Source:http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Recent-Releases/Recent-Releases-753285.html

Miitomo:

On March 31^st Nintendos first Smartphone app launched in most western countries, and now the company announced that Miitomo already passed 3 Million downloads, making the social app a huge success.

While Miitomo is nothing for me, there is obviously a market there and Nintendo is wise to tap it. Congratulations.

Source: https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/715781371285872640

Pokken Tournament:

Update 1.2 will soon release and fix some problems with the game.

• The infinite Shadow Mewtwo combo, which can't be stopped, will be fixed
• The support Pokemon Reshiram will be adjustetd
• Several smaller fixes

Source: http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

MyNintendo:

MyNintendo has launched and Europe got it's first set of rewards. While you earn Platin Points for playing games, visiting the Miiverse or connecting your Facebook to your MyNintendo account, the only way to get some Gold Points is buying games in the Nintendo E-Shop. Here is a list of rewards you can get with these points.

Platin Rewards:

• My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 1.000 Platin Points
• WarioWare: Touched – 1.000 Platin Points
• Miitomo Mario Outfit – 250 Platin Points
• 20% Discount on Yoshi's Wooly World – 600 Platin Points
• 20% Discount on PullbloxWorld – 150 Platin Points
• 20% Discount on Mario Kart 7 – 700 Platin Points
• 20% Discount on The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds – 300 Platinpoints
• My Nintendo-Design 1: Mario – 200 Platin Points
• My Nintendo-Design 1: Donkey Kong – 200 Platin Points

Gold Rewards:

• 40% Discount on Splatoon – 100 Gold Points
• 40% Discount on The Wonderful 101 – 120 Gold Points
• 50% Discount on Metroid: Other M – 60 Gold Points
• 40% Discount on Super Mario 3D Land – 110 Gold Points
• 40% Discount on Tomodachi Life – 100 Gold Points
• 50% Discount on Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move – 30 Gold Points
• Super Mario 64 (Wii-U Virtual Console) – 90 Gold Points
• New Super Luigi U – 90 Gold Points
• DLC for Pikmin 3 – 20 Gold Points
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (3DS Virtual Console) – 35 Gold Points
• Metroid Fusion (Wii-U Virtual Console) – 60 Gold Points
• Super Punch Out! (Wii-U Virtual Console) – 70 Gold Points

And no I also don't know why Gold Points are worth more than Platin.

Source: https://my.nintendo.com/

Pokemon Go:

While the closed Beta for Pokemon Go is well underway in Japan, we still have to wait for the spiritual Ingress successor. Still we got some fresh news from our friends in the east.

• There are now fights against wild Pokemon currently in the Beta. You simply catch them by throwing your Pokeball.
• You can individualize your Trainer with different clothes.
• There have already been found 137 different attacks in the source code of Pokemon Go, which indicates that there will be a battle mode.
• At the start you'll get a starter Pokemon.
• There is a function called Starburst. What it dose? Your guess is as good as mine.
• There have been found several mentions of Google Cardboard, a VR-Device by Google, in the source code.
• You can choose between teams. Red, Blue or Yellow.
• In the Beta there are currently only first generation Pokemon.
• There are seven item categories.
• Pokemon will have different Natures, but they won't be the same as in the regular games. In the Beta the Natures are: Assassin, Guardian, Raider, Protector, Sentry and Champion.
• There aren't any Micro Transactions in the Beta.
• There will be a System that differentiates between Day and Night.
• There will be normal, legendary and mysterious Pokemon available.
• In the Beta there is currently no mention of Mega-Evolutions.

Source:http://nintendoeverything.com/more-pokemon-go-details-and-screenshots/

We also got audio samples for the Music in Pokemon Go:

Nintendo NX:

Lord give us our weekly NX rumors. I just mention it, so that this Post won't be incomplete. But I won't talk about it anymore, because I'm pretty sick of the constant NX rumors, leaks and all of that. People treat this baseless speculations as fact and are quick to jump to conclusions. Honestly it's pretty tiring and that's why I won't talk about the NX anymore. At least until it's officially unveiled by Nintendo.

Oh and by the way. I heard that the NX will cook your meals.

Star Fox Zero:

This week we not only got gameplay material for Star Fox Zero, but also the English introduction Video. Also we got some deeper insights into how Amiibos interact with the game. While it was already known that Fox unlocks the classic Airwing from the SNES title, we now also know what Falco does. With his Amiibo you'll get the chance to fly the Black Airwing.

This Airwing can target two enemies at the same time, but also takes threefold the damage of a normal Airwing. It's also not the Airwing that Miyamoto mentioned as a way of making the game harder, but another optional way to increase challenge of Star Fox Zero.

Source:http://nintendoeverything.com/falco-amiibo-unlocks-the-black-arwing-in-star-fox-zero-multi-lock-on-take-three-times-the-damage/

And here are the Videos:

Metroid Prime: Federation Force:

Some new gameplay material from WonderCon surfaced. And I must say that it looks good. I still think that this will be a good and enjoyable game´.

All in all it was a pretty normal week and I'm pretty hyped for StarFox Zero. What about you? Was there any News that stood out for you this week?

And as always

thanks for reading 

The Thing about Difficulty: Good vs. Bad

Picture Source: Dark Souls

Last week a portion of the Nintendo occupied Internet blew up about the information of an easy mode in Star Fox Zero. Players will be able to pilot an invincible Airwing and complete Missions and the Story that way. Of course we don't know more about this, and with the fact that StarFox is a arcade like game, I don't think that you'll be able to earn High Scores and the like in that mode. Also there will be another Airwing that deals double damage, but also takes twice as much damage from enemy fire, is completely ignored by the outraged fans.

But the whole argument got me thinking about difficulty, what it means for games and if an Easy Mode truly hurts the enjoyability. So let's talk about that.

First let's start with a definition of difficulty:

Difficulty refers to the amount of skill required by the player to progress through, and finally finish, the game. Higher difficulty obviously means that more skill is required. Skill, in that case, doesn't only refer to the typical physical aspect of playing a video game, for example reaction time, but also to other aspects like memorization and strategy.

Difficulty in Video games can generally be categorized into two forms:

• Artificial Difficulty
• Natural Difficulty

Let's elaborate on these two terms before we continue.

Artificial Difficulty:

Artificial difficutly is the type of difficulty most commonly found in video games. And despite it often being associated with bad game design, it's not a bad thing by default. It's just the type of difficulty achieved by altering the elements of the game.

Picture Source: Super Smash Bros.

Even though it may sound complex this just means the changes when you switch a game from normal to hard. Common ''difficulty increases'' include increased enemy health and damage, tighter time constraints, fewer lives and reduced resources like, for example, ammunition. But, and that's the important factor, the core of the gaming experience, like level design, enemy behavior and solutions to puzzles don't change.

A good example of this kind of system can be seen in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. On normal difficulty the game presents a fair challenge and difficulty curve. There are well placed Checkpoints, the player can take up to four hits before dying (two for your Kong buddy and two for Donkey Kong) and you can buy helpful items in Funky Kongs Shop. The Hard Mode, on the other hand, does not feel nearly as fair. There are no checkpoints and with only one hit the player dies. But the layout of the levels, enemy placement and enemy strength remains exactly the same as in normal mode. This is what I call an artificial difficulty increase.

 Picture Source: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Natural Difficulty:

Natural Difficulty on the other hand, is difficulty baked into the very systems of the game. For example, things like the aforementioned level design, enemy behavior and solutions to puzzles.

This kind of Difficulty can take many types of forms, from enemies with complex attack patterns that try to flank you all the way to levels designed as mazes for the player to get trapped in. To explain this kind of Difficulty better I'll take a look at a game that employs this idea perfectly. And for once this isn't a Nintendo game.

Picture Source: Dark Souls

Dark Souls is the perfect example of Natural Difficulty, because almost everything baked into this game seems to have been made the way it is simply to make the players life miserable. The game is incredibly unwelcoming from the start, with a tutorial that offers almost no explanation of the systems behind the game, except for several short messages from the developers. This leaves players struggling from the very beginning to figure out where they are supposed to be going and what they are supposed to be doing. The infamous graveyard next to Firelink Shrine is testimony to that.

The Combat is also extremely difficult. Strong Enemies are often grouped together forcing disadvantageous group battles. To make things worse, dying is punished by dropping all the players resources onto the ground. They can only be recovered if the player makes it back to where they died without dying again. If you fail then your resources are lost forever.

Many small things, like missable items or neutral NPCs that murder other helpful NPCs also add to the difficulty. Dark Souls is a game that was clearly designed from the ground up with idea of being extremely challenging. It's difficulty comes naturally.

Bad Difficulty; Good Difficulty:

Picture Source: Silver Surfer (NES)

Now that we've established the difference between Artificial and Natural Difficulty, we'll take a look at the ways in which these two different systems affect the players experience.

At it's core Artificial Difficulty is shallow, providing a difficulty level that is neither satisfying nor enjoyable for the player, often feeling cheap and unfair. In contrast, Natural Difficulty typically offers the player great satisfaction once it's conquered because the challenge presented felt organic and fair.

Every Video Game is designed around a set of systems, and these systems are tuned to work together to create the overall game experience. On normal difficulty these systems are usually balanced perfectly, allowing the player to experience the game with a fair amount of challenge. With the Artificial Difficulty these systems get out of balance.

 Picture Source: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Normally if confronted with an enemy or challenge the player has time to compose themselves and then approach the situation. This is the core, where the games fun originates.

However, with the difficulty artificially cranked up, this pattern doesn't really work any more. Foreknowledge and trial and error become the only reliable ways of completing sections within the game, because any confrontation often means instant death if not handled immediately in the right way. This type of system can be very frustrating for most players, leaving the game feeling like a grind, as trial and error based progress can often feel unfair and contrived.

Because of this these extreme difficulty modes are usually included for the sake of completionists, who have already played through and enjoyed the game once and are hungry for more. Often this hard modes require you to beat the game once in order to unlock them.

Now this sounds quite negative, but Artificial Difficulty isn't necessarily bad. To exemplify this let's take a look at Tropical Freeze again.

The hard mode is a seperate mode, that is unlocked after not only beating the game, but completing every single level. That includes the temple stages and Incognito Island. This is already quite a challenge, so players who have achieved that, are well prepared for the brutal hard mode. This is a separate experience from the main game.

Also Tropical Freeze is an excellent designed game. The normal mode offers a nearly perfect Natural Difficulty and a great difficulty curve. Building on this strong foundation the Artificial Difficulty of hard mode doesn't feel cheap, but more like an even further extension of the Natural Difficulty Curve, even though it isn't.

Artificial Difficulty isn't a bad thing. It just has to be handled correctly. I generally prefer Natural Difficulty to its Artificial counterpart, but in the end Artificial Difficulty is only bad when it happens in form of difficulty spikes. Still in the end it will always feel a little bit shallow. At least in my opinion.

Picture Source: Dark Souls

In contrast to this philosophy, we have Dark Souls, a game which shoves crushing difficulty down its players throats from the moment they turn it on, yet somehow manages to be fun and (almost) never feel unfair. This is because the core gameplay loop in Dark Souls is designed with difficulty in mind. Everything in the game, from the persistent enemy placement and behavior to the checkpoint system is designed around the idea of trial and error. Difficulty is fun because it doesn't break the core gameplay loop. It is the core gameplay.

Why should a game be hard?

Now that we have an overview about difficulty, let's talk about why a video game should be hard.
There are many things difficulty can bring to the design of a game beyond just offering something for masochists to beat their heads against.

Conquering a difficult section of a game has the potential to give the player an immense feeling of satisfaction. Overcoming a truly difficult obstacle feels like a real triumph and this feeling will really add to a players experience with the game. Many of us still remember our victory over the final boss of THAT game fondly. For example the first time I beat Kapitain K. Rool in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is forever etched into my memory as one of the most satisfying victories of my life.
Still you need to be very careful, because there is a fine line between doing this right and doing this very wrong.

In Dark Souls, the player often encounters overwhelming and seemingly impossible obstacles and conquering them feels like a true testament of skill. This is because though the challenges may seem impossible at first glance, with repetition players will see patterns arise in the chaos and find that things aren't so difficult after all. Rarely does Dark Souls demand incredible skill from the player; it only asks for patience and understanding of its trials. In fact, playing through Dark Souls a second time through isn't that difficult at all once you understand its challenges.

More than just for satisfaction, difficulty can be used as a tool in building immersion. When something is difference, progress is often slow and methodical, giving the player time to truly soak in and understand every aspect of the game, including it's narrative and thematic content.

This does not mean that every game should be difficult. Difficulty for difficulty's sake has ruined many games, especially during the NES days. Just take a look at some of the Angry Video Game Nerds episodes and you'll see what I mean.


Now what does this mean for Star Fox Zeros Easymode? Well we'll have to wait with a final verdict till next time, when we take a look at easier difficulty levels and why they are needed too.
But let me say this much. An optional easy mode doesn't ruin a game, just like an optional hard mode doesn't. But more on that and easy difficulty next week.



I'll hope you enjoyed this short read,
and as always

thanks for reading

  

Update

While I wasn't very active during March, I'm planning to work more extensively on this blog in the future and so I thought I would only be fair to tell you my plans for the future of this blog.

First of all there will be a regular stream of content with set upload days.

Each Wednesday I'll post a new thoughtpiece. These always were the centerpiece of this blog and I plan on extending on that. The topics will range from actual events all the way to the history of video games. Of course this still is a mostly Nintendo centric blog, and that won't change, so I'll try keep a connection between Nintendo and the actual topic.

As an example what these posts will be about, tomorrow I'll take a look a the aspect of difficulty in video games. In light of the Star Fox News from last week this hopefully will make an interesting read for you.

Each Friday there will be a write up of the Nintendo news from this week.

These are the two fix points of content you can look forward to each week from now on. There is still room for other weekly ideas, but for now I'm concentrating on these two. But of course that's not all. There will still be other content on this blog, that won't release weekly.

Write Ups of important events (for example E3, Nintendo Investor Meetings, Nintendo Direct, etc.)

Trailer Watch: An in depth look at big new Trailers and the details the hide.

Of course Reviews are also a part of this blog and I will keep it that way. However, because I'm not made out of money, I can't get every single Nintendo game there is and so I'll mostly concentrate on the big Wii-U titles. As for why there is no Review of Pokken Tournament and Twilight Princess HD. I already own Twilight Princess for the GameCube, and what I've seen from the HD Remaster didn't warrant a second purchase and I'm just not a fan of fighting games, so no Pokken Tournament for me. The next review will be Star Fox Zero and I'll try to get it online withing 3 days of the release.

So these are the things you can look forward to from now on on this blog. I hope you'll enjoy the more steady stream of content.

And as always

thanks for reading